Why? Answer this question with specific references to one of the wasted opportunities.
There are multiple times in The Glass Castle that Rose Mary and Rex come into money and should be able to pull themselves out of the poverty they're in. However, none of these end up working out.
Why? Answer this question with specific references to one of the wasted opportunities.
15 Comments
John
10/15/2015 03:35:35 pm
The reason why it never works out for them is because their priorities aren't in-line with what the whole family needs. They put their needs before anyone else. An example is when Jeannette and Brian find the diamond ring back in Welch and they show it to Rose Mary. They easily could've fixed their financial issue by selling the ring but instead, Rose Mary keeps it because she says that it'll increase her self-esteem and how sometimes, self-esteem is more important then food and hunger.
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Cam
10/15/2015 04:17:07 pm
The Walls parents are never able to pull themselves out of their near constant state of poverty due to a deficiency in common sense and willpower, and an overabundance of weakness and selfishness. They are offered several golden opportunities to improve their quality of life, but they promptly squander every one on useless frivolities because they lack the discipline to really make use of them. In no instance is this more evident than when Rose Mary inherits her late mother's house and a good sum of money. Instead of acting with self restraint, responsibility, and good sense, Rose Mary does the opposite and proceeds to buy vast quantities of art supplies. Had she stopped to reflect before doing so, she might have realized that perhaps there are ways to dispense with one's money that would not make a chronic gambler weep. While it certainly provides Rose Mary with enjoyment, it does little to improve the family's circumstances, and the children continue to go hungry. This is a glaring example of how the Walls parents, through selfishness and weakness, waste all the opportunities presented to them, and prevent the family from breaking out of their state of poverty.
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Kyle
10/18/2015 04:50:48 pm
I wholeheartedly agree. The house in Phoenix was a tremendous opportunity for the Walls's to break their cycle of poverty, with a new source of sustainable income. Not only does the mom get money for leasing the mysterious land she inherited, but half of the house could have been rented out. It is mentioned by Jeanette that her grandmother had previously been renting out the adobe house to two families at once. The house has 14 rooms! Instead of turning 10 rooms into art studios, the parents could have rented out the space to one, maybe two tenants. However, you mention that the mother could have acted differently had she stopped to reflect, which is where I must disagree. Rose Mary has an odd fixation on everything she owns, and has difficulty parting with it. When renting a house, she is able to get up and leave at any time, but must bring all her possessions along, despite the kids being allowed to bring but one item. Due to this, I feel that Rose Mary would never be able to fathom selling anything she owns, and must spend any money she gets immediately, or else it is seen as useless bills and coins.
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Brianna
10/15/2015 04:55:37 pm
There are multiple times in the Glass Castle when Rose Mary and Rex find themselves with money but choose not to pull themselves out of the poverty they are in. They have other priorities that come before supporting their family. Rose Mary spends the little money they have on art supplies that do no good for the rest of the Walls family. Rex also wastes money on booze for his own satisfaction. Knowing they don't have much money, they should be saving their money for things to support the family like groceries, clothes, and bills; rather than leaving their children with no lunch for school.
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Katie
10/15/2015 06:39:41 pm
There are many reasons why Rex and Rose Mary can't bring themselves out of the poverty they're in but I think the most common reason in this novel is that they don't know how to handle money. To me, the most surprising waste of money in this memoir was in the last few pages when we learn that Rose Mary's land had been worth at least a million dollars. Rose Mary was too stubborn to give up the meaningless land in Texas that she inherited because she found it to be of value. Earlier on in the book when Rose Mary goes away for a teaching course over the summer, she even gets Jeanette to make sure that the check for her land is safe and not in the hands of Rex. In this situation, I believe that Jeanette would have handed over the check to her father if she knew that that Check meant that their family would not have had to worry about any finances for the rest of their lives. Rose Mary's stubborn attitude was the reason for why this financial situation didn't work out when it could have solved many, many problems.
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Yasmine
10/15/2015 06:45:38 pm
Money always seems to not mean much to Rose Mary and Rex. They don’t think that the kids suffering from starvation is a severe circumstance. Like the land that Rose Mary owned, Jeannette suspected that it worth one million dollars. But Rose Mary never even thought of selling it when the money could have helped them to simply get rid of poverty and dramatically change their lifestyles. She thinks you should never sell family land no matter what situation you are in. That is how she takes priority of herself and which also could be interpreted as a symbol for her selfishness.
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Mylinh
10/15/2015 07:46:08 pm
A reason that would explain why Rex and Mary could not get themselves out of poverty would be that they don' know how to priorities their responsibilities and can't tell what's important in their life. for example, when Mary's brother, Jim, died she found out that since his last was one million dollars, so her land was approximately also one million dollars. So throughout Mary's life, she has this one million dollar worth property that she could have sold to benefit her family's lifestyle, but instead she kept it for sentimental value even though she refused to use it and therefore making the land completely worthless.
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Meagan
10/15/2015 07:51:46 pm
Throughout The Glass Castle, Rex and Rose Mary have managed to go back into poverty even though they did come to have money at certain points in the book. One time in particular was when Jeanette and Brian presented Rose Mary with the 2 karat engagement ring that they found under a log. Rose Mary was only thinking of herself so she decided to not sell the ring merely so she could wear it. This showed that she is vain and even though she clearly wants the finer things in life like jewellery, she does nothing do help herself be successful. A responsable parent would sell the ring in a heartbeat so that their family could have the necessities that one needs. Rose Mary could have pawned the ring to pay for electricity or to buy more food but instead she chose to only think of herself. The Walls parents continuously throughout the novel choose to prioritize themselves over their own children. Their self-centred behaviour and no awareness of money sense are what always pulls the family back into poverty every time.
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Hanna
10/15/2015 08:23:24 pm
In the novel, Rose Mary and Rex Walls faced many opportunities where they had the financial means to lift their family out of poverty, but not once did they take advantage of one. The most prominent example of this repetitive occurrence is discussed near the end of the novel, when Jeannette discovers the truth about Rose Mary’s mysterious land in West Texas. After the death of her brother Jim, Rose Mary has a conversation with Jeannette in which she indirectly reveals that her land is worth a million dollars. Having had this land for most of Jeannette’s life, Rose Mary never considered selling it once despite the fact that the sale could have changed their lives. Like many of the other wasted opportunities, this one was wasted since Rose Mary’s selfishness blinded her from ever understanding the value of money when it comes to properly caring for your children and enabling them to live lives out of poverty. Instead, she held other values more closely to her heart - values that were never able to provide for her family in the same crucial way as money can.
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Alex
10/17/2015 12:51:09 pm
due to her selfishness and backwards values. In the novel, Rex and Rose Mary Walls have many opportunities to be uplifted from their constant state of depression and poverty. However, they never seemed to take advantage of it. he biggest opportunity is one that happens once Jeannette has moved out and is in New York. She is speaking with her mother and finds out that Rose Mary's land that she inherited is most likely more than one million dollars. If you ask me, that is a very big opportunity to be lifted out of poverty. However, Rose Mary refuses to sell the land throughout her entire life and making them live in poverty. In addition, even if they had soled the land for that amount of money, with Rex and Rose Mary's spending habits they probably would have spent all the money anyways and the family would be once again poor as all get out.
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Narmeen
10/17/2015 05:45:18 pm
The Wall family had countless opportunities to create a better life for themselves, but surprising flushed them down the toilet rather quickly. From numerous well paying jobs, to inheriting a house, to owning a one million dollar piece of land. The Walls could have been living a better life, but because of terrible habits and no self-discipline, they continue to suffer and starve. Jeanette later realizes that Rex and Rose Mary Walls were the ones to blame and becomes furious. No amount of money could help Rex and Rose Mary because of selfishness and alcoholism. In New York Rose Mary pleads Jeanette for money to purchase her brothers half of the land. She learns the value of it is over one million dollars. She questions her mother why she had not sold her half to get them out of poverty, but her mother continues to avoid the question. Many other opportunities had shown up, and continued to fail because of how immature and irresponsible Rex and Rose Mary were.
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Solo
10/18/2015 03:11:38 pm
There were quiet a few times where rosemary and Rex had come into some money but they chose to use it towards luxury instead of their needs.When Jeannet finds out that Rosemary has land that could be worth up to a million dollars that would have been the best opportunity to break out of their poverty but Rosemary decided not to sell it because of her odd value. In my opinion even if they had all the money in the world they wouldn't spend the money wisely because of Rosemary's and Rex's habits.
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Julian
10/19/2015 06:01:40 am
Too many times the Wall's family tossed their opportunities of living at a higher standard out the window. When they ran into money, priorities did not come first, instead it was spent either on booze, art supplies, land etc. The biggest opportunity that Rose-Mary did not even take into consideration was when she found out that the land she currently owned was worth approximately a million dollars, enough to completely diminish their poverty. Between her beliefs and stubbornness , she decided she wanted to not only keep her inherited land, but buy more worth the same amount. I believe she did this because it truly had sentimental value to her, because she didn't think she was as hard done by as others saw her and because she couldn't see clearly through her selfishness.
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Blake H.
10/22/2015 05:04:58 am
Many opportunities were presented in the glass castle could the cycle of poverty been broken. One of the wasted opportunities is that they could've sold the land in Texas and they chose not to. This shows that they don't break their own poverty cycle because they don't want to.
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kimmy Head
11/16/2023 10:52:25 am
The reason it never seems to work out is bc they are all dumb asf and need to learn how to work hard
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