Glass Menagerie Surroundings

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Recommended: Culture as a factor of personality development

Pauline Hopkins once stated “And, after all, our surroundings influence our lives and characters as much as fate, destiny or any supernatural agency.” This is used as a theme in the play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams. In the play, it is proven true that cultural surroundings shape psychological traits in a character. The character Laura Wingfield is heavily affected by cultural surroundings due to the pressure put upon her by her mother’s and society’s standards. “The Glass Menagerie” is a play set in St. Louis in 1937. The main character and narrator, Tom Wingfield, works in a shoe warehouse to support his mother and sister, Amanda and Laura Wingfield. Amanda often lives in the past and tells her children stories from her youth, …show more content…

Laura has a bad leg and has to wear a brace, which causes her to walk with a limp. This brings down her self confidence because she feels that is something that will draw men away from her. Her appearance causes Laura to feel different and shy away from others. Since she feels the need to please everyone around her, Laura is a very selfless person. Many expectations are put upon her by her mother and society and she attempts to meet them all. Laura puts others before herself and ignores her own psychological problems because everyone else is putting pressure on her to do what they want. She wants to please everyone and become what her mother wishes her to be but her mother’s dream of her finding a male suitor and getting married is too hard to achieve. In “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams, the character Laura Wingfield’s psychological traits are greatly affected by her cultural surroundings. Laura wishes she could please everyone but feels she does not meet societies standards and can not live up to her mothers expectations of her becoming successful and marrying a man. The play “The Glass Menagerie” truly represents how out surroundings influence our lives and out

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