Foils in The Glass Castle

 Today in class we began discussing binary opposites in literature. I thought it would be interesting to see if I could discover any opposites in my silent reading book. In my book, The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls, two binary opposites are Jeanette and her mom, Rose. Throughout the book, her mom is shown to have a strong belief in a set of morals that she never deviates from. For example, she believed that material objects are unnecessary and that the opinion of others doesn’t matter. Jeanette, who was raised to have the same beliefs, quickly loses these morals once she moves away from her parents. When she sees her mother dumpster diving on the way to a fancy party she “slid down in the seat and asked the driver to turn around and take {her} home to Park Avenue”(Walls 1). This quote illustrates how she has become obsessed with how people perceive her, even hiding to not be compared to her impoverished mother. This is completely opposite to her mother’s beliefs and how she lives her life.

However, although Rose’s unwavering belief in her ideals is admirable, it’s not entirely good. Due to her beliefs, she refused to ever sell family land, having been taught her entire life that it was wrong. Even though the property inherited from her mother, Jeanette’s grandmother, could have easily saved herself and her children from poverty. Instead, she allowed her family to suffer without food, heat, and other necessities for years, all while owning over $1 million dollars worth of land. This shows that although strong beliefs are a respectable quality, following them too strictly or harming others due to what you believe, isn’t respectable at all.