The Glass Menagerie Research Paper

In The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, the Wingfield family tries to escape from their humdrum reality. The Wingfield family consists of Amanda, Tom, Laura, and a nonexistent father. Tom and Laura’s father is a traveling business man that is never there to support their family. They feel that their life in the St. Louis apartment is undesirable. What the characters do not realize is that they can not run away from their problems. Through a struggled attempt to preoccupy their minds, the characters feel trapped in their accommodations. Williams develops his theme of the impossibility of true escape by comparing it to his life through the setting, plot, and characters.

The Wingfield family live in an insignificant apartment in St. Louis.

Williams can be comparable to Tom. Both Williams and Tom dreamed of leaving their apartment and moving on to greater things. Tom indicates that he went to a magic show and that “the wonderfullest trick of all was the coffin trick” (4.18-19). He is fascinated with this trick because he feels he can relate it to his own life sitution. He feels that he is held back by nails, making it impossible to leave. He wants free from this figurative coffin that is holding him back. Tom and Williams both aspire to be writers. Williams’ mother bought him a typewriter when he was younger, and he began his life-long career of writing (Barnett 28). Both characters use this specialty as a distraction from their miserable, monotonous life. Tom loves his sister, Rose, dearly and wishes the best for her. He is saddened by her disability and accepts her limitations. At the end of the play, Tom tries to leave the apartment and forget his life and family. Despite his attempts to forget his family, an imprint will forever be left by his sister. Williams expresses his personal experiences through

Amanda, Tom, and Laura feel that their life is undesirable. The Wingfield and Williams modest apartment stood as a reminder that they are trapped in a life that they do not want to live. The plot relates to Williams’ earlier life and created many undesirable end results for the Wingfield family. The characters each modeled one of the family members of the Williams family. Tennessee represents the character Tom, a man who has to take on the responsibility of a family and tries to escape from his life by writing. Amanda represents Edwina, a mother who is too controlling on her kids and tries to live her life through her kids. Laura represents Rose, an unstable girl who escapes into a world of glass animals. Mr. Wingfield represents Cornelius, an alcoholic father who fell in love with traveling. Williams uses his sad personal background to create this play. Through many obstacles, the characters fail to get away from their problems and still view their life as