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How does Rex's parenting in The Glass Castle contribute to the children's independence?
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Rex's parenting fosters independence in his children through constant upheaval and neglect. By frequently moving and uprooting the family, Rex prevents them from forming attachments and ensures they rely on themselves. Despite some positive teachings, like confronting fears, his alcoholism and instability force the children to fend for themselves. This lack of parental support and stability compels Jeannette and her siblings to become self-reliant at a young age.
It isn't the best parenting method, but one way that Rex fosters independence is by refusing to allow his children to get too comfortable in one place, forever moving them around and preventing them from becoming too dependent on other people in their lives—including their parents.
It became fairly commonplace for Rex to pull a "skeddle" when things weren't going his way, uprooting his family from whatever comfort they had settled into. When Jeanette is hospitalized, Rex runs with her when he feels she's had enough treatment. Her father would awake them in the middle of the night, throw them into the car, and leave everything behind, including favorite toys. Once, when they are leaving in haste, Jeanette comforts herself by stroking her cat, but her mother decides that the cat doesn't "travel well":
Anyone who didn't like to travel wasn't invited on our adventure, Dad said. He stopped the...
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car, grabbed Quixote by the scruff of the neck, and tossed him out the window. Quixote landed with a screeching meow and a thud, Dad accelerated up the road, and I burst into tears.
"Don't be so sentimental," Mom said.
By the time she is four, Jeanette has jumped around more than she can count, but she remembers trying to count these places with her sister:
"How many places have we lived?" I asked Lori.
"That depends on what you mean by 'lived,'" she said. "If you spend one night in some town, did you live there? What about two nights? Or a whole week?"
I thought. "If you unpack all your things," I said.
We counted eleven places we had lived, then we lost track. We couldn't remember the names of some of the towns or what the houses we had lived in looked like. Mostly, I remembered the inside of cars.
Even at four, something inside Jeanette imagines another way of life, but she can't predict what such a life might be like. She only knows that they would be "caught" if the running ever stopped.
So they move from the desert to West Virginia, and Jeanette eventually finds her way to New York. During so much transition, she learns that she can depend on herself. Besides her parents, people don't stay in her life for long; sadly, her parents don't provide any sense of stability for her, either. Therefore, Jeanette learns independence from an early age because there is no one else to depend on who has a steady and responsible influence in her life.
Rex, the narrator's father, helps his children become independent in some arguably positive ways. For example, he tells Jeanette not to be afraid of fire, even after she has suffered from horrible burns she incurred while cooking hot dogs at age three. Rather than telling his daughter to stay away from fire, he encourages her to confront her enemy and to stick her finger through a flame repeatedly. In fact, he encourages her to such an extent that Jeanette becomes a bit of a pyromaniac and sets her toys afire.
Rex also tends to disrupt his family's life in an attempt to keep them from becoming attached to places and things. He rouses them in the middle of the night and tells them it's time to move, and he doesn't let Jeannette return for her favorite toy as they are moving. The kids become independent in part because they know they can never put down lasting roots. This is a negative aspect of Rex's parenting, as his children become independent because they know they can't count on him to be stable—particularly when he is drinking.
In the beginning of Jeannette Walls' horrific (and true) story of her life, detailed in her memoir The Glass Castle, her father (Rex) was a good parent. He, when sober, taught his children about the sciences and how to live a fearless life.
After losing all of their money, the family gave up their nomadic lifestyle and settled down in West Virgina. Depressed and dismayed, Rex began to drink heavily and his children were required to learn to fend for themselves.
Once Rex began drinking heavily, his children began to be neglected. They were lied to about the fact that starvation and cold would bring strength. They were required to, in essence, raise themselves given their parents were far too concerned with their own lives.
Therefore, Rex's parenting skills, while neglectful, forced the children to learn to survive on their own. Their independence, while coming far too early for such young children, was forced upon them given Rex's neglect. They had no choice but to fend for themselves.