What Does Jeannette's Mom Give Her in a Sock?
The Glass Castle written by Jeanette Walls is a memoir of Walls' life. In this memoir, she shares the story of the struggle she and her siblings faced when being raised by their dysfunctional parents. In no way were her parents the typical loving and caring parents. Jeanette and her siblings learned to care for themselves over the course of the novel. This memoir illustrates the development of Jeanette's family throughout the course of her life.
Several archetypal characters were introduced and developed during the first half of the novel. One of these characters is Jeannette Wall, the protagonist of the story, who is portrayed as a hero archetype. As defined by Julie Harris, a hero is "an individual who has the courage of conviction to perform feats that benefit the general populace, acts as a soldier of virtue, and has an altruistic spirit that urges him or her to act against evil and defend the greater good at all costs, even sacrificing his own well-being or life."(Harris) This is evident in Jeannette's character where she displayed acts of courage in more than one instance in the novel. Her selflessness was evident in her constant desires to look after her siblings' and parent's first best interest, even placing their interests in front of her own.
Jeannette's father, Rex, was depicted as the manipulator and villain in the novel so far. Even after Rex abandons his family and squanders a large portion of their family income on alcohol, Jeannette was still susceptible to his never-ending barrage of manipulation. After Jeannette's mom got a job and refused to give her salary to Rex, he would cowardly manipulate Jeannette into telling him where the money is hidden so he can spend it on alcohol. "I looked around the table. No one met my eye except Dad, who was grinning like an alligator. I handed over the sock. Mom gave a dramatic sigh of defeat and let her head drop down on the table. To show who was in charge, Dad left the waitress a ten-dollar tip." (Walls 48) This clearly illustrates a cowardly villain who manipulates and bullies both his wife and daughter to get his way.
Rose Mary Wall's dislike for her children presented a villain-like heartless mother who is constantly blaming her children for her misfortunes and life failures. The unconditional, bottomless love one must expect from a mother for her children, was concealed by a heartless blame for everything that was wrong with her career was because of her young children. She truly believes that if the children never existed, she would have been a famous artist (Walls 118).
Development of three other characters, Lori, Brian, and Maureen, are following the typical portrayal of the innocent character archetype. They are the characters that are purely innocent and kind-hearted even though they are surrounded by darkness and horrible circumstances. They are bystanders of the entire story so far.
The novel takes place during the entire lifespan of Jeannette Wall, which enables the reader to have an intimate, and first-hand understanding of the character development throughout the years. I believe we can expect a complete and comprehensive character development for Jeannette that will take us through the biography of her life journey
Jeanette's journey aligns with the typical archetypal hero's journey, a typical heroic journey. With the foreshadowing that is present at the beginning of the novel, it lets the reader know that whatever she goes through, she will end up coming through as a stronger individual. From the beginning of the novel, we know that Jeanette has a difficult and hard life. While always traveling around moving, from house to house trying to run away from bank loaners and the Mafia (Walls 20), it is evident that she has the hardship that starts any hero's journey.
Archetypal Symbols
There are several prominent archetypal symbols that appear in the novel so far. The first and most obvious is the use of the word 'glass' in the title. The glass castle was an illusive dream that Jeannette's father has instilled in her mind at a young age. The dream of having a stable and safe home was quickly shattered, like glass, when at the young tender age of three Jeannette realizes that she is living in an unsafe and unstable home.
Another archetypal symbol that was evident in the novel was the use of fire. When looking at fire from an archetypal symbols perspective, it represents transformation, love, life, renewal or death, destruction, and chaos. When Jeanette was three, she had a terrifying experience with fire. While cooking hotdogs, her clothes caught fire. If it was not for the quick actions of her mother, that horrific incident would have resulted in her death (Walls 9). Following that horrific incident, Jeanette developed a mesmerizing fascination with fire.
The Joshua tree is also seen as an archetypal symbol. The Joshua tree is a tree that grew in the desert and rather than growing straight-up, it grew in the direction of the wind. The tree represents strength, endurance and the ability to adapt and grow against all odds. Like a Joshua tree, growing in the dead heat of the desert, and going with the wind, Jannette will survive the venomous lifestyle her parents have jailed her in to grow and prosper and realize her full potential. Jannette will survive all the hardship and will adapt to her environment and grow.
Stars also play an important archetypal symbol in the first half of the novel. They represent heavenly guidance and belief in the future of endless possibilities. Since Jeannette's parents were never able to afford gifts for her and her siblings, they would give them intangible gifts, like a star. This early connection with a faraway star gave Jeannette the ability to reassure herself by staring at the lonely bright planet, in the dark endless night skies, and seeing hope.
The novel started off with a snapshot of the future, foreshowing the lavish life of Jeannette Wall. Contrasting her lavish lifestyle in NYC Park Avenue condo to that of her homeless mother and father, who refuses to accept help from anyone (Walls 2). After reflecting on the heroic character archetype, I believe Jeannette Wall will go through an amazing life journey to reach that point. I also believe fire as an archetype will continue to play a major role in her character development, and her struggles to find her way.
Word Cited
Harris, Julie. "The Hero and the Journey."ECUTQP (2014): 3-5.ECUTQP. East Carolina University, 18 June 2014. Web. 11 July 2017.
Inc, Scribendi. "5 Common Character Archetypes in Literature."Scribendi Editing and Proofreading. Scribendi Inc, n.d. Web. 12 July 2017.
Lawrence, Lisa. "Archetypes and Symbols."Moore Wiley (2013): 1-5. Print.
Myss, Caroline. "Heroes and Villains."Archetypes. N.p., 24 July 2014. Web. 12 July 2017.
Walls, Jeannette.The Glass Castle: A Memoir. New York: Scribner, 2017. Print.
What Does Jeannette's Mom Give Her in a Sock?
Source: https://sarahsawan.wordpress.com/2017/07/13/the-glass-castle-archetypes-analysis/
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