In her memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls writes about growing up in an unstable environment as a child of an alcoholic father and a stubborn, self-absorbed mother. Jeanette, her brother and two sisters move around the country, homeless most of the time. Instead of taking care of their children’s basic needs Mr. and Mrs. Walls, spend their money on Rex’s alcohol and Rosemary’s painting supplies. As a result, the children are forced to fend for themselves. The family is ultimately more bad than good because the parents are selfish, irresponsible and lazy.
The first reason the Walls’ are more bad than good because they are selfish. For instance Rosemary gets a candy bar and doesn’t think to share with her children. “Lying on the mattress next to mom was one of those huge family-sized Hershey chocolate bars, the shiny silver wrapper pulled back and torn away, she’d already eaten half of it” (174). This shows that the mother is selfish because she puts herself before her own children who are starving. Another example on how the parents are selfish is they spent weeks on preparing for their first Christmas and Rex ruined it. For the first time the Walls’ were going to celebrate Christmas on Christmas day. The kids were all excited for their first Christmas sitting by the tree ready to open presents but Rex is extremely drunk and lights everything on fire, ruining what was a very important day (115). After everything was ruined, they were unable to have their presents and a good memory of that day. Rex never apologized or even acknowledged he was in the wrong. This shows that the parents think of themselves first and do not put their children and their needs first.
The Walls’ are more bad than good because they are not just selfish but also irresponsible. Rex and Rosemary do things without thinking. Safety never seems to come to mind. “Suddenly, with a bang, we hit a huge pothole and the back doors on the U-Haul flew open…We were afraid we were going to get sucked out, and we all shrank back against the prospector” (49). The parents should have made other arrangements for the children. Instead of being responsible, they did what benefited them more. Another example is when Jeannette was in the hospital for her burn, Brian got a serious head injury. The parents did not take him to the hospital, which he needed care. (13) Parents have to take care of their children and keep them safe. Based off examples in the book I have grown the impression that Rex and Rosemary’s decisions are irrespirable.
The third example that shows why the Walls’ are more bad than good is that they are lazy. Throughout their lives, the Walls’ children not only had to take care of themselves but as well as their parents. Everyday the children had to get their mother out of bed and get her ready for work. (74) Without her children’s help, Rosemary would not be able to hold her own job. If the children did not help their mother, Rosemary would lay around all day. Not only is Rosemary lazy but Rex the father is as well. “After he polished off each beer, he used the can to repair one of the holes” (101). After drinking many beers, the dad attempted to fix the holes in the floor with the beer cans instead of doing it the correct way. The parents are lazy and not driven.
The lives of all Four Walls children would be completely different if they had been brought in up differently. Although Jeannette is a well-known author, showing that she is someone today due to her past. I believe that if they had a permanent home, clothing and food they would flat out have had better remembrance of their childhood. Throughout the book shocking moments like her fathers drinking and mothers, selfishness is more than enough for children to go through. Taking out the negative would make them a happier more stable family. Regardless of how rich or famous someone is in the end, having a good memory of a childhood is important.
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