Question

What were the successes and failures of Jeannette Walls in the Glass Castle?

Answer 1

There are far more failures that successes that Jeannette Walls had in her novel the Glass Castle.
First of all, her family is very poor, so they have to move all the time in order for her parents to find a job and support their family. Even when things start going the right way, something bad happens, and they are made to move again in search of money and happiness. They are constantly starving, with no proper living conditions. Even when she manages to come into some money, her drunken father steals it from her and she is made poor all over again. Her family is in a disarray - her father is an alcoholic who was abused as a child, her mother suffers from nervous breakdowns, her sister tried to stab her mother, etc. Jeannette resorts to theft with her father, and is almost raped by an older man during one such event. 

However, not everything is bleak - the family ultimately love each other and try to be together for as long as they can. Sometimes they have money, which is the time when Jeannette can finally be happy because her dad is not drinking and there are no problems for the time being. Sometimes she manages to find a job and help her family. At one point, she decides to leave her parents for good and go to New York to attend a college there, and she manages to land a job and become successful enough so that she can bring her siblings to live with her in New York.