In Jeanette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, she portrayed both her parents with irrational behaviors. Her parents’ philosophy toward their kids was that kids learn a lot more from their own mistakes. Since childhood, Jeanette learned to be an independent person. They want her to experience the hardships of life in hope that she will be able to withstand any obstacles in her way. They do not wish for her to grow up to be dependent on other people. Jeanette’s parents’ unreasonable attitude is only guiding her to be a better person toward her future.
At the age of three, she caught herself on fire trying to cook hotdogs. From that incident onward, she was never afraid of fire again and became quite attracted to it. “Dad also thought I should face down my own enemy, and he showed me how to pass my finger through a candle flame.” Even though her parents never acted like normal parents, they were always there for her when she needed them. Her parents care a lot about her well-being. They want her to overcome all her fears in order to be a stronger person.
When she was ten years old, she was sexually harassed by a homeless and perverted man.“ One night when I was almost ten, I was awakened by someone running his hands through my private parts.” Instead of crying about it she became a perverted hunter for a short period of time. She didn’t let that incident scar her life. She took all the series of unfortunate events that occurred in her life as a new lesson to learn in life. She hold strong until the end, because that was the way she was brought up by her parents. She didn’t fear anything or anyone, she let them fear her.
Her parents wasn’t always setting a good examples for their kids. They are always on the run when they causes trouble. “ We could hear Dad locking the door and double-checking them. The engine restarted, and we continued on our way.” Every time her parents cause trouble in a certain town, they always moved into a new town. This is not setting a good examples for Jeanette and her siblings. Her parents are teaching Jeanette and her siblings to run away from their troubles, instead of facing it head on. Running away is good sometimes, but not all the time.
Her parents unreasonable attitude almost cost Jeanette to lose her virginity. Her mother told her, “ No child is born a delinquent,” when she told her mother about Billy. Her mother encourages her to be nice to him, and that being nice to him is the ethical thing to do. With that said, she became nice to him and he took it the wrong way. He almost successful raped her while they were hiding. If her mother would have told her to stay away from Billy when she told her she didn’t like the way Billy was acting toward her, she wouldn’t have been half raped. Jeanette’s mother is too carefree that she overlooked many situations that could have been avoided if she would have done her job right as a mother.
Jeanette’s parents were senseless parents; however, their senseless attitudes allowed their kids to understand the real world from each one of their kid’s own point of view. During her childhood her parents never really teach her from right to wrong. They always let her experience everything on her own. They were only there to make sure that Jeanette and her siblings would not starve to death. They let and accept all the mistakes that Jeanette and her siblings make. They take everything as a teaching lesson so that they wouldn't have to teach it to their kids. Their attitudes allows their kids to grow up in a way that will benefit their kids in the long-run.