Jeanette Walls wrote The Glass Castle to convey a message of family importance and self-indulgence. Self-indulgence meaning the way in which one exposes themselves to the rest of the world and the dangers and assists one exposes themselves to. Walls introduces her story at a time in which family reliance one each other is low. In context, this flash-forward in the beginning of the text illustrates a family that has grown greatly apart. Jeanette worries that someone will “spot [them] together and Mom would introduce herself and [her] secret would be out,” (Walls, 3). However, as Jeanette’s life develops as a child, readers can recognize the love felt within the Walls family and this feeling of protection when together. A family is strong together as long as their deep emotions are expressed to each other because it is then that emotions such as unconditional love and will to protect one another are felt.
The desert becomes home to Jeanette and her family because it gives them open space to learn and grow. They are not cluttered by everyday life in a city in which they must adhere to certain social standards. Through their openness to grow, the Walls family becomes very intelligent and interested in knowledge. Jeanette wants readers to understand this central theme that people cannot be given enough room to grow in the chaos of a city because people are less true to themselves, a belief that is paralleled by symbolizing the many layers of stars which are not revealed in the city because of the many city lights; similarly, people in the city are not open to themselves and others.
The building up and tearing down of layers among the Walls family can be deepened into a significant antithesis that is present throughout the story. As one character's "layers" grows, another's dwindles, and this is why the Walls family always remained "on the border or turbulence and order" (Walls 288). For instance, as the children found the light of New York City and paid the bills will comfortable jobs, the lifestyle of the parents further declined. Literally and figuratively, the layers of the parents were stripped away while those of the children were rebuilt stronger and thicker. In a perfect world, the story would have ended with both the parents and children riding off into the sunset of an eternally happy life. However, the antithesis of rising and sinking shined through once again, separating the final appearances of the parents and children, illustrating the gap that would never be filled in the Walls family.
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