"Two Classes, Divided By 'I Do'" and "The Glass Castle"

Jason DeParle's article about how marital status affects people financially opens up some interesting questions to readers of Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle. Rex and Rose Mary Walls are married for the entire book (or at least until Rex's death), and theoretically their children should have been raised by both parents -- but in reality, the number of present parents is closer to zero. As much as the two love their kids and root for their success, they are not fulfilling their roles as parents, and the four children are closer to raising themselves. Rex is an alcoholic who eventually becomes desperate enough to sponge off Jeannette's meal budget to get himself a drink, and does practically nothing to help the family. Rose Mary is a distracted dreamer who lacks the attention span and work ethic to bring steady income. Their financial status is a weak counterexample to the thesis of "Two Classes, Divided by 'I Do'" -- their family is impoverished because they are not being parents.

As a sidenote, DeParle tells us that "scholars have found that marriage itself can have a motivating effect, pushing men to earn more than unmarried peers." From a strictly Rex-centric point of view, it is interesting to analyze how his life is affected by his relationship with Rose Mary. While Rose Mary was not a strong force in fighting her husband's misdeeds, her mere presence probably helped Rex stay
more grounded in reality. Without his wife, Rex would have been even more of an unstable, wandering drunk. It leads us to wonder, what if Rex had married someone with a stronger interest in reality? What would his immovable object do in the face of an unstoppable force?

Rose Mary was mostly unimportant to the story until the latter part of the book, where Rex is mostly absent. Because of this, the effect that Rex had on Rose Mary is less clear to me.