SOCIAL ISSUES;THE GLASS CASTLE
By: Molley Peeples
Mental Illness
"A person's thinking, feeling or mood may affect and disrupt his ability to relate to others and function in daily life." This quote refers to Rose Mary, via the glass castle. Bi Polar is one of many mental health conditions. Being Bi Polar means having drastic highs and lows in the person's energy and moods. therefore this is probably what Rose Mary has, and this is because of her many mood swings, from anger to bitter sadness when she won't even get up for work in the mornings for days on end.
Civil Disobedience
Civil disobedience is a public, non violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies. This applies to Rex in several ways. For one example, he and his family would always do "The skedaddle" and leave where they were leaving to avoid getting in trouble by the government. There are four main parts to civil disobedience, and conscientious is one of the main parts. It points to the seriousness and sincerity which disobeys to the law. If Rex were to ever get caught "skedaddling" who knows how badly their life could end up.
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a serious disease many families and people deal with. It is when a person is addicted to alcohol, and it is sometimes unstoppable. Sometimes, the disease can get scary, especially if mood swings are involved. If someone binge drinks, death could result. In the glass castle, Rex is an alcoholic with alcoholism. His childhood wasn't the greatest and now he drinks all the time to get away from his problems. He even makes excuses to drink and when he does, the whole family develops more problems, including having fights with his wife Rose Mary.
Homelessness Act
The homelessness act of 2009, signed by president Obama was established on May 20th of the year, and it is where certain programs work to give shelter for thousands of homeless people. On January 17th, 2011, HUD (one of the major programs) published something that only applicators could apply for a home. The applications served to those with families with children and or accompanied youth. This huge program would have saved Jeanette's family severely, if it was around at their time. The family wouldn't have to skedaddle to new territories, they wouldn't have to save all their money for a week of food, and have to constantly wear the same clothes, because then all their money could go towards those items instead of their small useless house.
Parenting/ Parental Rights
According to the article terminating parental rights, Jeanette's parents would not have lost Jeanette and their kids. The reason for this is because Rex and Rosemary have never abused the children in any way, or abandoned them. They have not exactly treated their kids correctly and normally, but it wasn't anything law breaking. The parents just had a hard lifestyle with the kids and the kids were not depressed over any of it, so I think it's okay. However, I would have chosen for the kids to be separated or so because of the fact the parents treated them with such poor ways.
Education
The law states that children between the age of 5 and 18 have to attend school. However, there are some exceptions. These exceptions are illness, religious issues, extreme family emergencies, and medical appointments. There is something called educational neglect, where a guardian or parent doesn't try to make sure a child goes to school for education. In the glass castle, Rex and Rosemary do not make their children go to school. When the children were young they were taught to read and learned from their parents, which is good. However if the states knew about this, rex and rosemary could have been in trouble.