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The Glass Castle

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The Glass Castle
English ISU Essay

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Kulwinder Singh
Ms. A. Weber
ENG-4U1
December 07, 2012

The Intricate Developmental Changes of the Walls Family’s Journey
The Glass Castle is a memoir based on the life of Jeannette Walls and her family in the ninety fifties, while dealing with adversities and struggles in society while growing up in different remote locations, until they escape to New York searching for opportunities. The Walls’ family travel and grow up in dysfunctional societies, which greatly impact the family as a whole, especially Jeannette and her three siblings. When travelling to settings such as Nevada, Arizona, West Virginia and New York, they greatly contribute to the changes and impact of each member of the family.

When settling into the outskirts of Arizona and Nevada, Jeannette and her family try their best to adapt to society, but not until trouble brews up again. The Walls; kids were not really happy about living in Blythe or the people around there. When Jeannette was coming back from school, a group of Mexican girls jumped Jeannette, along with Brian who was trying to protect her. “A few days after I started School, four Mexican girls followed me home and jumped me in an alleyway near the LBJ apartments. They beat me up pretty bad” (Walls, 44). The students did not appreciate Jeannette living in their area, because she was different from them, so they beat her up, but she never told anyone about it and kept that anger inside of her. After Maureen was born, they headed to Battle Mountain, where the conditions were suitable for them, but sometimes things did not go their way. Rex Walls found a job at the mines, but when the money came, it was spent all on extravagant outings and food in a single day, and that meant the family did not have much to support themselves. “We bought so much food that we never had much money come payday” (Walls, 56). Since Rex finally found a decent job living in Battle Mountain, they

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