Who is Driving the Story

 Who is Driving the Story?

In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, much of the focus is on the mother. In the memoir we can see how the mother drives all the story and  all the life of her daughter. This clearly affects Jeannette in her daily life and her problems are the product of what the mother does. Even when Jeannette becomes a successful adult she still cannot enjoy her own success because of her mother. This makes Jeannette more desperate and she needs to solve the problem. It is the mother again who drives the story and convinces Jeannette to tell the truth and create The Glass Castle.

When we talk about a mother controlling the life of her children we can think that the children are exaggerating, but in this story we can see how the daughter was treated and of course it is not normal. When Jeannette is in the hospital a nurse offers her a piece of gum. When the mother finds out about who gave it to her, she makes a disgusted expression “Ugh” and then how Jeannette's tells it “she disapproved of chewing gum, she went on. It was a disgusting low class habit, and the nurse should have consulted her before encouraging me in such vulgar behavior” when she was 3 years old and how a dialogue can give specific details about the mother and how the mother resents Jeannette. 

The control Jeannette’s mother has over her is not always done in the same way, but it always has the same effect on the life of Jeannette, to the point that she cannot even enjoy her own house  “I’d tried to make a home for myself here, tried to turn the apartment into the sort of place where the person I wanted to be would live” What does she mean?  Jeannette cannot enjoy her own success, she cannot enjoy her own home, and she cannot enjoy the life she has made for herself because her mother was controlling and driving her life unconsciously making Jeannette feeling in that way of desperation.

Each time Jeannette is more desperate about the influence which her mother has on her life, and so she decides to talk with her mother. When she talks with her mother, after a brief conversation Jeannette tells her mother that she is tired of hiding the story behind therefore Jeannette offers her help but the mother being totally serious said that she is fine, she tells Jeannette that she is who needs help, and Jeannette asks “ What am I supposed to tell people about my parents?” her mother says “Just tell the truth, that is simple enough.” her mother told her to tell the truth but again she is controlling her daughter to solve Jeannette’s problems.

Jeanette finally told the truth about the control which her mother has on her, The Glass Castle may be one of her masterpieces. Thanks to her mother and with the fascinating idea of Jeannette to tell the truth through a story and take her mother’s idea literally as her mother told her to do it, just telling the truth…