How can one be loving, yet destructive; caring, yet negligent? Rex Walls is the father of Jeannette Walls, who wrote the a memoir titled The Glass Castle, which highlighted her childhood and the crazy, and adventurous events that she went through as a kid. In this memoir, the crazy antic of her parents were truly brought to life. Rex Walls, specifically was a character with unique ways of doing things. He would tell his kids extreme stories and would try and teach his children his way of doing things. Rex Walls is a very complicated character because he wants to care for his kids yet would leave them for alcohol, he wants to look like a good father infront of his kids yet does not consistantly make the effort to do so, he is very intelligent …show more content…
When Rex has money he normally takes his kids out to a nice dinner to feed them. Rex has the best interest of his family and specifically his kids, as he will take them out of bad situations and bring them to new and hopeful places doing what Jeanette called the, “Skidaddle.” However, what makes Rex a complex person is that he has the want to care for his kids, yet he does not always show care towards them. During some parts of the book, Rex will completely abandon his family and go out and leave his family for the night, like in this example, “...Dad disappeared. I waited on the front steps until bedtime, but he didn’t come home”(121). Rex leaving his family after taking care of them is what makes him a complex character. He will show affection to his children, and then later that night he will leave his family. These actions are contradictory, thus making him …show more content…
He would try and appear as the best father in front of his kids. Rex would tell stories to his kids, to try and better then anyone else. Jennette pointed this out when she said, “Dad always fought harder, flew faster, and gambled smarter than anyone else in his stories”(24). Rex also liked to get approval from his children that he was being a good father. In one instance, Rex brought his children lunch during school when they didn’t have any, and before he left he said, “Have I ever let you down?”(78). Rex appreciated this approval because it was a way for him to feel good about how he was as a father, because he was not always perfect. He showed this multiple times throughout the story when he would lose his job. Rex wanted to be a good father, yet was not consistent as the best father. He could never hold a job for more than a couple of months throughout the story, and this severely affected his family financially, and physically, as they would never stay in the same town for more than a couple of months. This shows Rex’s complexity because he would try to be a good father and go as far as to ask for approval, yet he could not be consistent with his good parenting, and would often lack with his parenting
Throughout the story, Rex continuously questioned his children “have I ever let you down,” anticipating
Throughout each of these moves, siblings Lori, Brian and Jeanette were home-schooled and told to neglect close relationships with other children, since they would move shortly after meeting them. The money Rex gained from gambling was enough, but soon it was all used up. He was an alcoholic and spent most of his money buying booze to get absolutely drunk. This wonderful dad that Jeanette looked up to so much could turn into an angry, drunk monster in just a minute. It was a confusing situation for
In the book it’s not just Rex who gets out of control it’s sometimes Rose Mary. On pages 42 and 43, we see Rose Mary’s chaotic behavior, “Mom got upset at Dad‘s blasphemy, reached her foot over to the driver’s side, and stomped on the break. It was the middle of the night, and Mom bolted out of the car and ran into the darkness. ”(Walls 42&43).
After Rex had endangered his family, Messed up every christmas his family had the opportunity to do, Forced his family to run from whatever he was running from with him, and damn near lost every job he had ever had. We all can conclude Rex was a bad father all around. Every Father loves their kids but their actions make that love seem very small and could put them and their family in danger. At the end of the day Rex’s kids should be living with another family and should never see their father
Rex and his wife Rose Mary have arguments as well when it comes to money. They started getting into fights about spending money, and how Rex behaves. One night they got into a fight and it startled Jeannette and her siblings. She tries to take her dads side when she describes what Rex was doing, “Dad explained that he was out trying to earn money” (69). Jeannette knows that her father is trying to do whatever he can do to help the family.
Rex and Rosemary’s Parenting Style The parenting style that most exemplifies Rex and Rosemary Walls in The Glass Castle is Cherry’s idea of uninvolved parenting because they have few demands, low responsiveness, and little communication but also reject or neglect the needs of their children(Cherry, “The Four Styles of Parenting”). Rex and Rosemary Walls are uninvolved parents because they neglect the needs of their children. In the book The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls, says “I was wearing the dress to cook hot dogs” (9).
Her expression of compassion for her husband involves accepting the life of poverty he has inflicted on the family. The lack of opposition from Rex’s family allows him to continue to indulge in his destructive habits. His alcoholism becomes irreparable, and without personal recovery, Rex Walls cannot control the devastation of his family’s progress toward
In the memoir, Rex Walls’ internal conflict, Jeannette Walls’ conflict with Rose Mary, and Jeannette’s conflict with society push her to become the person she is today. Therefore, Jeannette Walls’ owes her success to the hardships she had as a child. To begin, Rex Walls’ internal conflict comes from his inability to provide for his family. Being a father, Rex Walls has an obligation to look after his family and to make sure everyone is looked after.
And without the capability to assess future risks and repercussions of a decision, Rex almost kills his wife in the process. Struggling to cope with their father’s rages and without a means to restrain him, Jeanette’s family is forced to face Rex’s violent
Since the Walls family is so poor and homeless it seems that Rex and Rosemary are not always there to give their children the support and comfort that kids need at a young age. Instead of giving love and comfort, they decide to teach their kids how to be tough and how to learn to do things themselves. Unlike most parents, who focus on supporting, caring for their children first, and then teaching them how to live on their own once they get much older. This attentive parenting method is not visible in the Walls’ family. For example, when Jeannette has her accident with fire and explained it to the nurses she gets rather surprised and
According to Jeannette Walls, Rex was a very fun and loving father while she was growing up. Alcoholism affects the good people and the bad people, many in the same ways. However from an outside perspective, Rex Walls' behavior put his children at risk. In The Glass Castle, Rex has many moments where he puts his family's lives in risk, maiming Jeannette's. In one scene, Jeannette and the family go to a water hole to go swimming.
Her and her siblings are exposed to unideal living conditions and have to learn to take care of themselves, especially due to the fact that their father, Rex walls seems to suffer from an undiagnosed mental illness. Considering Rex Walls symptoms throughout the memoir are linked to having bipolar disorder, he was unpredictable. Jeannette and her sibling’s ability to be resilient despite their father’s bipolar disorder growing up are perfect examples of Max Lerner’s quote “the turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt” and has let them get far in life even with everything they had to
Up until this point, Rex has thought he was perfect, only ever telling his kids they must think he's a failure just as a guilt trip, not knowing that they actually think of him that way. Now that Jeannette has pointed out the one thing he thought could never be true, he begins to realize things are falling apart. Rather than acknowledging that he might be the reason for the family's troubles, his delusions keep him from the truth. Following Jeannette and Rex's fight, Rex begins to reminisce about the previous events, only to come to the conclusion that their "family is falling apart". But rather than acknowledge that he might have been the problem because of all of his drinking, gambling, cheating, and putting his children through a living hell of a childhood, he instead believes he is too good for that and believes his children aren't grateful and that it is their fault for
As a child, Jeannette Walls moves around constantly with her family. The Walls family would move to different desert towns and settle as long as Mr. Walls can hold a job. When sober, Mr. Walls represents a charismatic father who loves his children and teaches them important life skills. He encourages imagination inside of the Walls kids and often captures their dream and creativity. Together, the family had planned to build a glass castle that contains all of the family’s hope and inspiration.
Rex’s method is not that of many fathers, his being “sink or swim”, providing not only the ability to swim but also a strong metaphor for the reader and Jeannette. This is a representation of not only the Walls’ teaching strategy, also for the struggle to succeed in a life the Jeannette has literally been thrown into. Jeannette takes this idea to heart even though she may not realize it, for her not to succumb to the environment in which encapsulates her, such as Welch and life on the road, she must be able to handle these hard situations and be able to stay