To survive, Jeannette Walls and the other children must endure the most unimaginable things. Jeannette mentions how everyone had to fend for themselves. Maureen was always at a friend's house. She wasn't sure how Lori and Mom were taking care of themselves, but they all managed on their own. She says, " I was pretty sure he [Brian] was rooting through the trash too, but we never talked about it." (173). Aside from rummaging through the trash, in what other ways did Jeannette and her family fend for themselves? Did they have any choice?
Throughout their early lives, Jeannette and the rest of her family have been forced to fend for themselves rather living a more comfortable lifestyle. Jeannette and Brian, as stated, have rummaged through trash just to eat at lunchtime in school but this isn't the only instance where they had to act for themselves in order to survive or feed their necessities. In another situation, Jeannette and Brian had to collect coal that fell off trucks in the road for their coal stove during the winter time because coal was so expensive. Jeannette, in another instance, had to make her own braces because of her teeth. Jeannette knew her parents wouldn't be able to afford braces so to adjust to the situation Jeannette had to make her own. Jeannette and the rest of the family never really had the choice of comfortable "normal" lifestyle with their mother being an excitement addict and her father being an alcoholic who couldn't hold a job for more than a couple months. The entire Walls family had to make adjustments such as rummaging for food because of their choice of lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteJeanette and her family have to take care of themselves for most of the time because Rex doesn't want to be a good parent and care for his family. Jeanette takes care of herself by babysitting and collecting money from babysitting. She also made herself braces so she doesn't have to pay $200 for actual ones. They don't really have a choice to live like this, it's just that they have no money so they must live like this in order to survive.
ReplyDeleteJeanette takes care of herself by babysitting and saving up money. For example, she makes her own braces with coat hangers to save up money and also because she knew her parents couldn't afford braces, so she had to adjust. They really don't have a choice. If they want to survive they need to live like this because they have no money since they usually waste their money on things like Jeanette's mom's arts supplies. The money wasted their can wisely be used somewhere else and this is the reason for why they have to live this way with no choice, they don't use their money wisely.
ReplyDeleteMost of time, Jeannette and her family has to take care of themsleves because neither parent wants to take the responsibilties. Jeannette, Brian, and Lori must learn to care for each other. For instance, when Rex and Rose Mary leave to get their belongings from Grand Canyon; the kids needed to fend themselves against Erma. Erma tries to inappropriately touch Brian and Lori and Jeannette comes to defends Brain. I don't think the children don't really have a choice, but have to live in poor conditions.
ReplyDeleteDuring "The Glass Castle", there have been many occurrences where the Walls family goes without food, and other daily necessities for periods of time. During these occasions, the family has to fend for themselves to survive. They all use different methods of self-reliance and common sense to get food. An example of this would be when Jeanette digs through the garbage after lunch at school, or Maureen living at a friend's house to gain food and shelter. I think that it is Rose Mary and Rex's choices to live in poverty though, because they refuse to take responsibility and help their family. Rex, for example, could quit drinking and gambling, and Rose Mary could stop spending all of her money on art supplies and other luxury items. Also, both parents could get obs that pay well and spend the money on food and groceries, rather than what they want. However, I don't really think that the children have much of a choice as to the way they live, but as for their parents, they need to stop acting so selfishly, and pay more attention to their childrens' needs, rather than what they want for themselves. So, all in all, I do think that it is Rex and Rose Mary's choice to be living in such a poor way.
ReplyDeleteJeanette and her family had to fend for themselves by adoptin many different techniques.Jeanette had to search for simple jobs, she started babysitting and earned a few money through that. To stay warm and comfortable during the winter, Jeanette and her brother would go outside and collect coal that fell on the road due to trucks. Jeanette even had to make her own braces, forget braces, her family couldn't even afford a good meal to last them a day. Jeanette and her family faced harsh/rough times but honestly they had no choice. Rummaging through trash,lookin for something to eat is what nobody would appreciate. The Walls had no choice what so ever, but atleast they appreciated what they had.
ReplyDeleteFrom the start of her life she has had to fend for herself and the rest of the family has had to fend for themselves. They have rummaged through garbage to get food and many other things to survive in the world. Babysitting, doing others work,selling your artwork,and doing yard work has all been things the kids have done to get by. this is unfortunate because no kid wants to do those things but because they have parents who have poor parenting skills and don't act like parents they have no other option on how to survive.
ReplyDeleteJeannette has become a master at fending for herself. At a young age her and her brother would look for bottles and cans to get a few extra cents for candy and such. A lot of their belongings also consist of hand-me-downs and second hand stuff- all the cars they'd ever owned were clunkers that were quick to break down. The Walls kids especially had to fend for themselves. They were forced to take after school jobs babysitting and lawn mowing for those few extra dollars that made so little of a difference. Jeannette was even forced to get a real job at jewelry store to help pay the bills. In my opinion, the Walls family can avoid poverty if they wanted to. I don’t accuse the kids at for anything, it’s the parents that are to blame. Their parents refused to work- one being a lazy artist, the other drunk and unemployed. Their mother stayed at home all day until she was forced to get a job as a teacher. Even than she spent her money on things they didn’t need. “Mom always had at least one ‘extravageance’ on layaway, something we really didn’t need-a tasseled silk throw or a cut crystal vase…” (Walls 197) In that way the money disappeared so fast that in the end they had no money for food. Their drunk father didn’t help much either. He was always taking money for “investments” when really he just needed some cash for liquor. In the end, the Walls kids don’t want to live this poor life style but they are forced to.
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