Essay On The Glass Castle

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Evaluation micro theme I was hesitant to read the book The Glass Castle when I skimmed the back cover as I am not a big fan of sad stories, but this one was different. I stayed up late that night fighting sleep and nearly finished the whole book. It is typical to read a book about a child having a bad childhood; these books tend to hold to readers interest because their lives often seem very different from our own. I recently read a memoir written by Jeanette Walls, The Glass Castle. The storyline of the book was similar to those other books about kids with a rough upbringing but somehow it stands out above the rest in its genre. The author recounts her first memory as a small child cooking hotdogs on the stove. She accidentally spills the…show more content…
The major symbol is the glass castle. The Glass Castle symbolizes the unrealistic dreams of Rex Walls for his family. Rex believed in becoming rich by finding gold and once he did he was going to build a glass castle for his family of six. This dream gave his wife and children hope that soon their lives would improve drastically. After every hardship the family encounters, Rex does more planning of the castle with his children that allows them to get through the bad times with anticipation for this new life, their father has promised. The children believe in their father and spend countless days digging a base for the castle. As the children grow older they begin to realize that the glass castle will never be built and decide to start making reachable dreams of their own. Through being let down by their fathers dream they are all successful in reaching the dreams they had set for themselves. Even though Rex knew that the odds of the glass castle ever being built were slim, he continuously gave his family belief that it would one day soon be built. In the end of the book, as Rex and Jeannette share their last words together, Rex says to her; "Never did build that Glass Castle"(279), Jeannette replied by saying; "No. But we had fun planning it"(279). Although their "perfect" life wasn't met by their father building them the glass castle, it gave them the hope to achieve a better
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