The Illusion of Escape in The Glass Menagerie
In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the characters exhibit a state of delusion that originates from their dissatisfaction with their lives. Tom seeks adventure in the movies. Amanda reminisces often about her days as a Southern Belle. Laura sits in a dream world with her glass collection, and Jim basks in the praises of his high school glory. In their respective ways, they demonstrate their restlessness. The quotation from Thoreau, "The mass of men lead lives of the quiet desperation," applies to the characters in that they are all unhappy, but take no action to improve their situation in any significant way.
Tom, as the narrator, explains to the audience the progression of the play and allots this with "the pleasant guise of illusion." When he speaks to the audience, the events he relates are in the past, and he has realized how distanced his family had been from real life. Through the play, he is angry and bitter because of his duty to his sister and mother. His father absconded, leaving Tom as the sole provider, a title neither wanted. Tom is not prepared to settle down and feels as though he "makes a slave of himself." Whether or not he had the ability to create a separate life for himself, Tom feels placed in a "nailed up coffin." He is tortured by boredom in the warehouse and aches for his own vision of life. He remarked to Laura that he did not know how anyone could "[get] himself out of a coffin without removing one nail." A primary source of his desperation is the fact that he know that if he leaves he will destroy Laura, and he does not want that. He is inactive on his own behalf for a long time, feeling enclosed by a life he cannot stand. He is...
... middle of paper ...
... They scurry around trying to end their suffering, but they impede each other's efforts through their individual ones. These people seem doomed to their fates: to run away, to live in the past, or to exist continually in a intangible world.
Works Cited and Consulted
Bloom, Harold. Introduction. Tennessee Williams. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 1-8.
King, Thomas L. "Irony and Distance in The Glass Menagerie." In Tennessee Williams. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 85-94.
Levy, Eric P. "'Through Soundproof Glass': The Prison of Self Consciousness in The Glass Menagerie." Modern Drama, 36. December 1993. 529-537.
Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. In Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, 4th ed. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995. 1519-1568.
2.“Remember Tennessee Williams.” Tom Sullivan. 21 June 2000. http://www.lambda.net/~maximum/williams.html Roudane, Mathew C. Ed. The Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams. New York: Cambridge Press, 1997 Williams, Tennessee. “The Glass Menagerie”. Anthology of American Literature: From Realism to the Present. By Tennessee Williams. Ed. McMichael, George et. al. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. 1445-
Ardolino, Frank. “Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie.” The Explicator, Vol. 68, No. 2, 131–132, 2010
“I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright”(Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption). This quote reminds me of the characters in Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie. William’s is known for using his own reality in his works. This particular play, in my opinion is very relatable to many people. The play is basically about not being happy with the situation in which the characters currently exist. No one in the play is satisfied with the way their life is turning out and they want “out”, one way or another. In order to understand the characters in The Glass Menagerie, one must examine the theme of escape and what each character wants to escape.
Learning how to remain optimistic and fulfilled in a rough situation is one of the most important skills a person can develop.. In Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie, the Wingfield family has trouble separating what is real and what is not, but they always manage to stay pleased with themselves. Laura spends her time with her glass menagerie and trinkets. Tom uses art, literature, and substance abuse to distract him from his current situation. Amanda indulges into the past and lives vicariously through her daughter as to not be in the moment. When an individual is forced to comply to a certain standard of living, then they must artificially escape their reality, because if they do not, they will never be able to sustain
The nurse has raised Juliet since she was a baby. She plays more of a
Levy, Eric P. "'Through Soundproof Glass': The Prison of Self Consciousness in The Glass Menagerie." Modern Drama, 36. December 1993. 529-537.
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.
Fambrough, Preston. "Williams's THE GLASS MENAGERIE." Explicator 63.2 (2005): 100-02. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 May 2014.
In Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie, each member of the Wingfield family has their own fantasy world in which they indulge themselves. Tom escaped temporarily from the fantasy world of Amanda and Laura by hanging out on the fire escape. Suffocating both emotionally and spiritually, Tom eventually sought a more permanent form of escape.
Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. In Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, 4th ed. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995. 1519-1568.
People have the tendency to block out the things that aren't going well in their lives, this can be called denial. No member of the Wingfield family has a perfect life, they each have various issues. In the play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, every member of the Wingfield family denies reality and withdraws into their own private world of illusion. Amanda denies how her life turned out, Tom denies the fact his life is boring, and Laura denies herself; they each have a way of coping.
Tom is a character many people in this generation can relate to. Although the play was written many years ago Tom is just like any other millennial from this day and age. He basically hates his job because it’s not fun. He can’t cope with the fact that he has to pick up all the slack his father left behind. He even seems to think that running away will fix everything. All of these things are very common in society today.
In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the theme of abandonment is salient to the play. Throughout most of the play, Tom contemplates whether he should stay with his family doing something he hates or leave them and follow his dream. His yen to be happy controls his decision in the end. Through Tom's actions, thoughts, and the negative imagery of his father, Williams proves that abandonment is a viable solution in the escaping challenges and reality, if it is tenable.
Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. Masterpieces of the Drama. Ed. Alexander W. Allison, Arthus J. Carr, Arthur M. Eastman. 5th ed. NY: Macmillan, 1986. 779- 814.
Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. In Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, 4th ed. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995. 1519-1568.