Alcoholism In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

According to the Washington Post, about 12.7 percent of the American population eighteen and older now meets diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorder. The most popular cases deriving from biological factors, environmental factors, social factors and psychological factors. Alcoholism not only affects the well-being of the person consuming the alcohol but also impacts the well-being of those who surround them. In Jeannette Walls' memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls has a first-hand experience of what alcoholism can do to a family through her father, Rex Walls. His addiction to alcohol ultimately shapes the lives of Jeanette and her family by placing them in a continuous cycle of homelessness and poverty, therefore, causing them to eventually lose trust in him. 

Rex Wall’s inability to budget money and keep jobs was a major factor of the wall’s family’s continuous cycle of homelessness and “skedaddling”. Rex Walls from the beginning of Jeanette’s life has been moving in and out of houses and different cities. Both Rex and Rose Mary tell their children that they do not want a boring life which is why they keep doing the skedaddle. Although the kids may believe this when they are young they soon come to realize that’s not the only reason. Rex couldn’t keep Jobs very long which did not help his case for his addiction to alcohol. When the Walls lived in Battle Mountain rex got a job in the mines. Jeannette says he “kept this job for nearly six months -- longer than any other” (Walls 67). He rarely gets fired but instead forces his employers to fire him to pursue his other dreams. This is one of the many instances that display Rex Wall’s lack of want to keep a job even though his family would continue to suffer. With his lack of being able to keep jobs, Rex has to run from his debts due to his obsession with alcohol and cigarettes. For example, When Rose Mary left for Charleston she gave Jeannette two hundred dollars. She made a budget for the family which was twenty-five dollars a week. Despite the fact, the Rex knew she was on a tight budget he continued to ask for money for alcohol and cigarettes. Which left them on a tighter budget since they knew he wasn’t going to repay them. Rex cared more about himself and his alcohol than he did the well-being of his children. He used their money to get drunk then came home angry after. She said he “broke windows and smashed dishes and furniture until he’d spent all his anger.” (walls 112). The family already had to endure the issue of him spending their money and now they have to deal with his violence. Although they handled his drinking and anger well most of the time its still angered them that they have to deal with him.

Alcoholism became a huge issue in The Glass Castle to the point where Jeanette’s mom, Rose Mary Walls, got in the habit of ignoring Rex Walls when he comes home drunk. This is displayed when Jeanette says “ He came home in such a drunken furry that mom usually hid while we tried to calm him down ” (Walls 112). Rose Mary Walls got to a point where she rarely tries to get Rex to stop drinking and just hides until he goes through the phase. As Jeannette gets older and his problem gets worse he begins to lose his jobs more frequently. Rose Mary then has to get a job to make up for Rex’s unhealthy habits. When Rose Mary begins to bring income to the household they start to live a better life until Rex gets ahold of the money. Rose Mary tries everything she could to keep the money away from him but unfortunately finds it difficult to deny him. This is portrayed when Rose Mary says “ hide it where no one can get it, because you know how scarce socks can get in our house” (Walls 77). Although Rose Mary finds it difficult to deny Rex she begins to lose trust in him as his alcoholism is the main cause of the family’s poverty. 

Although Rex and Rose Mary were not the best parents and did not have the best parenting style the way which they raised their children was not completely bad. Neither Rose Mary or Rex had stable jobs throughout their lives they were always forced to move place to place, some instances more frequently than they liked. They tried their best to not make their childhood as miserable as it could have been. They told the kids that they were going on an adventure and the kids lived under the perception that they were doing just that. In the beginning when the family rented a U-Haul to move to Battle Mountain, the children had to sit in the back with all of their things. Jeanette says, “We got to ride in the back. It would be fun, she said, a real adventure” (Walls 48). They both tried to make each skeddadle as fun and exciting as they could so the kids would not be upset. When it came time to do it over again the kids were not upset, they looked forward to see where thye would end up next. Another good thing Rex and Rose Mary did was create the idea of the glass castle. The glass castle symbolizes hope and happiness for the children because once it was built they would finally have a stable home. Jeannette says “ He carried around the blueprints for the Glass Castle wherever we went, and sometimes he’d pull them out and let us work on the design for our rooms”(Walls 25)  Although the glass castle never came to be it was good for the kids to have something to look forward to and to work for. Although they might not have been the best parents they did not completely ruin their lives. They lived a life that they didnt want to live when they got older so they worked extra hard to achieve their goal, with the exception of Maureen.

Alcoholism in The Glass Castle shaped the lives of the family mainly in a bad way, luckily the children were not completely effected by Rex’s overuse of alcohol. His addiction to alcohol placed the family in a continuous cycle of homelessness and poverty, therefore, causing them to eventually lose trust in him. The family endured Rex’s drinking and drunk episodes, tried to hide money in socks, and moved from place to place frequently. Even though the kids were put through so much adversity they were able to push through and eventually live comfortable lives with having to worry about where they are going to live next. Although Rex wall’s addiction shaped the lives of his family he still cared for them and tried to give them what they needed in the few amount of times he was sober and thinking straight.