Written in 1944, Tennessee Williams’ play “The Glass Menagerie” explores the period after the Great Depression. During this period, Americans’ “eyes had failed them, or they had failed their eyes.” In his play, which Tom describes as “memory,” Williams compares America’s hopeless situation to “a world that [they] were somehow set apart from” (690). Out of touch with the world, Amanda and Laura attempt to escape their problems. Both Amanda and Laura avoid confronting their harsh reality, instead coping with it by reminiscing about the past and isolating themselves.
As a means of escapism, Amanda tries to relive her past through stories. For example, Amanda tells Tom that “sometimes there weren’t chairs enough to accommodate” all the gentleman callers (692). Fantasizing about her experiences, Amanda describes these callers as “[s]ome of the most prominent
…show more content…
Amanda’s stories about gentleman callers bother Laura, making her question herself. After Amanda asks Laura why she fails to attract gentleman callers, Laura responds that “[she’s] just not popular like [Amanda was] in Blue Mountain” (693). This self-doubt extends even to her typing class; Laura skips the class because “[she] couldn’t face it” and “threw up on the floor” (697). Thinking that she “(is) - crippled,” Laura lives in a self-conscious state. This creates victim complex for Laura, as she suspects that everyone notices her pleurosis. However, upon meeting Jim, she finds the opposite to be true. Although she “didn’t expect [Jim]” to remember her nickname and their time in high school, Jim happily reminds Laura that they “ha[d] a class in something together” (733). Furthermore, Jim “never heard any clumping” from Laura’s leg brace. Nevertheless, Laura felt uncomfortable solely because “[t]o [her] it sounded like - thunder” (734). Consequently, Laura secludes herself because of her self-consciousness, despite the fact that others barely notice her
Amanda Wingfield is mother of Tom and Laura. She is a middle-aged southern belle whose husband has abandoned her. She spends her time reminiscing about the past and nagging her children. Amanda is completely dependent on her son Tom for finical security and holds him fully responsible for her daughter Laura's future. Amanda is obsessed with her past as she constantly reminds Tom and Laura of that " one Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain when she once received seventeen gentlemen callers" (pg.32). The reader cannot even be sure that this actually happened. However, it is clear that despite its possible falsity, Amanda has come to believe it. Amanda also refuses to acknowledge that her daughter Laura is crippled and refers to her handicap as " a little defect-hardly noticeable" (pg.45). Only for brief moments does she ever admit that her daughter is crippled and then she resorts back into to her world of denial and delusion. Amanda puts the weight of Laura's success in life on her son Tom's shoulders. When Tom finally finds a man to come over to the house for diner and meet Laura, Amanda blows the situation way out of proportion. She believes that this gentlemen caller, Jim, is going to be the man to rescue Laura. When in fact neither herself nor Laura has even met this man Jim yet. She tries to explain to Laura how to entertain a gentleman caller; she says-talking about her past " They knew how to entertain their gentlemen callers. It wasn't enough for a girl to be possessed of a pretty face and a graceful figure although I wasn't slighted in either respect.
Amanda was abandoned by her husband and now must take care of her two children, Tom and Laura. Amanda considers Tom unrealistic, daydreaming about becoming a recognized poet rather than staying committed to his present job. Amanda is overwhelmingly confused and perplexed about the future. Worse still, the fact that Laura is crippled worries her even more. Amanda tries to arrange everything for Laura lest she will live paralyzed in the threatening world. Aware of the reality, she enrolls her in a secretarial course in the hope that she would become, if not successful in her career, at least independent. Disappointed by Laura's inability to cope with the classes in the business school, Amanda tries desperately find her a reliable husband who can provide material and emotional security. But her hopes are unrealistic. Not even having met Jim, the gentleman caller Tom brings home at her mother's request, Amanda, looking at the little, slipper-shaped moon, asks Laura to make a wish on it for happiness and good fortune to be brought by this gentleman caller, when it is just wishful thinking on her...
Amanda was a woman who lives in a world of fantasy and reality. In the past memory and the future of the fantasy made Amanda very strong, but in the face of reality she was fragile. Just like Tom used to explain “I give you truth in the
Amanda was raised in Blue Mountain, far away from the complexity and eccentricity of the 20th century. In her youth, Amanda was a beautiful lady who attracted gentlemen callers; she was what is called a Southern Belle. In narratives, Southern belle is an archetype for a beautiful young woman of the upper class in the Old South . As she longs for her past, she represents the embodiment of nostalgia for the Old South in the play. She ended up marrying a young Irish gentleman caller with whom she had two children, Tom and Laura. Unfortunately, Amanda’s husband kissed the family good bye not so long after, essentially leaving her with two children and no money. Even if she succeeded in raising her two children, she has never really accepted her new status in society and continues to idealize her former life. Amanda’...
By her no longer being as shy as prior to Mr. O'Connor's visit, she is able to end her inner battles and allow for her brother and mother to do the same. By beginning the play “crippled”, Laura is able to depict the evolution of her family's relationships in an unconventional manner by resolving Tod and Amanda's conflicts and through self realization with Mr. O’Conner. Referencing back to Laurence Sterne's quote, Laura is an ideal symbol of “a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time”. With fighting her inner battles of being shy and limping, and having her loved ones constantly bickering, her mind was inevitably torn. By Mr. O'connor easing one side of her mind with help overcoming her shyness, Laura was able to conquer her inner battle. In doing so, Tom and Amanda also began mending their broken relationship as Laura symbolized their broken family. With Laura able to recover, so was her
Tennessee Williams employs the uses of plot, symbolism, and dialogue to portray his theme of impossible true escape, which asserts itself in his play, The Glass Menagerie. Each of his characters fills in the plot by providing emotional tension and a deep, inherent desire to escape. Symbolism entraps meaning into tangible objects that the reader can visualize and attach significance to. Conclusively, Williams develops his characters and plot tensions through rich dialogue. Through brilliant construction and execution of literary techniques, Williams brings to life colorful characters in his precise, poignant on-stage drama.
The Glass Menagerie was set in a St. Louis apartment after the Great Depression. The Wingfields had old records and a typewriter to show connections between the play and the time period. The way of life influenced playwrights to write about real life subjects. Tennessee Williams was trying to communicate to everybody that everybody is unique in their own way, that’s what makes them beautiful on the inside. It is what is on the inside that counts.
...o have an employed man in her life. Amanda served as a perfect model to exemplify this belief, and the way that Williams’ makes use of naturalistic themes in his play. He proves that without a strong man in the house to support Amanda and Laura, the women would not survive. While Amanda tries to raise her children without a husband, she exhibits many naturalist mannerisms. Williams’ reveals examples of Charles Darwin’s theories of “survival of the fittest”, and of natural selection through Amanda, and her interactions with her son, her daughter, and her character and disposition. Williams’ also demonstrates the naturalistic principle that character traits and personalities are hereditary. Tom Wingfield was the main provider for the family, and when he followed his father’s footsteps and abandoned Laura and Amanda, the women were left unaided and hopeless.
Amanda a loving and caring mother devoted her life for her childern .she is abondaned by her husband,the only one she loved deeply.She struggles to secure her children`s lives and when she is overwhelmed by despair she resorts to her memories.
The three family members are adults at the time of this play, struggling to be individuals, and yet, very enmeshed and codependent with one another. The overbearing and domineering mother, Amanda, spends much of her time reliving the past; her days as a southern belle. She desperately hopes her daughter, Laura, will marry. Laura suffers from an inferiority complex partially due to a minor disability that she perceives as a major one. She has difficulty coping with life outside of the apartment, her cherished glass animal collection, and her Victrola. Tom, Amanda's son, resents his role as provider for the family, yearns to be free from him mother's constant nagging, and longs to pursue his own dreams. A futile attempt is made to match Laura with Jim, an old high school acquaintance and one of Tom's work mates.
Tennessee Williams’ play, “The Glass Menagerie”, depicts the life of an odd yet intriguing character: Laura. Because she is affected by a slight disability in her leg, she lacks the confidence as well as the desire to socialize with people outside her family. Refusing to be constrained to reality, she often escapes to her own world, which consists of her records and collection of glass animals. This glass menagerie holds a great deal of significance throughout the play (as the title implies) and is representative of several different aspects of Laura’s personality. Because the glass menagerie symbolizes more than one feature, its imagery can be considered both consistent and fluctuating.
Generally when some one writes a play they try to elude some deeper meaning or insight in it. Meaning about one's self or about life as a whole. Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" is no exception the insight Williams portrays is about himself. Being that this play establishes itself as a memory play Williams is giving the audience a look at his own life, but being that the play is memory some things are exaggerated and these exaggerations describe the extremity of how Williams felt during these moments (Kirszner and Mandell 1807). The play centers itself on three characters. These three characters are: Amanda Wingfield, the mother and a women of a great confusing nature; Laura Wingfield, one who is slightly crippled and lets that make her extremely self conscious; and Tom Wingfield, one who feels trapped and is looking for a way out (Kirszner and Mandell 1805-06). Williams' characters are all lost in a dreamy state of illusion or escape wishing for something that they don't have. As the play goes from start to finish, as the events take place and the play progresses each of the characters undergoes a process, a change, or better yet a transition. At the beginning of each characters role they are all in a state of mind which causes them to slightly confuse what is real with what is not, by failing to realize or refusing to see what is illusioned truth and what is whole truth. By the end of the play each character moves out of this state of dreamy not quite factual reality, and is better able to see and face facts as to the way things are, however not all the characters have completely emerged from illusion, but all have moved from the world of dreams to truth by a whole or lesser degree.
Amanda takes it upon herself to mold Tom into the man that she wished her husband was. Of course, he takes it upon himself to be anything but. He spends every night at the movies. Tom uses the movies as a form of escape from his home life and satisfies his urge to leave and explore. He says, “People go to the movies instead of moving.”
Her constant cautious choice of wording shines light on the ideals she wants to place on her children. Amanda’s intense nostalgia is due to the fact that she has been unsuccessful in the modern world, therefore causing her to distract herself with memories. The first time she met Jim as he came to dinner she brings up how her life changed quickly from a that of a southern belle to a husbandless housewife. In describing her days in the south, Amanda acquires a girlish tone and southern charm. She describes the many 'gentleman callers' she experienced, and in turn implied to Jim specifically what she expected out of the dinner. Williams uses Amanda's constant fluctuation between reality and illusion to portray just how far one will go to escape reality. Anytime she is presented with harsh realities she turns her mind to a childhood memory to avoid thinking. It is obvious that one cannot live in the past to escape the present, which is why Amanda's use of fabrications to fill boredom and void within her life pushed her son away in the
In modern day society, people are expected to conform to the expectations placed on them by the general population. In such a world, it seems as though creating a sense of false reality is the only way individuality succeeds. In the play “The Glass Menagerie”, Tennessee Williams is able to symbolize fragility and uniqueness and an escape both to the outside world and from it through different characters. I believe that this play revolves around the longing to be different to the point where the characters forget themselves.