The Glass Castle Alcoholism Analysis

Alcoholism is a very prevalent problem in The Glass Castle and Jeanette Walls’ life. This quote from the book, “No child is born a delinquent. They only became that way if nobody loved them when they were kids. Unloved children grow up to be serial murderers or alcoholics,” (Walls 83) shows how much her life was influenced by this problem. Maybe she knows what happened in her father's past that turned him to alcohol, and maybe she thinks that when people are treated the way she is by her father, their only option is to use things like this to cope with there problems. There are thousands of children in America alone that have to deal with this problem in their daily lives. Whether it be grandparents, parents, or siblings, they watch and feel …show more content…
That is more than 27 million people ("15 Facts About Alcoholism Part I."). This shows how much of a problem it is in the united states. This leads to huge amounts of neglect of children, car accidents, and youth dying of under age drinking. Alcoholism is called a disease because it is one. It is a drug addiction that was the single most common addiction in 2016 ("15 Facts About Alcoholism Part I."). Excluding maternity and intensive care units, forty percent of all hospital visits are used for alcohol patients ("Facts About Alcohol."). This is a massive number and shows how prevalent this problem really …show more content…
In the book Jeannette and her siblings were completely abandoned by their father. A huge part of this was the fact that there father was always drunk. While he was physically there he was not a father who emotionally supported his children. We also see the character Billy in the Memoir. He makes a horrible decision to try and take advantage of Jeannette. Billy is not a horrible sick person and that is not why he makes the bad decisions he does.The reason he makes bad decisions is because his father was never there to teach him. One time in the book Billy goes into his house and is father is lying there with his penis hanging out. This alludes to two different Ideas. For one thing it shows that he is a drunkard as he lays there unconscious. It also show that he fell asleep with his pants unbuttoned because he is making bad decisions while he is impaired. This is another example of how drinking sends a bad message to those who are around you and learning from