Bad Parenting In The Glass Castle - Essay Sample to Check

Examples of Bad Parenting in the Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

The Glass of Castle is a memoir of resilience and redemption whereby a family dysfunction is shown. Jeannette’s mother is a free spirited woman who doesn’t want to be weighed with the responsibility of taking care of the family. The children are therefore left to look after themselves by clothing themselves, protecting themselves and finding their way to New York. The mother does not care about the lifestyle she is living, and she doesn’t accept any help from anyone as she continues to collect food in the trash and be homeless.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Jeannette Walls' Parents

Jeannette’s mother had a major influence in her life, and it was one of the most complicated relationships. Her mother could not care about the health of the children when she subjected Jeannette to a lot of activities that were beyond her to handle. At the age of three, Jeannette’s mother had her cook food for the family, and she ended up cutting herself, burning herself among other things. She never fed her family or provides food for them. Jeannette was the one who took care of the children young as she was. The mother influenced the children to grow up even when they were supposed to be children, playing with the others and living a normal life.

The influence is majorly seen when Jeannette is taken to hospital after being burned.

The mother is so irresponsible that she doesn’t realize that her daughter is burning or if the house is burning. She comes later on to help Jeannette and the neighbor takes her to the hospital. She doesn’t stay to look after her burned daughter. Jeannette was left to be like the mother of everyone although she was small. It was a big shock when she saw a nurse chewing gum since she had never had one in her life. She prefers to stay in the hospital because the hospital never runs short of food, ice, and chewing gum. The reason behind this is because her mother’s behavior had affected her and she knows that her home will never be a safe place to be and appreciated as there is no freedom, food and no one takes care of them

Even after being admitted to the hospital, her mother disapproves of how the nurses are treating her even if they are friendly and caring. Jeannette is made to cook her food after her father made her escape from the hospital without the doctor’s permission. Her mother would rather finish a painting than fix breakfast for her. The negligence of the mother towards her children is so cruel to the point of making Jeannette become ashamed of her mother and wouldn’t stop to say hello when she saw her picking trash. Jeannette mother claimed that it was good for someone to suffer when they were young. She did nothing when Jeannette was told by her father to put her finger on the fire so that she could fight the fear of fire.

Although the mother thought that she was training the children to be fearless, the influence she was giving her children was horrible, and she was ignoring the fact that they needed a motherly love and protection since they were her children. Jeannette’s mother subjected her family into a life that was far from the ordinary and a life that the children did not deserve. They kept moving from place to place, and they never settled or make friends. She made the children believe that their life was on a big adventure. Jeannette could probably not take the pretence, and as much as it was their parents, their life was taking a bad direction. It was the responsibility of the mother to be tender and not to leave the children like wild animals, therefore, living away from real life and happiness.