Alcoholism is one of the most common problems seen in family environments. This not only affects the health of the person consuming alcohol, but also impacts the well-being of those around them. Jeannette Walls' memoir, The Glass Castle, demonstrates the toll alcoholism takes on a family. Due to his alcoholism, his father Rex Walls becomes emotionally distant and neglects his children. Additionally, his alcohol addiction prevents him from holding down a job and providing for his family. Rex's drinking problem also causes him to act irrational and abusive; This not only physically hurts the family but also traumatizes them. The alcoholism exhibited by Rex Walls had a major impact on the Walls family emotionally, financially, and psychologically. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay When Rex Walls begins drinking more excessively, he becomes distant and unreliable towards his children. Initially, Jeannette admires her father and believes everything he tells her, including his idealistic fantasies about the future. He regales her with visions of wealth and building a magnificent glass castle for the whole family. However, over time, Jeannette becomes aware of her father's drinking problem and begins to lose confidence in all his claims, saying, "I listened to Dad's plans and tried to encourage him, hoping that what he said was true but also pretty sure that it was. it was not” (Walls 171). She loses confidence in him to the point of advising her mother to leave him. Unlike Jeannette, her siblings Lori and Brian are not as close to their father and more quickly realize his serious flaws. Rex Walls often disappears for several days, becoming less involved in his children's lives. For example, when Jeannette is attacked and beaten by the local bullies, she neglects to tell her father about the serious problem, because he is rarely sober. Jeannette and her siblings often do not see Rex for long periods of time and perceive him as unreliable and inaccessible. Due to his alcoholism, Rex Walls is unable to be a reliable father to his children. This distance even progresses into the adulthood of Jeannette, Brian, Lori and Maureen; emotionally, they do not play an essential role in the adolescent's development and are not properly nourished, often experiencing great disappointments from an early age. In addition to the emotional effects of alcoholism on his family, Rex Walls' alcoholism also affects the family financially. When he loses his job as an electrician, he blames the mob, saying that "the best place to gather information was in the bars that the mobsters owned" (Walls 112). While he spends his days drinking, the lack of income has a huge impact on the children's lives; they often have to ration what they eat and even resort to stealing from classmates and digging through trash cans. The family is also forced to live in poor conditions. On Little Hobart Street, the Walls' home is decrepit and lacks basic appliances, including heating. During the winter months, Jeannette and her siblings find coal in the streets and burn it to keep warm, but the fire is not enough. “This house doesn't have a single layer of insulation,” says Brian, “all the heat goes through the roof” (Walls 176). Lack of heat coupled with inadequate housing leads to freezing nights in the Walls' home so intense as a lizard.