Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle

1. IDEA 1

   A childhood of wandering

   Walls describes growing up with parents who moved the family from town to town across the American West. Her father, Rex, was brilliant and charming, and her mother, Rose Mary, was an artist, but both often failed to provide food or safety.

2. IDEA 2

   Her father dreamed big

   Rex promised to build a glass castle, a solar-powered dream house, for the family. The dream symbolised both his imagination and his broken promises. Walls shows that the dream gave her hope as a child, even though it never came true.

3. IDEA 3

   Drinking destroyed stability

   Walls describes how her father's drinking caused chaos and poverty. The family often went hungry. Walls shows that his love for the family could not protect them from the harm that his habit caused.

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