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Recommended: An analysis of The Glass Menagerie
Glass Menagerie is a collection of fragile glass animal figurines. Fragile is the word which describes the family in the story. From the mother which sees no reality with a cripple daughter that she sees beautiful to a son that wants out but is also Amanda’s sole provider. The daughter is such that fragile is to harsh a word. Her life buried in glass animals and a victrola, she is a fragile as that unicorn that breaks in scene four. Tom is full of contradiction. On the one hand, he reads literature, writes poetry, and dreams of escape, adventure, and higher things. On the other hand, he seems completely bound to the petty world of the Wingfield household.
One of the key things of the play is how it relates to Williams' life with the mixture of illusions and reality. All of the characters appear to be connected in some way to members of his family. The mother, Amanda Wingfield, shares similarities with Williams' mother, a harsh woman who had been known of being a southern belle and living a luxurious life. Laura Wingfield, her daughter, is similar to Williams' sister, Rose. Laura is shy and uneasy to the point of being socially unable. As a result of her mother's nagging, Laura's slight limp is exaggerated in her mind to the point where she believes herself crippled. Amanda’s illusion or what she wanted to see was that Laura was beautiful and had many male callers. Williams' sister was also mentally unstable, and spent most of her life in a mental institution. The play’s protagonist Tom Wingfield, is very similar to Williams himself. For most of his life, Williams felt guilty about leaving his mentally ill sister on her own, to nearly die from a botched lobotomy. In the play, Tom feels as if he is betraying his sister by leaving home, just like his father did.
Some critics have thought that Tom is a homosexual (just as Williams was). Tom is a writer working a crappy job in a shoe factory. Which Williams also worked a shoe factory for three years which lead to a minor nervous break down. While he works at this factory, Tom actually writes poetry. For Tom’s adventure and illusions he would spend all hours of the night at the movies. Williams' real name was Thomas, so there is clearly a connection between Tom in the play and Williams himself.
Laura is the owner and caretaker of the glass menagerie. In her own little fantasy world, playing with the glass animals is how she escapes from the real world in order to get away from the realities and hardships she endures. Though she is crippled only to a very slight degree physically, her mind is very disabled on an emotional level. Over time, she has become very fragile, much like the glass, which shatters easily, as one of the animals lost its horn; she can lose control of herself. Laura is very weak and open to attack, unable to defend herself from the truths of life. The glass menagerie is an unmistakable metaphor in representing Laura’s physical and mental states.
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
In Tennessee William's play, The Glass Menagerie, the character of Laura is like a fragile piece of glass. The play is based around a fragile family and their difficulties coping with life.
The unlikely pair of “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams and “A Doll House” by Henrik Ibsen do share multiple similarities in their domestic situations and in the things they chose to do. . When comparing these two plays you also have to keep in mind about how that both the plays were done in different time periods. Therefore things are going to be different when it comes to the roles of the women. With the “The Glass Menagerie” and “A Doll House” all the characters have flaws, lived in different time period, felt like they were trapped in ways, and reacted to things differently.
The Glass Menagerie is an eposidic play written by Tennesse Williams reflecting the economic status and desperation of the American people in the 30s.He portrays three different characters going through these hardships of the real world,and choosing different ways to escape it.Amanada,the mother,escapes to the memories of the youth;Tom watches the movies to provide him with the adventure he lacks in his life;and laura runs to her glass menagerie.
really a place for someone like him and his mind rebelled. Lastly you can see
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.
As Winfield 's wife, Amanda is worthy of love and respect. Amanda is a southern lady, when she was young, she had an attractive appearance and graceful in manner, and her families were also quite rich. These favorable conditions made her the admiration of many men. Still, her final choice was a poor boy. She did not hesitate and bravely to choose her own love. Though her marriage was not as good as she had imagined the happiness of life, and the husband, Winfield meager income also drinking heavily, finally abandoned Amanda and two young children, but she still remembered and loved her husband. Her husband 's weakness did not make Amanda fall down; instead, she was brave enough to support the family, raising and educating of their two young children. Daughter Laura was a disability to close her fantasy world, and she was collection of a pile of glass small animals as partners. Amanda knew Laura sensitive, fragile, she was always in the care and encourages her daughter. Because of her shortcomings, Laura sometimes frustrated and Amanda immediately replied that "I 've told you never, never to use that word. Why, you 're not crippled, you just have a little defect". Amanda for the care of the children was more reflected a mother 's strong from the play that Amanda paid money to send Laura to typing school. She hoped daughter have a better future and married a good man to take care of the family, and encouraged her daughter, prompting her to go out of the glass menagerie to experience her real life, but Amanda placed more expectations for his son Tom because her husband left home, Tom is the only man and the mainstay of the family. She wanted Tom to realize that is a kind of family responsibility, also is a kind of essential social
The main symbols in The Glass Menagerie are the glass menageries themselves. Laura, the daughter in the story, collects little glass figurines or animals; these figurines are called menageries. The small, glass, figures represent numerous elements of Laura’s personality. Both Laura and the figurines are fragile, whimsical, and somewhat behind the times. As Anita Gates writes, in her article "When Appearances Aren't What They Seem" Laura “is as delicate as the tiny glass animals she collects” (10). Laura is very fragile and weak in body, mind, and spirit. The menageries are weak also because they are made of glass. Therefore, both the figurines and Laura have to be cared for and treated lightly because of the possible damage that could be done to them if they were not properly taken care of.
These personal downfalls in life drive Tom into a life of poetry and movies, and Laura into a world of glass figurines. Tom is unsatisfied with his work at the warehouse and feels his life lacks adventure. Therefore, he finds it through writing poetry and watching movies. When business is slow at the shoe warehouse, Tom goes to the washroom to work on his poetry.
An influential factor in Tennessee Williams's writing was his own personal experience. The Glass Menagerie is a play that originated in the memory of the author. Williams drew heavily on his own family experiences, describing the lives of his mother, sister, and himself. Many aspects of the play resemble some of Williams's past experiences during childhood. The apartment that Amanda, Laura, and Tom Wingfield share is in the middle of the city, and it is among many dark alleys with fire escapes. Tom and Laura do not like the dark atmosphere of their living conditions, and their mother tries to make it as pleasant as possible. This apartment is almost a mirror image of one of the apartments that the Williams family lived in St. Louis, Missouri (American Writers IV). Amanda Wingfield is a typical Southern belle who fantasizes about her seventeen gentlemen callers back in Blue Mountain. She regularly attends meetings of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), which are important outlets for her social...
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.
Initially, the Wingfields seem like a normal family. As the play develops, it is revealed that each member of the family has their own form of escape from reality. The playwright uses several elements to signal escape. Williams incorporates the past as Amanda Wingfield’s crutch. It is apparent that she “is obsessed with the rituals and the values of her Southern upbringing” (Topham). He also uses the movies as a form of a getaway for Tom. Williams uses this symbol to show that Tom’s life is mundane so he “uses the movies to fill a void in his life” (Kullman).
Their relationship is strained because Tom reminds Amanda of her husband. He just doesn't quite fit in with the rest of his family. He aspires to travel and see the world. He does not want to just get by; he wants to live and experience life.