Character

In The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls is the second oldest of her three siblings and is the narrator, as well as the author, of the memoir. Throughout the narrative, Jeannette’s character develops through all the hardships her antagonistic parents drag her through. Her matter-of-fact tone in the novel creates a powerful notion to the readers as no matter the situation, Jeannette’s thoughts remain sober and realistic--which is more than anyone could say of her father. Also, at times her tone turns detached, especially after her parents drag her away from another house. More specifically, when they move from the only true home they had ever really known in Phoenix, and move to Welch. Their entire stay there, Jeannette never refers to the house as “home” like she did with her previous places. She instead calls the house by its address, “93 Little Hobart Street.” The entire novel is seen through the her eyes, no matter her age, and this often times creates a varied level of diction through the duration of the story. Also, through Walls’ use of language, she provides new insight on their dynamics, as well as her own thoughts and personality. Generally, Walls’ sentences are short and staccato, “School wasn’t so bad,” which can be taken for her own immaturity at the time, because during the memoir, she is writing from the perspective of her younger self and what she remembers thinking (page 44). As the novel progresses, her diction persists the same level of her old thoughts, “I’d pull his hands off and walk away without saying a word and that horndog would return to the television...,” though her perspective becomes more mature in its understanding (page 215). While Walls writes the novel as a grown woman years away from the troubled times she led, she stays true to her story and the brave young leader she was as a child.