Essay 1

There are many controversial opinions on whether or not Rex Walls and Mary Walls were fit parents. When this argument  is brought up, it can easily be determined that financially the Walls family was unstable. However, even in these circumstances, three out of four of the children grew up to be very successful and grew up with high moral values and very intelligent. Mary Walls was only interested in her art but had very high moral values. Rex Walls was a loving and intelligent dad but had a heavy alcohol addiction. One thing that was obvious throughout the entire memoir is that Jeanette never felt at one point that she was unloved because the Walls were fine parents who loved their children. Furthermore, although many may feel that the Walls children should have gone to foster care, yet if those children had gone to foster care they would not have nearly turned as successful as they did. Although foster care can be beneficial in some cases, it can also be very damaging to a child’s early development, because often they have a feeling that they were unloved by their birth parents. In the end, all that matters is tender loving care. The best way to dive into this argument would be to look at each parent individually and to really ponder whether that parent was a “fit parent”.

When we take a look at Rex Walls we notice many noble qualities such as intelligence and optimism, but with these positive qualities we also have some negative qualities like alcoholism. Rex Walls did what he thought was best for his family and taught his children math and science, so much so that whenever they were to enroll in schools they would be placed in the advanced brackets. Rex was very smart but had dreams that never really quite worked out. He always tried to find a way to support his family his way and not work under anyone, which would explain why he would never be able to hold a job. He did also have an alcoholic addiction which would really hurt the family financially and emotionally. There were countless times where Rex came home drunk and began to fight with Rose Mary or cause some other sort of problem. Although many don’t see the ideal father being an alcoholic, Rex still managed to teach his children and love them a lot:

“Dad kept telling me that he loved me, that he never would have let me drown, but you can’t cling to the side your whole life, that one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is “if you don’t want to sink, you better figure out how to swim.” What other reason, he asked , would possible make him do this?”( 66).

 I truly loved this passage because it is so true. I think it’s important for parents to teach this to their children in order to grow. This lesson teaches that we should learn how to do things on our own and become more independent. Rex Walls was a fine father that had an alcoholic addiction, but I could say without any doubt that he would do anything in the world for his children especially Jeannette.

Next we take a look at Rose Mary Walls, the mother of Jeannette Walls. Rose Mary had very high morals in life and lived to try and be exactly the opposite of her own mother. Rose Mary had a saying for pretty much everything and saw beauty where most people wouldn’t. She was never wasteful and loved art so much that she pretty much dedicated her life to it. The only issue I noticed throughout the memoir is that she lacked a lot of responsibility. She worked as a teacher at times throughout the memoir but always ended up quitting because she hated it. Also, at the end of the novel, we find out that she had land that was worth a million dollars but never went and sold the land even in desperate times. Rose Mary believed that her land was precious because it was passed down from family. Even with this lack of responsibility, she was a great mother because she taught them high moral values and influenced Lori in becoming an artist. “Mom frowned at me. “You’d be destroying what makes it special,” she said. “It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it its beauty ””( 38). I really took this quote to heart because I kind of felt that it was meant to be remembered throughout the memoir. It was almost like Rose Mary was directly telling Jeannette that the struggles that she goes through now will make her beautiful and strong in the future. I really think that Rose Mary had a deeper understanding on why she did the things she did. The funny thing is that Rose Mary’s lack of responsibility made her children responsible because they needed to basically take care of themselves when money was tight. Rose Mary was a fantastic mother that taught her children responsibility and high morals.

We have seen many reasons as to why Rex and Mary Walls made good parents. It is hard to determine what makes a good parent. We have had many discussions in class about what makes a good parent and it is very different because quite frankly there is no one right way to raise one’s child. One particular article was a list of what is valued higher for parent and was from one to ten with different requirements for parenting such as love and affection, etc. Regardless of how a parent rates, what is more important for raising a child as long as the parent works to be there for their child and love them I believe they are doing something right. Parenting is quite difficult and has a lot of controversy. In the article “Helicopter Moms vs. Free-Range Kids” by Lenore Skenazy, who was both applauded and condemned. Skenazy allowed her fourth-grade child to ride the subway alone. I loved this article and I believe that children should be entrusted with more responsibilities and should be taught to be more independent. Skenazy makes several valid points as to why allowing her child to take the subway alone has be beneficial. One argument she makes is the question of whether or not cities are safer of less safe than they used to be. “Long story short: My son got home, ecstatic with independence,” Skenazy wrote on April 4 in the New York Sun.” (Skenazy pg 1) The child from this article seems to be completely fine with the responsibilities of taking the subway alone. I think that parents worry way too much about their children and need to give their children some responsibilities so they become more independent. Our generation is too coddled and is hurting our generation.  Furthermore, the siblings from The Glass Castle have turned into working members of society and have made a huge impact on the world. They were doing a lot more than taking a subway alone and they turned out great.

Parenting is hard to gauge what is considered fit and unfit, but I believe that the Walls turned out the way they did because they lived in those conditions. We learn that if you struggle now, then you gain a lot more in the future. I believe that the events that took place in their life helped shape the Walls and make them all the more responsible. Rex and Rose Mary Walls did fantastic jobs raising their children and have done so with their own type of parenting.

Work Cited

·         Walls, Jeanette. The Glass Castle. New York: Scribner, 2005. Print.

·         Epstein, Robert. "What Makes a Good Parent?" Scientific American Mind 21.5 (2010): 46-51. Print.

·         Skenazy, Lenore. “Helicopter Moms vs. Free-Range Kids” The Daily Beast (2008): Print.