“Instead of worrying about what cannot be controlled, an individual must shift their energy into what can be created” (Roy T. Bennett). Jeannette Walls from The Glass Castle and Baby from Lullabies For Little Criminals have been trapped in a state of disillusionment their entire lives. Delusion runs in the Walls family, and the children lack a rational parental influence to look up to, whereas Baby is an exact reflection of the danger she is exposed to, partly due to there being no mother figure in her life. Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose strong-willed nonconformity was both their curse and their salvation and they were inhibited towards change. The non-conformity of the Walls family is a definite sign of intelligence and in an era of non-conformity, the non-conformity they presented was of unconditional love and strength of human spirit. The environment that Baby finds herself in is decrepit and damaging to the untrained eye, and Baby does not make an effort to change her ways and there becomes a point where she is doing the damage to herself. Baby’s conformity to her given environment leads her to a dangerous reality, her choice to conform leads her to believe it is the only way of living, and that drugs are the only escape. Jeanette is able to use her positive and negative experiences hand in hand to create a successful life. Although Baby’s future is unknown, without any structure in her life she will be destined to keep treading a troubled track. Individuals who do not learn to question their surroundings will not learn to reconstruct their lives into something greater.
Children sprout in the most wonderful ways when given the opportunity, and when childhood is precisely architected to ensure proper child development, most will flourish and succeed. Although sounding easy, the family dynamic and parental guidance in both novels is lacking, giving the reader a glimpse of what the foreshadowed futures of Jeanette and Baby are. In The Glass Castle, each character carries their own completely different “persona” in spite of being part of almost seemingly the exact same environments. They are a highly dysfunctional family, yet perfectly intertwined to always maintain clarity in their aspirations. Rex and Rose Mary do not want to be given the responsibility of taking care of a family, thus they typically leave their children to fend for themselves. In spite of Rex being a drunk, careless father, he is undoubtedly extremely intelligent., “If you don’t want to sink, you better figure out how to swim” (Walls 66). This quote can be directly applied to Rex’s way of guiding the children through life, Rex teaches his children literally to sink or swim. Rex puts Jeanette’s life at risk every time, but he places his confidence in her abilities to survive. Rex battles with the demons in his head, a struggle that persists throughout his whole life, impacting his relationships with his children. In return, Rex gives them the tools they need to battle their own demons. Primarily, it is the lessons of self-sufficiency and fearlessness taught which provide the necessary strength to fend for themselves and create something out of nothing. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Baby from Lullabies For Little Criminals is emotionally deprived due to the absence of a mother figure in her life. The lack of this figure causes her to feel isolated at times, unwanted, and unappreciated, “I’d grown up with men around the house, and there would never be anyone to help me match my clothes or fix my hair” (O’Neill, 148). The effect of this causes Baby to look for affection in places she should not. She dwells on thoughts of her mother, wondering what her life would be like if she was there to raise her. Perhaps Baby’s mother is what is missing from the puzzle piece to ensure Baby lives a normal life. Baby’s father, Jules, provides an environment for little criminals to thrive in, which is exactly what Baby does. Influenced by her father’s drug use, Baby begins to use heroin and dabbles in prostitution. Baby’s environment normalizes morally wrong situations, causing her to be unable to stray away from the negativity surrounding her. Baby does not know any better, this lifestyle seems normal due to the circumstances of her upbringing. Jules is seemingly more of a brother figure in Baby’s life, due to his inability to provide a stable, nurturing home for Baby. Although it is evident that Baby and Jules are typically in disagreement, he is somebody she can not live without, and experiences an abusive emotional attachment towards him. “Usually you get drugs from the crowd that you hung around with. But I was twelve and none of the people I hung around were into drugs. There were simply no cool kids my age” (74). Baby’s thoughts are justifiable because this way of living is natural to her. Baby’s delusion is apparent when she speaks about kids her age not being “cool” because they are not abusing drugs. She is running much ahead of her time due to it becoming her own responsibility to feed, clothe, and shelter herself at the age of 13, but never once makes an effort to change her ways and escape the rabbit hole Jules has effortlessly hopped into, dragging Baby down with him.
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The actions of Rex and Rose Mary Walls in The Glass Castle reveal that they are non-conformist kind of people. This results in Jeannette being the exact opposite.
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