Amanda in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams After reading The Glass Menagerie I would tend to agree with this comment for a number of reasons that I shall discuss in this essay, but do not agree with it completely, and feel there are a number of significant reasons as to why Amanda behaves in the way she does, and I plan to discuss this too. To begin with, throughout the play, Amanda constantly talks about the abundance of gentlemen callers she used to receive in her youth. This annoys her son and, I would suggest, embarrasses her daughter who has never has a gentleman caller. I do not think she talks about these men in order to bring out these feelings in her children, and may indeed be as a way of 'returning to' her youth by remembering the way she acted in her past. However, it seems strange to me that, just because she does reminisce her past, we should conclude that she is desperate to return to youth. I would argue that everyone thinks back to the good times in their life, especially if they are having a hard time in their present, as certainly Amanda is doing. I do not agree, therefore, on this fact that she is desperately trying to relive her youth. Indeed, it seems to me that she is simply telling her children the only story she has from her youth. Another argument against the comment made is that, surely, if Amanda was trying to relive her youth, she would still be desperate to receive her own gentlemen callers, or be out trying to find them. My point is simply that she does not appear interested in having any of her own gentlemen callers. However she does, indeed, seem desperate for her daughter to receive... ... middle of paper ... ... ignore, such as her flirtatious behaviour with Jim, wearing her teenage dresses, and constantly talking about her past. I would however argue, on the grounds of the points I have made, that Amanda is not trying to relive her youth. She is actually reliving her good times, in a time of hardship in her life, and trying to find a way of communicating with her children. Consequently I do not agree with the comment that 'Amanda is trying to relive her youth' as I feel the underlying reasons are far more important in understanding why she appears to be trying to relive her youth, rather than the simple fact that she behaves immaturely for her age, and that her unhappiness, loneliness and misunderstanding of her children are the main factors that led to her behaviour, rather than a simple desire to return to her youth.
Adversity can cause an individual to overcome their challenges and strengthen their identity, however, it can also have the opposite negative effect. Adversity can trigger an individual to lose their identity in their attempt to escape from their problems. In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, Blanche DuBois is unable to face adversity, which leads her to lose her individual identity during her attempt to escape reality. Blanche had experienced numerous hardships such as the deaths of many family members and the loss of her young husband, Allan. Instead of overcoming these challenges and becoming stronger, Blanche tried to run away from them.
was no longer alone. She had friends to love her and guide her to the next
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by a beloved author, Harper Lee. Despite dealing with serious issues of rape and racial inequality, this novel is renowned for its moral in the value of friendship and family. Lee writes about a young girl, Jean Louise Finch, who is also acknowledged as Scout. Scout grows up in the small fictional town of Maycomb County in the 1930s. She lives with her older brother Jem, their housekeeper Calpurnia, and her widowed father who is an attorney that is faithful to racial equality and later on defends Tom Robinson, a black man charged with raping a white woman. Scout has a basic faith in her community that they are good people but then throughout the novel especially during Tom Robinson's case her faith is tried-and-trued by the hatred and prejudice that looms in the hearts of the people in her community and her perception of the world is changed forever.
A person's actions can greatly affect the lives of the people around them. In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus is an only parent and a role model for his kids Jem and Scout. Although his choice to oppose the communities way of life has a strong affect on his family, to Atticus doing what is right means the world to him and he's willing to let his family suffer a little for what he thinks is the greater good. Atticus's choice to live a life without prejudice and racism affects the way the community looks at and treats his family; Scout is the one who is mostly affected.
her. Having to go through the hardships of death, new places and family, she knew what
In The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, the glass menagerie is a clear and powerful metaphor for each of the four characters, Tom, Laura, Amanda, and the Gentleman Caller. It represents their lives, personality, emotions, and other important characteristics.
“Real courage” is when you fight for what is right regardless of whether you win or lose. Atticus Finch defines “real courage” and demonstrates it in several ways throughout the novel. At first glance, it may seem as though Atticus Finch’s courageous acts are really acts of cowardice, however as one continues to look into his patient and passive aggressive attitude, it becomes clearer that what he is really displaying would be signs of courage. This shows that Atticus’ actions of displaying courage differently than others are not displayed as one would normally expect, and so he demonstrates it in a more affective manner. Many of the characters in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird display various forms of courage, but Atticus Finch is clearly the most courageous due to the fact that he refuses to give up a fight no matter what the losses or circumstances it may bring to himself or to his family, and because of his determination to fight for what he believes in and to “see it through no matter what” (Lee, 149).
The most essential responsibility of a parent is to keep their children safe; most will not intentionally but their children in harm’s way. Harper Lee writes about a parent whose children are endangered and altered because of a decision that he makes. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch chooses to represent Tom Robinson in court, putting his children in potential danger, earning respect from numerous people surrounding him, and teaching his kids valuable life lessons; if individuals always chose to do what is right, instead of settling for the easy solution, difficulties could be often eliminated.
Hester's daughter, Pearl, functions primarily as a symbol. She is quite young during most of the events of this novel—when Dimmesdale dies she is only seven years old—and her real importance lies in her ability to provoke the adult characters in the book. She asks them pointed questions and draws their attention, and the reader's, to the denied or overlooked truths of the adult world. In general, children in The Scarlet Letter are portrayed as more perceptive and more honest than adults, and Pearl is the most perceptive of them all.
In Tennessee Williams’ 1947 play, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Stella and Stanley Kowalski live in the heart of poor, urban New Orleans in a one-story flat very different from the prestigious home Stella came from. This prestige is alive and well inside Stella’s lady-like sister, Blanche Du Bois. Over the course of Blanche’s life, she has experienced many tragedies that deeply affected her, such as the death of her gay husband, the downward spiral in her mental health that followed, and most recently the loss of her wealth and therefore social status. She constructs a proverbial lampshade to mask her pain and to control the last part of her world that she is able to, the image she projects into the world for herself and others to see. The brooding prince of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” chooses a very similar way of coping with the hand life has dealt him. When his mother remarries his uncle only a month after his father’s passing, the ghost of Hamlet’s father visits the young prince demanding avengement. These events cause Hamlet to try to replace the old lampshade that helped him cope with reality by changing his own image and fooling himself and others into thinking he’s crazy. An examination of both plays reveals that the importance of subjective truths and the way in which Blanche and Hamlet use them to cope transcends the context of both plays.
In "Death of a Salesman", Willy Loman believes the ticket to success is likeability. He tells his sons, "The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead." In "The Glass Menagerie", Amanda Wingfield has the same belief. Girls are meant to be attractive and they are meant to be attractive in order to entertain gentlemen callers. As she tells Laura, "All pretty girls are a trap, a pretty trap, and men expect them to be" (1048). It is this very belief that both Amanda and Willy try to ingrain in their children and it is this emphasis on likeability that makes the characters of Amanda Wingfield and Willy Loman so unlikable.
of - was charm!' - or trails off - 'And then I - (she stops in front
In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the glass figurine of the unicorn plays an inherently important role as a representation of Laura's self esteem. The collection of glass figurines is used by Laura to escape from the dangers of the outside world. The unicorn is the central piece to her collection and is important because it directly symbolizes Laura. The unicorn represents Laura's obsession with her handicap and also represents the uniqueness in her character. As the play develops, the fracture of the unicorn's horn represents a change in Laura's perspective of self and also gives a reason to why she parts with the figurine in the end.
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.
written in between 384 and 222 BC, and his views were taken on by some