Life stories shape personalities
Life stories shape personalities, or more accurately, they are important parts of the personality. The way people choose to tell stories of their lives always has a narrative arc whereby, in telling the story of how one became who they are, the story itself becomes a part of their personality. However, in the realm of narrative psychology, through psychological aspects the analysis of the family and the biography of the events that shape this family is possible. In the book, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls recounts her life and her father’s long-held intention of building a dream house. Moreover, the author reveals how their father through a deceptive ease, was able to convince his children that their turbulent life was a glorious adventure. This paper, therefore, seeks to discuss family issues from a psychological aspect as outlined in The Glass Castle.
Family and Kinships Systems
Most often, families mold a person’s personality through the rights, obligations, and boundaries of interaction. According to Strong & Cohen (2014), families of procreation, orientation, and cohabitation illustrate the most important roles in life. Rex, Wall’s father initially has a job in a mining company to support his family. Moreover, Wall’s mother, Rose Mary gets a job teaching at the local school in Battle Mountain, Nevada. Since the two parents support their children and themselves, the family enjoys stability for the first time and the family remains happy. Additionally, according to Strong & Cohen (2014), kinship obligations are more extensive since it involves a wider kin group with close emotional ties with the extended families. They further argue that in the U.S society, this system “consists of the children and parents but it may also include other relatives as well, especially grandparents”. Each of the people in this system has certain obligations and rights as a result of their position in the family structure. After the family becomes poverty-stricken, they move to live in Grandmother Smith’s house. Moreover, Rose Mary decides to take her family to their paternal grandparents’ house in Welch.
Parenting Styles
Raising children should be an emotionally absorbing experience that is often characterized by an affectionate nature and nurture. Most often, an emotional attachment is crucial for a loving nurture and is essential for the healthy development of children. When parents’ unconditional love is present, a healthy development in the child’s life becomes evident. Strong & Cohen (2014) argue that parents should follow the cues given by her children in each developing phase as well as responding to the wants and needs of her child. Since Rex lost his job and the family relocates to a small rotting house with no indoor plumbing, he constantly reassures his children that he will build his dream house, a glass castle. Moreover, noticing their children’s behavioral change, Rex assures the children that their situation is only temporary. Since parents must develop sensitivity to the needs of the child as part of effective parenting, during Jeanette’s 10th birthday, he asks her what she would like for her birthday. Her response requires him to stop drinking. Rex goes ahead to te himself in bed for a week so as to overcome his addiction.
Social Class
The society always expects certain standards from its citizens. The first line in the book clearly distinguishes the two social class and the impact it had on the Wall’s family. “I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening when I looked in the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster” (Walls, 2005). According to Strong & Cohen (2014), a social class is a category of people who share common economic position in the stratified society in which they live. They further argue that within a society that is segregated by social class, the residential propinquity limits the opportunity to be like others. In the first line of the book, Walls and Maryann are from the same social class but due to peer influence Jeanette experiences, she goes to expensive diners so as to fit among her peers, while on the real sense they are poor.
Socialization Agents
Socialization theories are crucial in social psychology. It is through social learning theory and cognitive development theory that we are able to define the development process. As Strong & Cohen, (2014) suggest, parents, teachers, and peers are important agents of socialization during the development stage of adolescence and childhood. The family that Walls grew up molded her socialization function; she was mostly around her family during the childhood and adolescent stages of growth; her identities were therefore shaped by her family. Wall’s paternal grandparent and uncle molest Brian and this makes Brian get into a physical altercation with the children in school.
Communication Patterns
According to Strong & Cohen (2014), the structure and patterns of interaction view the family as a pattern of interactions. One of this structure is the verbal and non-verbal communication patterns. These structures often emphasize what goes on within families and therefore is more useful during the examination of the relationships people form and maintain, and what happens between individuals who form them. Jeanette’s greatest strength evolved as part of her family’s experiences and the communication pattern that developed in the family. Her parents once they noted how she used to break down due to their outright poverty, engaged her in conversations. “You’ve got to get right back in the saddle. You cannot live in fear of something as basic as fire” (2). In this quote her father finds Jeanette breaking down as a result of her family, however, after having a conversation with her dad, her resilience continues to develop.
Role of Power and Conflict Within Relationships
It is clear that power and conflicts have a tremendous impact on relationships. Not only does it affect relationships but also, shapes the relationships people form with each other. Rex assures his children that the poverty they were in was temporary. Since he was their father, he refuses to repair their house and this makes the relationship between Rex, Maryann and his children to deteriorate. Through employment and wage earning, Rex gained more power in the family increasing his influence on deciding crucial matters in the family. The children end up disrespecting him and this creates conflict within the family. Disgusted, Jeannette and Lori hatch a plan to move to the city by stealing Rex’s money. Lori becomes dishearted and their father upon realizing what his children had done, ends up in depression.
Economic Distress on the Family
As Strong & Cohen (2014) argue, marriage and the family loses most of their social and economic function when faced with distress that compromises the meaning of well-being. Moreover, they argue that economic distress such as being driven into poverty has often contributed to marital stress. At first, the children are happy when Maryann has a job as a painter and a teacher; and their father, Rex works for a mining company. Since the family is economically stable they live a good life. However, immediately the money disappeared and Rex lost his job, the family fell into a state of despair. They ended up moving from place to place since they had no money and this economic distress led to Rex to turn into a chronic alcoholic, and Maryann lost her job.
Family Violence
In shaping our identities, the family environment and households can be very dangerous places that require consideration especially when children are present. Maryann moves her children from Grandma Smith’s house after she finds her nagging and badgering the children for breaking her rules. This drives Maryann crazy enough that they find themselves moving from a well-off environment; where there was the constant presence of food; to fending off from a dumpster. As Strong & Cohen, (2014) argue, the likelihood of family violence increases when there are relatives involved. Since grandma Smith did not like Maryann, she constantly abused her children and most especially, Brian. Grandma Smith wanted the children to turn out as an exact opposite of their mother.
Conclusion
In conclusion, family-kinships systems, parenting styles, social class, socialization agents, communication patterns, family violence and economic distress on the family; are all factors that affect the well-being of a family. The effect of these factors on family relationships can be seen in The Glass Castle, as written by Jeanette Walls. As the second oldest child in a family of six, Jeanette’s life is shaped by what she experiences during the developmental stages of her life, and this molds her attributes. In the realm of narrative psychology, therefore, psychological aspects enable the analysis of the family and the biography of the events that shape this family.
Reference
Strong, B., " Cohen, T. (2014). The Marriage and Family Experience.
California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Walls, J. (2005). The Glass Castle. New York: Scribner Publishers.
