Before Jeannette realizes about her father's excessive drinking problems she trusts him and believes in the making of a glass castle saying,“ I listened to dad's plan and tried to encourage him, hoping that what he was saying was true but was pretty sure it wasn’t”. (p171). She loses faith in him to the point where she tries to make her mom leave him. Her siblings Laurie and Brian, who are not as close with their father are quick to see his major flaws. Rex frequently disappears for days leaving no traits getting less engaged and involved with the kids' lives, for instance when Jannette got beat by bullies at her school she chose not to tell her dad of the significant problem as he is rarely ever sober. In addition, Rex's alcoholism also affects the family financially, when he loses his job as an electrician he blames the mob saying “that the best place to get information was at the bar the mobsters owned”(page 112). As he spends his days drinking, Jeannette and her siblings begin stealing food from their classmates and searching others' garbage. To add to it all during the winter months, Jeannette and her siblings find leftover coal in the streets and burn it to keep warm, however, the fire is far from enough. “This house doesn't have a lack of insulation”, Brian says,” it's all going through the roof (p116)
Rex walls addiction not only prevents him from making money but causes him to spend it, when Jannette forms a tight budget to feed the family, Rex takes two days' worth of food for beer and cigarettes.
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In addition to hurting his family in The Glass Castle, emotionally and financially Rex Walls hurts the family psychologically. Under the influence, Rex acts unreasonably and is often very violent. Impaired, Rex asks nonsensically and is regularly exceptionally rough. For instance, on Christmas, the family celebrates by going to a church and purchasing and decorating presents for one another. However, Rex Wall gets drunk and begins to make inappropriate comments at church, and later on by burning the Christmas tree. Jeanette writes,” When Dad went crazy, we all have our ways of shutting down and closing off”, (p114). It was a significant defining moment and turning point where she lost trust in her father. Another case of when Rex is heavily influenced by the bottle and gets physical is when he fights Jeannette’'s mom, taking out a knife and tossing silverware and furniture. In short, what was eventually the cause of his death brought emotional pain, his alcoholism prevented him from being present in the children’s lives. Financial pain, prevented him from providing for his family. And lastly, his aggressive and violent behavior while drunk brought obvious physical pain.
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The Glass Castle Essay: Is Forgiveness Possible.
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