Eventually their little brother, and sister join them, and after that their parents move there too. After a few years, her older sister, Lori, moves to New York to escape her impoverished life. Worse still is that they don’t do anything to fix it, even as it crumbles to the ground. It is not a real house it is a shack that is falling apart. Rex never seem to want to change himself or deal with his addiction, but I think his good deeds outweigh his bad ones, even if the good ones were never accomplished.Īs a young girl Jeannette is fine with moving about, but when she gets a little older her parents finally buy a house. This is the side that locked his three kids and newborn child in the back of a U-Haul truck for several hours. Walls got into a fight with his wife, and almost threw her out the window. This is the side of Rex that is controlled by his addiction and spends all the money he earns, and even some he doesn't have on beer. That year Rex gets drunk, and when he gets a lighter as a gift, he burns down the Christmas tree and all the presents. Another Christmas, all the kids save for weeks so they can have a good end to the year, because things have been especially hard lately. That is the side that teaches his kids to read years before they even come close to a school, and the side that makes his kids do their math homework in binary, because he has taught them math skills grades above all the other kids. So Rex took his kids outside one by one, and let them pick out their very own star. One of my favorite examples of this is that one year for Christmas they had no money to get presents. It is apparent that he loves them very much, but his drinking problem controlled him, and made it impossible to have a steady income and provide all he wanted to for his family. He always wanted to do the best he could for his kids. I think that the idea of the glass castle perfectly described Rex and his parenting philosophy. As you may guess, the castle was never built. The reason this book is named the Glass Castle is because Rex Walls always promised to build the family a castle made from glass when they have enough money. But he spends all the money he earns on alcohol. He is a very smart engineer who is closest with Jeannette. Her father, Rex Walls, finds what jobs he can, but they never last long. Her mother is an artist, and stays at home, although she has a teaching degree and teaches classes occasionally when necessary. When Jeannette is young her family travels from place to place and is very poor. Her experiences seem so impossible to overcome and have had as her everyday life. The story is about Jeannette's childhood and family. I think it is important to know that this is a memoir, because it could easily be fictional. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a memoir.

The glass castle about