Kerry G. Stalter Professor Ruth Reis-Palatiere ENC 1102 December 1, 2015 Contrasts in The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie lures the audience into taking a voyeuristic glimpse into the private lives of the Wingfield family, which consist of Amanda, the domineering mother of two adult children, Tom and Laura, and who welcomes Jim, a “gentleman caller” hosting him to a gay evening in the grandest Antebellum tradition. The contrasts in William’s play are manifested through the character traits of Tom and Jim (the dreamer and the doer), Amanda, dwelling in the past, while colliding with the present, the mother and children, seeking escape into fantasy, denying reality, failing to come to terms with, or acknowledge that psychological and …show more content…
M. Domina asserts that he is “the only character who can see Laura simultaneously as both peculiar and beautiful, a person so delicate that light can shine through her” (Domina). The character of Jim “While he may not be as obsessed as any of the others, has discovered that the present has not lived up to his hopes” (Domina). The contrasting nature of these two characters is displayed by Tom’s desire to escape his present situation through any and all means, and by Jim’s desire to look past the ensuing disappointments he has faced in life and proceed with a course of action that will lead him to escape the possibility of spending thirty years in the shoe factory. The fine line between the dreamer and the doer is greatly obscured by ones discouragement, and the others optimism. The Past and the Present The decaying social morays of the pre-civil war era have become dust in the face of the prevailing winds of modern society, except in the heart, mind and soul of Amanda Wingfield, a product of “genteel upbringing, still clinging to the vestiges of her past, (Moe), who with her every thought an breath espouses the polite and genteel grace and dogma in the character of a fading but virtuous southern belle. She has become an obstinate force, and a withering affront to an obnoxious era in which propriety has been replaced by a manner less
Tennessee Williams uses the character Amanda in “The Glass Menagerie” to express the attitude of how proper young men and woman should carry themselves. Amanda’s attitude towards her children sets the stage for their unhappy lives. Her refusal to accept her children for who they are has led to Tom drinking during the evenings and Laura having social anxiety. “The Glass Menagerie” reflects the social norms, roles, and values of the 1940’s when it was written. It depicts woman as helpless and unable to provide for themselves, while men should be focused on furthering their careers and providing for the family. Amanda believes that a young woman of Laura’s age should be attending social events and getting schooling till she can attract a gentlemen caller who will provide for her. Finally, she believes that Tom should be concerned with furthering his career to provide a better life for Laura and herself since he became the man of the house once his father left. Amanda’s attitude displays the social norms during the 1940’s and sets the framework for Laura’s disappointing meeting with a gentleman caller as well as Tom Leaving.
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a celebrated and cherished play that has affected generations. Written in 1945, the play very well may have been an outlet for Williams to accept what had happened to his own sister. Rose Williams had been lobotomized due to schizophrenia, affecting her brother greatly. While Williams’ family may be real, his characters are over dramatic and eccentric. The characters of Amanda, Tom, and Laura make up an extremely dysfunctional family living together in a 1930’s Saint Louis. By the end of the play, each character has affected themselves and each other. The characters spend the majority of their lives inventing someone who will make the rest of their family members happy, and when these facades crumble,
The loss of her husband causes Amanda to develop a dependence on her children. She wants Tom and Laura to become successful. Amanda complains that Tom does not earn enough money at the shoe factory. She wants him to attend night school so he can attain a better career.
Williams’s play is a tragedy, and one of quietude. He once expressed that “Glass Menagerie is my first quiet play, and perhaps my last.” It is a play of profound sadness, and through relationships between characters, portrays the “cries of the heart.” There is no cry more powerful that the cry and inner desperation of the heart. Williams’s has very little social context, but rather focuses on the conflicts within a domestic family. Such a focus is powerful, and the playwright expresses this power and importance implicitly through the estranged relationship between Amanda and Tom Wingfield.
Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie, describes three separate characters, their dreams, and the harsh realities they face in a modern world. The Glass Menagerie exposes the lost dreams of a southern family and their desperate struggle to escape reality. Williams' use of symbols adds depth to the play. The glass menagerie itself is a symbol Williams uses to represent the broken lives of Amanda, Laura and Tom Wingfield and their inability to live in the present.
Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie experiences several restrictions and limitations throughout the play based on the situation he is currently in and the expectations that are put upon him. The most evident of these are the external limitations of the warehouse and the stress and expectations put upon him by Amanda, his own mother. From his first monologue, Tom discusses to the audience directly his feeling to the restrictions put upon him and other dreamers in the warehouse and the rest of the United States. He quotes, “In Spain there was revolution. Here there was only shouting and confusion…
The Glass Menagerie is a memory play narrated by the main character and son, Tom Wingfield. It takes place in their apartment in St Louis, 1937. The father left them years ago leaving Tom to support the family. He works in a shoe warehouse, a job in which he hates and wants to leave, but can't because he has a duty to support the family. His mother, Amanda is loving and caring but nags too much, annoying Tom. She expresses the desire for her daughter, Laura, who is crippling shy, to have "gentlemen callers". Amanda finds out that Laura dropped out of college because of her shyness and she demanded Tom to choose a gentleman caller for her. He chooses Jim O'Connor, a boy who she liked in high school, but was too shy to talk to him before. Tom invites him for dinner and Jim talks to her and gets her to open up a little. He leads her on by kissing her then after tells her he is engaged. He then leaves and Laura gets sad. Amanda yells at Tom, blaming him for it. Tom reveals to the audience that he abandons his family later that night and has been haunted by Laura ever since.
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 is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that highlights major memories he has of his life through Tom, the narrator of the play who dwells on a time of his life in which he endures with his mother Amanda and sister Laura.
This novel illustrates multiple characters with unique personalities. One of them is Tom Wingfield, which is the son of Amanda and lives in a materialistic society. His mother depends on him to support the family. However, Tom does not want the responsibility to care for the house and his family and chooses to leave instead. In addition, the fire escape is an important object in the play. Tom is a character that uniquely reacts to the society in The Glass Menagerie. He shows how a person can act when in a tough situation.
In the play, The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams addresses the hardships of a small, lower-middle class family in St. Louis. The family's future is controlled by the Amanda but, Tom will accept that no longer as he strives for independence. With their absent father, Amanda is placing the weight of the world on her children’s shoulders as she continuously comes up with ways her and her family could potentially get ahead in life. Tom feels the pressure of being the man of the house, as he’s responsible for the family’s income and works daily to provide for his mother and sister. After analyzing the characters, one might say that Tennessee Williams has used the title The Glass Menagerie to directly relate to the children being held captive
The Glass Menagerie takes place in the 1940s, but revolves around Tom’s, the narrator’s, life in the 1930s. Tom lives with his mother, Amanda, and old-fashioned sister Laura in a small depressing apartment. Tom’s father left when Tom and his sister were little, so this leaves Tom the man of income in his house. Not only is Tom forced with working; he also has to deal with his mother always nagging him about his sister who she wants to get married. Amanda is always telling Tom to have gentleman calls for his sister.
Amanda, the mother of both children, was raised in an upper class family. She often tells stories about her life and the many gentlemen callers she received. Throughout Tom’s memory, the character’s frustrations lead to heated arguments, which then leads to a tragic ending. Therefore, a central idea in “The Glass Menagerie” focuses on the impossibility of true escape and the frustrations each character experiences. I enjoyed the characters in the play for their
In the play The Glass Menagerie there are many types of symbolism used throughout the story. The major symbolism roles are portrayed thru the main characters of the story, the Wingfields, Amanda, Tom, and Laura. Each one of the family members represents different stereotypes of society.
Written in 1944, Tennessee Williams wrote a play during World War II when people were barely making ends meet. Centering on the Wingfield family, the story consisted of five characters: Amanda Wingfield (the mother), Laura Wingfield (the daughter), Tom Wingfield (son, narrator, Laura’s older brother), Jim Connor (Tom and Laura’s old acquaintance from high school) and Mr. Wingfield (father to Tom and Laura, and Amanda’s husband)- who abandoned the family long before the start of the play. The title, “The Glass Menagerie”, represented a collection of glass animals on display in the Wingfields’ home. At one point or another, these animals then represented each character when they couldn’t accept reality. The theme of this play were about the