Social Issues pertaining to The Glass Castle

Homelessness is a problem in The Glass Castle that does not technically pertain to Jeanette Walls but ends of dealing more with her mother and father. She may not have dealt with complete homelessness during her younger years; however, it is all a matter of opinion. There were times when she was living in below standard forms of housing, which is sometimes constituted as homelessness to certain people. She did not usually live in well-maintained environments and housing, and at a few points in time, Jeanette and her family had to go and live with both sets of her grandparents.

There are two things that people consider contributors to homelessness. The first is individual characteristics and the second is structural problems. Most of the Walls's problems were due to a lack of foundation and stability with the parents. The parents were not just getting bad breaks, but also had individual characteristics that helped lead to their downward spiral of failures, instability, lack of income, and lack of jobs. There were structural problems, as well, that helped contribute to the ongoing problems of the family. Rex Walls was unskilled, and ergo, he had to compete for the low-skill jobs, which were few. The mother had mental problems and was not receiving the proper money to help her get treatment, which furthered the chances and likelihood for the family to become homeless. Not only these reasons, but the Walls parents refused to accept money or any type of welfare from the government at any point in time. This is one of the reasons that people remain homeless, even with the increase in money allocated to social programs. Some people do not like the idea of taking money from the government of receiving any type of charity.

Most of the reasons that forced Jeanette's parents to be homeless in their later years were solely related to individual characteristics. The parents wanted to be homeless; they thought of it as another adventure. Personal opinions and feelings were the only contributors to their lifestyles because Rex Walls could go out and win money gambling and playing poker and could have made a dishonest living for himself, yet a living. Rose Mary Walls could have sold paintings or got some sort of a teaching job in New York City or tried to get some form of mental health help; however, she continued to paint for herself, while never trying to receive any profits. They never tried to get themselves away from being homeless. They never allowed Jeanette or anyone else to help them, after Lori threw them out of the apartment. They enjoyed the idea of being homeless too much to want to get out or away from it.

The passages on page 3, 255, and 266 were the ones I chose to discuss in The Glass Castle with regard to my social issue of homelessness. There were three very different passages because Jeanette's tone varied so much from passage to passage. Sometimes, there was a slant and other times, no slant was presented. Anyway, these three passages presented homelessness from three different perspectives.

The first of the passages on page 3 talks about homeless within a family. Jeanette displays her feelings of guilt about having parents that are homeless, while she lives a comfortable lifestyle in a nice apartment. It shows how Jeanette talks of her outfit one second, and the next, she sees her mother rummaging through a dumpster for any type of "treasure". The passage goes on to say that Jeanette does not want people to know about her family or her past. She wants that part of her life to be kept secret and away from her current life, which makes her feel guilty. It shows the effects of homelessness on a family and how Jeanette feels a personal tie to these homeless people because they are her parents. Basically, it brings a reality check that the homeless on the street are part of someone's family. This homeless woman happens to be a part of Jeanette's.

The second passage is on page 255 and presents homelessness from the parents' perspective, making the whole situation seem like a great adventure. They talk about where they can sleep from night to night, the shows they can go see for free, where they can clean-up and keep hygiene at a maximum, and the food kitchens that are open. Everything seems great from the parents' eyes. They give Jeanette and their kids the impression that their lives are a breeze and everything is just fine. They almost make it seem like it is more fun and better to be homeless, which is why they refuse the help and money that Jeanette and her other siblings try to offer them. It almost seems like the parents just do not want the kids to have to take care of them. Rex and Rosemary to not want to take any more away from their children than they already have. In an attempt to keep the kids from worrying too much, they decide to make their lives seem fun and adventurous like when the kids were little. This type of psychology used to make crappy times seem better to the children.

The third passage is from an outsider's perspective, and it is on page 266. This is from a very objective standpoint. It talks about the terrible conditions and environments of the homeless squats or broken down shacks that these people resided. No descriptions are sugar-coated. The conditions of how truly terrible the conditions are is accurately described throughout this passage. Jeanette gives a distance to the homeless people. She does not describe emotional ties to her parents, just shows how bad their living conditions are. This helps to show that outsiders who have comfortable homes and environments do not truly understand the severity of the environment that homeless call comfortable.