Importance Of Emotions In Tennessee Miller's Night By Tennessee Williams

Once joyful and passionate, Tom becomes a mere shadow of who he once was, completely shutting down with only his conscience to keep him company. Steinbeck describes him as “high and prim” (409) after Dessie’s funeral, demonstrating the extent to which he has removed himself from the world of the living. One would expect him to be hysterical after accidentally killing his sister, but his grief takes the form of dangerous dissociation and he is left unable to cope with the consequences of his well-intentioned actions. It is this dissociation that marks Tom’s transition from lively to brooding, his mental state deteriorating as he spends a short yet torturous time alone in his family’s ranch home. The suicide itself is scarcely described, leaving the reader only with the idea that Tom was a “gallant gentleman” (410). Steinbeck’s tacit explanation carries with it some irony, as most would consider running away from one’s problems neither gallant nor gentlemanly. Tom is so absorbed in his shortcomings that he sees fit to end his life as a means to end his suffering without regard to how suicide will affect his family and

Tennessee Williams uses the constant battle between illusion and reality as a theme throughout his play A Streetcar Named Desire. Many use illusion to escape the reality they are living in. This theme is present in all of his characters in different ways.

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.

The characters of A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie are bound to their own hold on illusions as a means of coping. In A Streetcar Named Desire, the character of Blanche exemplifies the hold of illusion when she says, “I don 't want realism. I want magic!” Blanche exemplifies the idea of delusion as a means of coping. In The Glass Menagerie, the character Tom Wingfield sets the tone of the play with his opening monologue in which he says, “I give you truth in the

Amanda and Tom share a familial relationship of mother and son. Williams depicts Amanda at first interpretation as overbearing, hypercritical and controlling. However, on further assessment, the audience is able to acknowledge a more admirable facet to her character: her evident persistence in trying to love her children. Through her attempts in perpetuating her youth and past glory, she distorts reality to fit her

　　　　People from all backgrounds also appreciate the way the movie shows a family with having good times and bad times, especially in relation to the relationship between the family members. As Tom grew up, he had a good time with the mother and his brother mike as he shared in the warmth of the family. However, his life became the source of bad times when he decided to engage in

Amanda comments sarcastically, at the end of the play, that Tom shouldn't think about his poor mother and sister (Williams, T.G.M., 9.114.1-3).  She tries to push her problems off on him rather than deal with them herself.  By laying the blame on Tom, she feels as though she did nothing wrong and that the family’s problems have been caused by others. If the two women had just accepted that they were also to blame, they could have moved on with their lives.

“Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces” (Sigmund Freud). Illusion can be a part of our lives; however, if taken to the extreme, it can lead one to forget reality. Every individual has problems in life that must be faced with reality and not with illusion, even though it might throw one into flames of fires. Tennessee Williams' play of a family reveals the strength of resistance between reality and desire, judgment and imagination, and between male and female. The idea of reality versus illusion is demonstrated throughout the play. Blanche's

Tom had the opportunity to get all the fame ans riches he wished. He gets the opportunity to live an amazing lifestyle, but he would need to be selfish. This was no problem for Tom as he didn't care much about people.

Tom’s memories also prohibited him from finding happiness and moving forward, but it also led to the creation of the play. All of the characters have ways to deal with their cruel memories, except Tom. Amanda has her happy days from her youth and Laura has her glass collection. Tom has no sufficient way of escape. He has tried escaping to the movies, but he came to realize that it was not a real way out.

The way Tom acts on the difficulties and challenges that he faces at home not only affect him but his family as well. He escapes his troubles from home, due to the pressure, by going to the movies. Finally, his mother realizes and

Tom had a double role in the play as both the narrator and a main character that lived through a recollection of what life was like living with his mother and sister before he abandoned them to seek adventure. Tom’s behavior in the play could lead to question if his memory is truly accurate. SparkNotes comments, “…But at the same time, he demonstrates real and sometimes juvenile emotions as he takes part in the play’s action. This duality can frustrate our understanding of Tom, as it is hard to decide whether he is a character whose assessments should be trusted or one who allows his emotions to affect his judgment” (SparkNotes.com). Through his behavior a person is reminded that memory can be flawed by emotions or time elapsing, this would need to be taken into account when analysis of such a character is done. Tom is full of contradictions as he reads literature, writes poetry, and dreams of an escape; however he also felt bound by duty to his sister and mother. Another contradiction was that while he professed to care about his sister as seen in his ending comments in the play, “…I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be!...” (Williams), Tom never went back to reconnect with his sister. This could be because of the great shame he felt for abandoning his sister or because of another reason. He stated that he had been in several cities over the years but never speaks of going back to St. Louis, making it unclear if he

Tennessee Williams gives us no indication that Tom's escape from his father, Amanda, Laura, and Jim ever happens - what is most compelling about the play is that Tom passes to the reader and the audience the responsibility of making meaning out of his life.

            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

Both William Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams use the theme of deception in King Lear and The Glass Menagerie respectively to illustrate the difficulty of characters in accepting reality either by their own volition or due to the fault of another. Firstly, both plays use deception to show how parental figures like Gloucester and Amanda are unable to see certain truths about their children due to the unconditional love a parent has for their child. In the case of Gloucester, he is deceived by Edmund into believing that Edgar is plotting against him. Gloucester is unable to see through Edmund’s deceptions, he says Edmund is “no dearer in his account” (I.i.19) meaning Gloucester’s unconditional love and trust as a parent has blinded him from Edmund’s true ambition. Likewise, in The Glass Menagerie, Amanda deceives herself in believing there is nothing at fault with Laura. Tom points this out, saying “Laura seems all those things to you and me because she’s ours and we love her. We don’t even notice that she’s crippled anymore.” (Williams 47). Unlike Amanda, Tom is not under any illusions about his sister and acknowledges that it is love that allows Tom and Amanda to overlook Laura’s shortcomings. Amanda on the other hand has internalized her self-deception and from her fundamental misunderstanding about Laura arises her delusions about her future. Another similarity in the way these plays handle thematic deception is its use to escape a horrible reality. In King Lear Edgar