Wingfield's Absent Father in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams Mr. Wingfield plays a relatively prominent throughout the play. His decision to leave the Wingfield household has left lasting effects on the rest of his family. This has helped in establishing certain themes and issues in the play. The mentioning of his character in almost every scene throughout the play suggests its role in the action of the play. However, I would not agree to the view that he is the most important character in the play. Williams’s stage directions explaining the details of the setting of the Wingfield apartment states ‘a blown-up photograph of the father hangs on the wall of the living room’. The size of the photograph described as ‘blown-up’ here indicates its prominence throughout the play. Since most of the action of the play happens in the living room, it would be difficult for both the characters in the play and the audience to overlook the size of the photograph of a ‘very handsome young man in a doughboy’s First World War cap.’ Williams gives specific details of the photograph, ‘gallantly smiling, ineluctably smiling, as if to say “I will be smiling forever”’, highlighting its expression as a mocking one. Throughout the play, the photograph reflects the effect of Mr. Wingfield on the family. For example, when Tom comes home drunk at the beginning of scene 4 asking Laura who has gotten out of a coffin “removing one nail”, Williams’s stage directions state “as if in answer, the photograph lights up”. In scene 6, we see Tom acknowledging the disturbing presence of the photograph when he says “Did you notice how he’s grinning in his picture... ... middle of paper ... ... her about her experience in the Business School and in scene 6 where we see Laura hurries to the living room and pauses at the vitrola after she opens the door for Jim and Tom. We see here that the items that Mr. Wingfield has left behind, the vitrola and the records remind both the audience and the characters in the play of his existence. Based on the impact Mr. Wingfield has on the Tom, Amanda and Tom, we can deduce that he plays an important role in the play. However, to say that he is the most important character in the play would be too extreme. His character, unlike the rest that appears on stage, is only presented and developed by the lines of Tom and Amanda. The presentation of his character is fairly limited since he does not take part directly in the play and only influences the characters in the play.
Scene 22. Ending scene where some flowers remain by the canal and a shot is revealed of Sara’s necklace wrapped around some fake flowers which have been left. (I have added this scene to show how people’s lives move on, but that does not mean that the past is forgotten.)
in the shop where she went to buy the dress. She envied the way Eva
The novel of To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the timeline and era of the 1930s which was synonymous for the renowned Great Depression. A tragedy in which social and economic change was urgently required yet old traditional beliefs and racial hierarchies including the Jim Crow laws were kept firm in position. These beliefs along with other aspects including behavior are clearly represented in the novel which leads the reader to infer that the time and setting of To Kill a Mockingbird is the 1930s. There are various methods and pieces of evidence that we draw upon that leads to the conclusion that the setting of the novel takes place in the
ground. My support from the story is when Brinker and three acquaintances come into Gene
In The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams presents us with four characters whose lives seem to consist in avoiding reality more than facing it. Amanda lives her life through her children and clings to her lost youthfulness. Tom retreats into movie theaters and into his dream of joining the merchant seamen and some day becoming a published poet. Laura resorts to her Victrola and collection of glass ornaments to help sustain her world of fantasy. Finally, Jim is only able to find some relief in his glorified old memories. This essay will examine how Amanda, Tom, Laura and Jim attempt to escape from the real world through their dreams.
In today's rough and tough world, there seems to be no room for failure. The pressure to succeed in life sometimes seems unreasonable. Others often set expectations for people too high. This forces that person to develop ways to take the stress and tension out of their lives in their own individual ways. In the plays "The Glass Menagerie" and " A Streetcar Named Desire" written by Tennessee Williams, none of the characters are capable of living in the present and facing reality. Two of the characters are Amanda Wingfield and Blache Dubios. In order for these characters to deal with the problems and hardships in their lives they retreat into their own separate worlds of illusion and lies.
To Kill A Mockingbird Generations of family, living in the same community can leave an identity for themselves, making them live with it for generations to generations. The Finches, The Ewells and Dill's family are three families who are all criticized and sometimes applauded for their way of living. The Ewells are “ the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations.
Tom, in which she tells him how to eat his food. Later she tells him
Tennessee Williams’ play, The Glass Menagerie, depicts the Wingfield family in a naturalistic viewpoint that highlights the importance of a man in the life of a woman. Without a husband in the play, Amanda’s son Tom is rendered as “the man of the house.” Williams attributes the monetary stability of the Wingfields entirely to Tom. Williams stresses the necessity of a working man through Tom so that women and children can be financially stable. As a naturalist, Tennessee Williams illustrates the characters’ reactions to various events and circumstances in accordance with man’s natural instincts of survival. Williams reveals Amanda in this approach, and he portrays naturalistic tendencies in her personality and character, her relationship with her son, and her connection with her hopeless daughter, Laura. Amanda is trying to survive and raise her children without a husband to support her economically.
of - was charm!' - or trails off - 'And then I - (she stops in front
fact that Jim did im fact turn out to be engaged. I guess that I
The lacking of a positive male role model can be very troublesome for any family; especially during the mid-thirties. Prior to the Second World War, women did not have significant roles in the workforce and depended on their husbands or fathers to provide for them financially. There were limited government assistance programs during the era of The Great Depression, and it was up to the families to provide for themselves. The absence of Mr. Wingfield placed enormous strains on the physical as well as mental wellbeing of his family. The effects the abandonment of their father had on the Wingfield family from Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie are undeniable.
written in between 384 and 222 BC, and his views were taken on by some
Amanda Wingfield in the play, The Glass Menagerie, written by Tennessee Williams, was portrayed as a distraught southern belle trying to control the lives of her children. In The Glass Menagerie Amanda is the matriarch of her small family who appears at first to be a woman who cared about her children’s futures- that is before she becomes so overbearing that she started to hinder her children’s future. Amanda was a single mother who could never grasp reality. The Glass Menagerie was a memory play that told of a family trapped in destructive patterns. After being abandoned by her husband sixteen years prior, Amanda became trapped between two completely different worlds; worlds of illusion and reality. It seemed like when the world became too harsh or hard for Amanda, she would just simply close her eyes and pretend like nothing was wrong. When the real world became to overbearing for Amanda, she would recall the days of her youth and how great they were. This was simply just a way for Amanda to stay optimistic and stay out of reality. Amanda made the relationship between her and her children very difficult because she never tried to understand her children’s different personalities. Amanda was stuck on trying to mold her children’s lives the way she wanted them, rather than letting her children choose and lead their own lives. Amanda’s way of helping the children did not let her connect with them the way that each of them needed. Due to her one minded opinion, she didn’t see that Laura was a shy girl with low self esteem and needed a mother to show her how to act around the public and that Tom just simply needed to switch jobs and have someone to talk to. Tom eventually left the house because he realized his weak relati...
How Far She Has Fallen At first glance, Amanda Wingfield from Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie seems like a selfish woman stuck in her past. In some ways this observation is correct; however, she is much more than that. Her kind and caring nature, and her insatiable love for her children, has been overshadowed by her brash and insensitive dialogue. Her character is extremely complex and each one of her actions reveals more of her overwhelming personality.