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The Glass Castle II (My Blog)

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is an amazingly written memoir. It talks about her childhood memories and how her family is flawed in many ways, like her father is an alcoholic father, a father who is always in a constant run, and a mother who didn’t take the responsibilities of a mother. Despite all the flaws, Jeannette is able to forgive. It is an important criteria in life to forgive, as it is one of the cardinal virtues.

Jeannette doesn’t look at the world with hatred, but rather with a loving heart. She forgives both her parents every time they make a mistake. For example, when she was three years old, Jeannette was cooking hot dogs and she got burned because her mother, Rose, was being careless. She was then rushed to the hospital, and six days after hospitalization, she gets back to cooking her hot dogs. This shows how Jeannette isn’t even worried about getting hurt again when cooking. She just gets right back into what she does regularly.

There was also another time when her father, Rex, was teaching Jeannette to swim, but instead of teaching her how to swim, like how every parent is with caution, Rex throws her in to the sulfur spring repeatedly. It either sink or swim, her father would only save her when she sinks, and he would keep on doing this. From this, Jeannette learns how to paddle and swim. Jeannette doesn’t blame her father or get mad, instead she forgives her father and thinks that from this experience is to inspire her to learn.

Rex being a careless father, used to steal money from the bar, and then he would use that stolen money to buy beer. Due to Rex’s carelessness, he became an alcoholic throughout Jeannette’s childhood. When Rex is not sober, he throws chairs and threatens people who gets in his way, he even threatens his own wife. Even with all the chaos her father has caused, she forgave him. She forgive her father because she is blinded with love and trust she has gained from over the years with him, even with all the horrible things he did to her, because they’re family .

Over all, Jeannette Walls repeatedly forgives her parents mistake and looks on the bright side. In the end, she says “I could not imagine what my life would be like- without him in it. As awful as he could be, I always knew he loved me in a way no one else ever had.”(279). She creates an image for the reader to follow, and it is to forgive easily and the good things in life happen.