Title Significance

                The title, The Glass Castle, is repeated throughout the memoir as never more than a dream. Jeannette mentions her father’s long-time plan to build a “great big house for us in the desert” (25). It was his special project that he was working towards. A mansion made entirely of glass, with solar power and its own water-purification system. All he needed was to find gold-it was an expensive proposition. Jeannette in particular pushed her father to build the majestic house. She alone kept him going, kept the plan alive. This was a constant reminder of the strong, although often unusual, connection between Walls and her father. The kids dreamed of living in the Glass Castle, but those dreams never came true. The house was never completed, or even started for that matter. Throughout the years, the idea drifted farther and farther away. After countless get-rich quick schemes, the Glass Castle remained a mere wish, and then no one believed in it at all.

                The house’s significance to the book holds a much deeper meaning. The Glass Castle is symbolic for the Walls’ kids’ dream of a better life. They hoped they would all be together in the future, living grandly in this big beautiful house. The Glass Castle’s image, in Walls’ mind, was constantly changing. When she was young and hopeful it was plausible, it was the Walls’ future. But, times when her father was completely unreliable proved to be times when the Glass Castle was a joke. When it held a definite prospect, they built the foundation for the house, but “the hole for the Glass Castle’s foundation slowly filled with garbage” (155). As the foundation was covered with trash, so did the hope of the Glass Castle ever being built. When it became obvious that the castle wasn’t being built, the wish still didn’t die. In a sense, they did all end up together and happy. It’s just that the big house was New York City. To them, The City is their Glass Castle because it is the place where they all came together and learned how to be content in their own ways.

                Before leaving Welch for N.Y.C. Walls’ father tries to talk her out of going: “And I’ll build the Glass Castle, I swear it. We’ll all live in it together”(238). The Glass Castle isn’t really some amazing house where they’ll live happily ever after. It is the place where the entire family is together. Rex Walls doesn’t want his family to fall apart. He’s hoping that the Glass Castle will keep them close to him, but in the end, they do find their way to the same place. They each find the places where they belong.