“The Glass Castle”- Generational Curses

Throughout The Glass Castle, one can see the generational curses of sins of the father. Jeannette’s parents were part of a cycle of alcoholism, anger and depression. Throughout the book one can see all the parts of the generational curses thorough Rex Walls, Rose Mary, Jeannette and her siblings. Rex Walls is the father of the writer of The Glass Castle. Throughout the book, one can see that he gets extremely drunk and he never holds down a job to provide for his family. Rex is usually gone drinking at different bars for days at a time. One of the stories in The Glass Castle explained that her father went out and bought a bottle of tequila to feed his addiction after he earned money from fixing someone’s transmission. Rex knew that his family desperately needed money to buy food but he chose to buy alcohol instead. While in Welch, one can see that he takes after his own mother. Erma his mother is also uncontrollable drinker just like Rex. The generational curses of alcoholism can be passed throughout generations, just like with Rex Walls. Jeannette’s mother, Rose Mary, is uncaring for her children. When Jeannette was little, she was left cooking hot dogs alone at three years old which led to Jeannette getting severe burns while her mother was in another room painting.

Her mother could not keep a job. If she did have a job, the money from the job was spent on alcohol or on her “chocolate addition”. Throughout her life she was only looking out for herself, but her grandmother was the one person that took care of her family and kept up with finances showing that the sins of the father are not always generational. One can start the iniquity, like Rose Mary who seems to have started the downhill slide of non caring mothers. Jeannette Walls and her siblings went through a rough childhood with moving frequently, struggling with finances and other various issues with their parents. However, Jeanette and her siblings wanted to overcome their childhood problems and fulfill their dreams.

The only way they could fulfill their dreams was to go to New York City. One by one, they all went to New York and fulfilled their dreams. When they grew up, they were nothing like their parents, but hard working adults. They broke the cycle of generational curses in their family. Jeannette Walls and her siblings had to deal with the outcomes of generational curses, brought on by their drunk, angry and uncaring parents; however, they did not follow in their parents footsteps and became hard working adults. Jeannette and her siblings showed that you can be responsible for your actions and choose the right path.