Desolation in Protagonist’s life (Response Paper for GC)

  Desolation in Protagonist’s life

    In the story of The Glass Castle, written by Jeanette Walls, she confesses by telling about her childhood and clarifying her identity and roots. Despite her current successful career, she has always been isolated. Her miserable childhood experiences let the reader know her isolation from her family. In addition, her pretending to be someone different after coming to New York represents her loneliness in society. She was emancipated from that kind of disconnectedness by revealing her nature. She finally found a way to break out of loneliness by writing The Glass Castle.

    One of the childhood experiences that represent her isolation from family is the conversation about the helicopter ride. During the protagonist’s recovery at a hospital, her family did a raffle, and a lot with her name won a helicopter ride. Her mother tells her about that when she comes and visits her in a hospital. Then her mother said, “Oh, we already did that,” and “It was fun.” This quote can be interpreted as the unnaturalness of her family. It tells her family left her alone and enjoyed the experience without her, although she won the lottery. It means that she is isolated even though she has four family members. Her mother must be unusual for saying “It was fun.” to her. The protagonist came from troubled family background. 

    It is also worth noting that she is secluded from the hospital by her abusive and dysfunctional home. After being badly burnt, she is placed in the hospital alone. This situation can be said what represents her solitariness. Additionally, she became quite fond of the place because it is “clean and shiny,” and “Everyone spoke in polite, calm voices.” She says, “I wasn’t used to quiet and order, and I liked it.” To say, she feels at home and comfortable in her life in the quiet hospital. However, her insulting parents come to her and get her house under duress, which is her grueling reality. The way her family forcibly pulls her away from her safe space signifies the return of her isolation. That is because she is forced to be apart from her comfortable life.

    Her miserable childhood and isolation follow her for the rest of her adult life. Although she decided to live a new life after leaving her home and start living in New York, she is lonesome in view of the fact that she pretends to be someone she is not. She says, “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.” She tries to be another person without an impoverished past. Even though she lives in celebrity life and is in a community of superstars, she is totally disconnected from society. Moreover, it can be said as she is also isolated from herself by impersonating someone not her.

    In conclusion, Jenett Wall has been living in solitude all her life, and by writing this book and revealing her actual past, she finally freed herself from isolation and took herself back into her own hands. Toxic parents plagued her in her childhood, and she experienced desolation at home. After running away from there, she was disconnected from society as she lived as a false self. "The Grass Castle” is not only her memoir but also a key to freedom from her seasonless isolation.