Literary Realism in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

Literary realism is the trend, beginning with mid nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors, toward depictions of contemporary life and society as it was, or is. In the spirit of general "realism," realist authors opted for depictions of everyday and banal activities and experiences, instead of a romanticized or similarly stylized presentation. (Wikipedia, Literary Realism)

Realism, a style of writing that gives the impression of recording or ‘reflecting’ faithfully an actual way of life. The term refers, sometimes confusingly, both to a literary method based on detailed accuracy of description and to a more general attitude that rejects idealization, escapism, and other extravagant qualities of romance in favor of recognizing soberly the actual problems of life..( Shodhganga, SOCIAL REALISM, ch2.p 79)

Realism in Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie and Arthur Miller's Death of A Salesman

Shih Ching-liang wrote in here " Representing Repression: A Psychological Reading of The Glass Menagerie" that, The Glass Menagerie is mostly expressionistic: the first sentence of the Production Notes declares that “it is a memory play.” The term “memory play” suggests that it is a play worked out in one’s mental process, rather than a realistic representation. Instead of external reality, the inner vision becomes the primary concern of expressionistic drama.(Ching-liang, 1)

In Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie we have a family of three members. Each member of this family has his own imaginary world to escape from reality. The mother, Amanda, is trapped by her past, where she had so many gentlemen callers to ask her hand for marriage.

Amanda "One Sunday afternoon ...

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...ated by her brief attendance at Rubicam’s Business College, and her even briefer encounter with Jim, the gentleman caller, cause her to retreat further into her illusory world of glass figurines. In the case of Miller’s Loman family, the tragic element is that they do not realize that the security and contentment they desire are commodities that cannot be purchased. As a result, Willy Loman does not realize that he has placed the highest value on what is no more than a myth and illusion. Willy equates success to being well-liked and personally attractive. His dreams of a better future become powerful fantasies that make it impossible for him to distinguish illusion from reality. (JANARDANAN, " Images of Loss in Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Marsha Norman's night, Mother, and Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive", 7-8)