Most people, when they come upon a hardship, become hesitant to face it therefore, leading to a persona which lacks an essential human quality that would have been originally gained by facing the hardship. However, when it comes upon realization that when one travels through the journey of that hardship, the main reason for such a occurrence is to help gather a quality which not only strengthens the personality of a person but also strengthens the human nature of that person. Once the person takes this idea into account, they are finally aware of the importance for the ability to face a hardship as in the end it is this hardship that leads one to gain a essential human quality that builds upon their persona. In The Glass Castle, author Jeannette Walls, explores this idea of when a person comes upon a situation that seems to be difficult, it is usually these situations that provide the person with their most strength; an essential human quality. this is explored through the character’s of Jeannette herself as well as her father, rex as they go through life facing many hardships while enabling themselves to conquer it. Most of the qualities that a human possesses is through them facing a hardship and as the novels continues, Jeannette is seen as a person who goes through many difficult times but comes out of them with strength. When an individual comes upon a situation where it deems itself to be very difficult, the individual is forced to believe that it is impossible to overcome it, however; once they realize that they have no other option but to face the difficult circumstance, they become enable to conquer the hardship and as a result gaining a essential human quality which in return will help them. Through this, one is able to pursue new interests, face their fears, and gain new skills.

Initially when a naïve and a inexperienced person comes upon a situation that is essentially new to them, they become fascinated creating a new curiosity that leads them to discover new ideas therefore, opening up a new circumstance that may be dangerous and harmful. once overcoming such a situation, their fascination only deepens resulting in a new pursuit of new interests. Jeannette demonstrates this idea through the character Jeannette when is cooking hotdog and caches on fire. Though she recovers, in a way that is deemed unnecessary by her parents, she becomes fascinated by fire and gains a new interest with it. This evidence shows the reader that when Jeannette, being an inexperienced young girl at the time, cam upon the situation of cooking with fire, she was fascinated at the very start. This lead to her not paying attention to her priorities and therefore, catching on fire. The fire was her fear at first, as at that time she was scared as she caught on fire, but when she recovered, that fear became her fascination. She was entranced by the fire. She overcame the hardship of being burnt, and turned that fear into a interest in which Jeannette never gave up her attention towards it. The fact that, after recovery Jeannette played with fire as if it were a new hobbies, proves the fact that when she had the ability to face the hardship of being burnt, allowed her to gain the essential human quality of new fascinations and interests. This indicates to the reader, that when an individual comes face to face with a hardship in which they have never experienced before, they may turn the fear into a fascination if the situation arises to be dangerous. Especially when an individual is inexperienced and has not been able to undergo what the world is offering them, it is prominent for them to be led into a situation that may be dangerous. It is from this point on, in which they decide to choose fear or bravery, therefore leading to a new developed persona. When they conquer the difficult hardship, they are allowing themselves to be open to new ideas, new inputs, and new perspectives leading to new interests.

Then, when an individual faces a circumstance where they must face their fear, it is possible that they do not want to face it, however; when they conquer the fear, they gain a new essential human quality that strengthens their personality. Jeannette demonstrates this idea through the character Jeannette when she becomes afraid of the demon under her bed, but then scares it away with the help of her dad. This evidence shows that when the demon became her hardship, she was afraid to face her fear at all. However, with the help of her father, she was able to overcome that fear. Her ability to face the hardship then led to her to gain an essential human quality of bravery as well as the ability to face her future hardships. the demon, also being a symbol of all the hardships that she later on faces, shows the reader that as Jeannette overcame her fear that day, she overcame her fear for the many hardships that she later on faces. This is an indication to the reader that when an individual is able to face their fear, the outcome will most likely result in the individual gaining a new quality of bravery, and confidence. It is a natural instinct of a human to back away from their fears, however; when the ability of facing the fear come to play, the quality of bravery and confidence starts to show; a quality that may have never been showed before. This then becomes a new essential quality that tends to stay with the individual throughout the many other hardships that they may face.

Finally, when an individual goes through a experience in which they have never gone through before or do not have the knowledge to go through the situation, they usually learn new skills that help them in that situation. This then becomes their new essential quality; a newfound skill. This is demonstrated throughout the novel when rex teaches Jeannette to swim. Jeannette is thrown into the pool constantly, failing each time to swim as it is something that she does not know how to do. This evidence demonstrates to the reader that Jeannette was constantly thrown into a situation that was entirely a hardship for her. Realizing that learning to swim would have to be achieved entirely on her own, she overcame her hardship by going against the current instead of letting the current control Jeannette. By conquering the water and learning how to swim, she was able to face her hardship and gained a new skill. A new essential human quality: swimming. This demonstrates to the reader that when an individual faces a hardship that is completely new to them, they may have difficulty overcoming the hardship. This then will lead to the individual realizing that the only way to overcome the situation is to face it. Once the overcoming is final, the individual comes to an awareness that not only have they overcome the situation and the hardship but they have also gained a new skill and an essential human quality.

New pursuits of new interests, overcoming of fears, and the capability to learn new skills are some of the many results that occur when an individual comes face to face with a situation that may be overbearingly difficult in which is proven to be strenuous to overcome. The ability to overcome this hardship dos not only show the determination and strength used, but also results in the many essential human qualities that come out of the conquering of hardships. This is seen all throughout the novel, The Glass Castle, as Jeannette goes through life enduring many hardships, however; overcoming them through her strength of bravery, acquiring many other human qualities. Most people refrain from trying to successfully overcome a hardship as it the human nature to back away when they are in fear. However, it is significantly essential to face the hardship, as in the end, it only strengthens the individual as well as their persona.