Illusion vs. Reality in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, contains multiple themes. While there are many themes, the theme that holds the piece together is illusion versus reality.
This theme is established very quickly, In fact, the first paragraph of the play describes the illusions to take place, "But I am the opposite of a stage musician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion" (1866). During Tom's monologue, he discusses the premise of the play; when it takes place, who the characters are, and how the play is to be perceived (as a memory). His reference to illusion is not used as to describe any of the plays specific events, but rather to subtly give weight to the plays ideas. Although the play itself is an illusion of reality, Tom says that there is truth behind the illusion. We use this as a sort of flashlight as we enter the play. We shine it around, looking for the truth Tom speaks of. We also seek the plays realities and illusions. Williams, by stating this idea in the beginning, focuses the readers mind into such a state that he will unconsciously look for what Williams knows is already there-- the conflict of reality versus illusion.
We will look at the characters one by one, determining each of their realities and illusions. This will help to establish why Williams chose this as a central theme, and what the resolution of these ideas are. Because Amanda plays such a large part in the play, we will start with her. Amanda's life is much illusion. She establishes this right away when she begins to reminisce of the south and her nume...
... middle of paper ...
...rld of Tennessee Williams. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1965.
Jolemore, Nancy. "Lecture Notes and Study Guide Questions for Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie." Old Dominion University. 18 January
2000. 29 June 2000. <http://courses.lib.odu.edu/engl/njolemor>.
Kolin, Philip C. Tennessee Williams: A Guide to Research and Performance. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998.
Presley, Delma E. An American Memory. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990.
Reser, Rob. "A Touch of Glass." 29 June 2000. <http://www.filmspot.com/glassmenagerie.html>.
Roudane, Matthew C. The Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Williams, Tennessee. "The Glass Menagerie." The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. 1999. pp.1865-1908.
The Cherokees lived in the valleys of rivers that drained the southern Appalachians (Perdue, 1). The British first came into Cherokee country in 1700. They came for two major reasons: deerskins and war captives. They brought guns and ammunition, metal knives, hoes, hatchets, fabrics, kettles, rum, and trinkets. They took the Cherokee and made them slaves. The British built two forts to protect the Cherokees while they were fighting the enemies of the British. The Cherokees entered the French and Indian War on the side of the British (Perdue, 6). Attacks on Cherokees by white frontiersmen and duplicity by colonial officials caused the Cherokees to shift their allegiance to the French. During the war, the British destroyed many Cherokee towns.
.... White settlers began to resent the Cherokees. Pressure was put on the tribe to voluntarily move, but their homeland, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama they have lived here for generations and they did not want to move.
One band of Native Americans, the Cherokee Indian tribe is a renowned tribe that is still widely recognized today. “The word ‘Cherokee’ is believed to have evolved from a Choctaw word meaning ‘cave people’” (everyculture). The location of the Cherokees ranged anywhere from Georgia to Virginia. They mostly resided in the Southeast. Many Cherokees still exist today.
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.
In Williams, Tennessee’s play The Glass Menagerie, Amanda’s image of the southern lady is a very impressive. Facing the cruel reality, she depends on ever memories of the past as a powerful spiritual to look forward to the future, although her glory and beautiful time had become the past, she was the victim of the social change and the Great Depression, but she was a faithful of wife and a great mother’s image cannot be denied.
The Cherokee people were a large and powerful tribe. The Cherokees' Macro-Siouan- Iroquoian language and their migration legends demonstrate that the tribe originated to the north of their traditional Southeastern homelands. Linguists believe that the Cherokee migrated from the Great Lakes area to the Southeast over three thousand years ago. The Cherokee language is a branch of the Iroquoian language family, related to Cayuga, Seneca, Onondega, Wyandot-Huron, Tuscarora, Oneida and Mohawk. Original locations of the Cherokee were the southern Appalachian Mountains, including western North and South Carolina, northern Georgia and Alabama, southwest Virginia, and the Cumberland Basin of Tennessee, Kentucky, and northern Alabama. The Cherokee sometimes refer to themselves as Ani-Kituhwagi, "the people of Kituhwa". Kituhwa was the name of an ancient city, located near present Bryson City, NC, which was the center of the Cherokee Nation.
Throughout the change from a carefree doll into an independent woman who is finally finding herself, we see that Nora is acting the way she does due to society. She has lost herself due to being a wife and a mother. Society is typically male dominant and because of the roles she has to fulfill, she lost herself.
Throughout the history of television, it has been evident that certain news stations have portrayed their news in a way that aligns itself with a certain viewpoint or political position. For example, today one can see how stations like Fox take a conservative stance on most issues while CNN takes a more liberal perspective on the same issues. Much of the influence that the media could have on people, especially during elections, was a cause of alarm for many people. This led to the creation of the Fairness Doctrine in 1949.
The Cherokee Indians were arguably the most successful Indian tribe in the United States. The Cherokee depended on deer skin trading, farming, and hunting for the majority of survival. The tribe began struggling in the late 1700’s. With the United States beginning to take control of several different tribes, the Cherokees became concerned that their land may no longer belong to them. The United States were pushing the Cherokee tribe to become civilized. Many Cherokee Indians were against the civilization because they did not fully trust the United States, or its government. The Cherokee leader, Young Wolf, did not listen to those against civilization and chose to embrace civilization with the United States. The goal of embracing the civilization was to keep the land the Cherokee had, east of the Mississippi River. This plan seemed as if it could only help the Cherokee, but in fact it hurt them because of the greed of the United States to have all the land to themselves.
Although California had many conquests, the American conquest was the last. It first began in June 1846 with the Bear Flag Revolt. The Bear Flag revolt was a small group of American settlers in California rebelling against the Mexican government and proclaiming California an independent republic. The conquest lasted only two years. By 1848, California belong to the United States. This event portrays the bravery of the men who were part of the conquest. But the conquest of California also brought distress to the women living in California. The American conquest of California, brought distress to women living in California by the American men through raping, stealing, and killing.
7. Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folk Lore. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub., 2003. Print.
The process of using behavioral evidence left at a crime scene to make inferences about the offender, including inferences about personality characteristics and psychopathology is called criminal profiling. Around the country, several agencies rely on the minds of criminal psychologists to lead them in the right direction to finding the correct offender. Criminal profiling provides investigators with knowledge of the appearance and behavior of a potential criminal.
In old, but not so ancient times, native americans populated our land widely with different tribes diverged. One of the most widely known and popular tribes was named the Cherokee tribe and was formed as early as 1657. Their history is vast and deep, and today we will zone into four major points of their culture: their social organizations and political hierarchy, the tribe’s communication and language, a second form of communication in their arts and literature, and the Cherokee’s religion.
On Wednesday, May 23rd, I attended the College Choir concert in the Reamer Campus Center. The choir performed a variety of songs, ranging from pieces in Latin to traditional American folksongs. Two of the pieces featured solos, and one even featured percussion instruments. Mrs. Elinore Farnum provided piano accompaniment for each of the songs, and performed beautifully. I was extremely impressed by the talented choir members and their ability to sing such a varied range of songs.
The lacking of a positive male role model can be very troublesome for any family; especially during the mid-thirties. Prior to the Second World War, women did not have significant roles in the workforce and depended on their husbands or fathers to provide for them financially. There were limited government assistance programs during the era of The Great Depression, and it was up to the families to provide for themselves. The absence of Mr. Wingfield placed enormous strains on the physical as well as mental wellbeing of his family. The effects the abandonment of their father had on the Wingfield family from Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie are undeniable.