The Glass Castle Social Issues
Alex Bruce
Mental Illness
“Bipolar disorder causes dramatic highs and lows in a person’s mood, energy and ability to think clearly.” This quote from the article best displays Rose Mary’s mental condition is best described by this quote, because in the story the author portrays Rose Mary as happy sometimes and then in a state of sadness for days at a time. She goes from mood to mood in an instant which is why this mental disorder best describes her.
Rebellion
Rex shows civil disobedience throughout the story but one good example would be when he took Jeanette to the zoo. Their trip to the zoo started off smoothly, but then Rex decided to take it to the next level. He went to the cheetah cage and petted the cheetah which was not allowed. He was then ridiculed upon and escorted out for his actions. This is a good example of civil disobedience because it was nonviolent and technically not against the law.
Alcoholism
“Risk for alcoholism in humans reflects the mix and magnitude of these and other phenotypes, shaped by underlying genes, in interaction with an environment in which alcohol is available.” This quote best describes Rex’s condition in association with alcohol. Rex has been an alcoholic for a long time and it has taken its toll on his appearance and his genes, according to this quote.
Homelessness
If this act would have been applied when Jeanette and her family were homeless it would’ve helped them tremendously. Jeanette’s family for the majority of her life was practically homeless and extremely poverty stricken. This act/law would’ve allowed them to get more assistance from the local and state governments as well as maybe transitioning them to a new/better house. They might have been able to “piggy back” off of this act and moved out of their house on little Hobart street to a nicer place.
Parenting
After reading that article, I don’t think that the Wall’s parents are fit to be parents because of numerous reasons. The first and biggest reason is that they cannot provide all the necessities for their children. This more often than not leaves the kids fending for themselves and even digging out of the garbage cans at school. Another important reason they are not fit to be parents is that Rex is an alcoholic and the article states that “Long-term alcohol or drug-induced incapacity of the parent(s)”.
Education
I feel like the Walls family might have committed education neglect at times during their life because they were always moving place to place which forced them to miss a lot of school during their lives. Also, even they went to school it might have been so bad that they weren’t learning anything or they were too busy scavenging for food because they were not properly fed clothed or sheltered at home. So although they might have been at attendance at school, their minds might not have been there.