A Dream As Fragile As Glass In The Glass Menagerie By Tennessee Williams

Have you all heard of taylor swift? The countless boyfriends she has had. The way that every single one of her songs symbolizes one of her relationships. Is it weird that she cannot keep a man? Likewise, Tennessee WIlliams uses his play The Glass Menagerie to symbolize his personal life. The play is about the Wingfield family. A fatherless family that includes a mother, a sister, and Tom Wingfield as the narrator of the play and a character in it. Tennessee Williams uses his memory play The Glass Menagerie to symbolically reflect his life through the character of Tom Wingfield.

In The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams beautifully encapsulates man’s desire to escape from uncomfortable emotional and physical situations. Whether he’s showing a young man trapped in a factory job he hates, an aging single mother who mourns for her life as Southern belle, or a young lady who fears that she’ll spend her life alone, he clearly demonstrates these desires and fears for his audience. Williams shows us through the actions of his characters how humans handle a wide variety of uncomfortable situations, and how these situations dramatically influence one’s ability to thrive. The playwright doesn’t seem to believe in the idea of “bloom where you’re planted”, and the desire to escape becomes a major theme of the play, demonstrated across multiple characters in a wide variety of ways. Creative individuals often do not thrive in noncreative, industrial environments. Williams demonstrates this clearly in this “memory play”, which carries many autobiographical element. Tom Wingfield represents his own character, Williams himself, and also serves as a narrator, making him quite the complex character. Williams’s uses Tom to show how an emotionally complex, creative individual can quickly feel trapped and tied down in a factory job, longing to get out, see the world, and pursue a job with more creative elements. Tom’s escapism, drinking, and evening theatrical adventures all reflect the life of the playwright himself, as Williams was known to struggle with alcoholism

“The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams is a play about desire to escape and this concept is conveyed through a variety of techniques and ideas shown in this play of exploration by the playwright, Tom Wingfield. First, Jim tries to escape his engagement by having a romantic night with Laura. Then, Tom’s father escapes for the same reasons Tom did. Thirdly, according to Roger Boxill from ‘The Glass Menagerie’ Amanda escapes by reminiscing “Blue Mountain ... And the seventeen gentleman callers.” Fourthly, Laura escapes with romance, going for walks, her “Glass Menagerie, stomach pain, and the broken horn from the unicorn. Finally, Tom escapes by traveling, going to the movies, drinking, and hanging out on the fire escape looking at the moon. Symbolism is also used in many literary works to for shadow or emphasizes an event that is about to happen or already has happened in the story. Hence the title ‘The Glass Menagerie’ in the play foreshadows/emphasizes the event happening or about to happen. The action of “The Glass Menagerie” takes place in the Wingfield family’s apartment in St. Louis, 1937. The events of the play are framed by memory Tom Wingfield is the play’s narrator, and usually smokes and stands on the fire escape as he delivers his monologues.

In The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams presents us with four characters whose lives seem to consist in avoiding reality more than facing it. Amanda lives her life through her children and clings to her lost youthfulness. Tom retreats into movie theaters and into his dream of joining the merchant seamen and some day becoming a published poet. Laura resorts to her Victrola and collection of glass ornaments to help sustain her world of fantasy. Finally, Jim is only able to find some relief in his glorified old memories. This essay will examine how Amanda, Tom, Laura and Jim attempt to escape from the real world through their dreams.

In Tennessee Williams, “The Glass Menagerie” all four characters consist in avoiding reality more than facing it, Amanda, Laura, Tom, and Jim. Amanda lives her life through her children 's and clings to her past. Tom constantly stays in movie theatres and into his dream of joining the merchant seamen and someday becoming a published poet. Laura resorts to her victrolla and collection of glass ornaments to help sustain her world of fantasy. Finally, Jim is only able to find some relief in his praised old memories. Amanda, Tom, Laura and Jim attempt to escape from the real world through their dreams of a fantasy life they desire.

The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, is a play narrated by Tom Wingfield, one of the three main characters in the play. The story is based on Tom’s memories of his past life while living with his mother Amanda and sister, Laura, during 1937 in St. Louis. These memories are skewed because of his inability to escape from his feelings of entrapment and the abandonment from his sister. The title suggest that the characters are a hodgepodge of fragile, sensitive, opposite people striving to survive life in the unrealistic fantasy world they each have created for themselves during the great depression. This paper will argue the symbolism between the characters themselves and Laura’s actual glass menagerie. The characters in the play are symbolic of a glass menagerie in the following ways: the characters exist in an unrealistic fantasy world, they glimmer in certain lights but not in others, and they are extremely fragile.

The Fantasy World in the Glass Menagerie Low self-esteem is like driving through life with a hand-brake on. In the glass menagerie, Tennessee Williams spotlights the consequences of low self-esteem. The play highlights the memories of Tom Wingfield; he narrates that his sister, Laura, does not have confidence in herself because she is disabled and can not find a beau. By using characterization, imagery, and symbolism, the author, Williams, reveals how laura is not showing who she really is. Like Laura, what is holding us back?

To escape the harsh means of reality, humans gravitate to leaving in the past or a dream. Some people fear dreaming, while others live to dream. Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie presents three incomparable worlds: dream, reality and memory. The members of the Wingfield family in The Glass Menagerie shield from the reality and choose to live in a dream or a memory. Williams conveys that each character has their own dreams, which are wrecked, by the real world. The whole Wingfield family chooses to live in a dream or a memory and disregards the expectation of the present. Accompanying with many ideas, Williams denotes the uncomfortable situations the Wingfield family faces many times. William explores the nature of dreams, memory,

Growing up, Tennessee Williams’ had a modest mother along with a loud and abusive father. Many children today grow up without their father being around. The outcome of being a child of a single parent could be great, but it is up to them to choose not to let one conflict get in their head. In Tennessee Williams’ play, The Glass Menagerie, the author creates two characters, Tom and Laura Wingfield. Tom struggles to concentrate on occurrences that are right in front of him, learning that he will later regret his decision of leaving his family behind exactly like his father did, while Laura has trouble finding confidence, she comes to understand that lacking that confidence will only stop her from better preparing herself for the future.

Every character, with the exception of Jim O’Conner, in the play, The Glass Menagerie written by Tennessee Williams, has their own forms of escape from reality. This reoccurring theme holds the play together and can be considered the main emphasis of the entire play. The most obvious examples are from Tom, Laura and Amanda Wingfield; however, there is one character that is bound to be over looked in the realm of escaping. The father of Laura and Tom, husband of Amanda, left a huge scar buried deep within the whole family. He is always present in the entire play even though he is nameless and only mentioned a few times. By understanding the devastation this man caused by leaving the family, every other character can be further analyzed and better understood as to why they all regress into their own fantasies.

¨Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly you hardly catch it going.¨ This quote by the author of The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams, describes both The Glass Menagerie, a memory play, and the life of Tennessee Williams himself, for whom memories played a large role in his life. Within the play, many parallels can be drawn between the life of Williams and the life of Tom, the main character, such as a disdain for factory work. In addition, several characters in The Glass Menagerie have a difficult time fitting into the roles that their family and their society places upon them. This same struggle existed for Tennessee Williams his whole life, as he was never able to adapt to the stereotypical role his father had envisioned for him. Furthermore, in writing The Glass Menagerie as a memory play, Tennessee Williams reflects his own fond memories of growing up in rural Mississippi, which, despite the flaws of that portion of his life, is still a portion of his life that he wishes to be able to relive. Overall, The Glass Menagerie is reflective of the life of Tennessee Williams in numerous ways, and personal qualities of Williams are exemplified in the characters and the plot of the play.

The major conflict in “The Glass Menagerie” is the feeling of hopelessness that each of the Wingfield’s struggles with. Amanda’s hopelessness comes from the feeling that she isn’t as important as she once was, as though her fame/glory is slowly fading away. It is this fear that causes her to push Laura to become more socially accepted and popular with others. Laura is extremely afraid of seeing Jim O’Connor, and beneath that we can see her insecurities about her physical appearance and her fear of being able to be a productive member of society. Tom’s desire to create poetry stems from his fear of being stuck in a job where he feels he won’t make a difference, that isn’t taking him

“The Glass Menagerie” is a riveting play by Tennessee Williams that takes place in 1930’s St. Lois. This play is unique in the manner that it is a memory play. The narrator, Tom Wingfield, is also one of the main characters. Tom is the son to Amanda Wingfield, and the brother to Laura Wingfield. Toms father, whom is referred to as Mr. Wingfield, left his family and has only sent one postcard from Mexico since his desertion. Although Mr. Wingfield deserted his family his picture still remains on the living room wall of the families lower middle class apartment.

Albert Einstein, a man of great wit and intellect is quoted as saying, “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one”. Could he mean that the concept of reality is nothing more than an imagined arena with society and our place in it being figments of our own design? Regardless of reality’s genesis or authenticity it is indeed persistent and inescapable. In his play, The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams explores this notion of reality as a painful encroachment that all humans counteract with concocted fantasies and a willingness to exist in an illusionary state. While all of William’s characters exist in their individual realms of illusion, one stands out as the most harmful and pitiful of all. Amanda, the literal mother of the dysfunctional family in the play, is also the figurative “mother” of illusionary living. Through Amanda, Williams explores the tragic character flaws and damage to the familiar unit that abound when a parent’s illusions replace their reality.

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a drama that involves four main characters; Amanda, Tom, Laura, and Jim. Amanda is the mother and Tom and Laura are her two children. Their father left them years ago, leaving them responsible for the things he once took care of. When the father was still living there, he was the breadwinner of the family and provided for their needs. It seems that ever since he has been gone, they have not transitioned into their life without him, emotionally as well as financially. Their interactions with one another clearly display the scars left due to their father 's departure. Amanda and Laura have a constant communication about Laura not having any “gentleman callers” throughout her life. The main concern about this situation stems from Amanda and less from Laura. Amanda often talks to Laura about her personal memories when she herself had many men pursuing her. Amanda talks to Laura in a belittling manner and often makes Laura feel insecure about her shy and introverted personality, which is vastly different from her boisterous mother. Amanda and her other child, Tom, clearly have a dysfunctional relationship as well, but in a different way. Multiple times within the drama, they argue with one another intensely. These arguments often leave Tom so frustrated with his mother that he storms out of the house. The ending of the drama actually involves this exact situation, Tom leaving the house and eventually not coming back. The theme that