The Glass Menagerie, Their Eyes Were Watching God, And My Name

“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.

The theme of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie is conflict. The play contains both internal and external conflict. The absence of Tom's father forces external turmoil and conflict between Tom the protagonist, and his mother the antagonist. The internal conflict is seen within Tom through his constant references to leaving home and his selfishness. The play is about a young aspiring poet named Tom, who works at a shoe warehouse. Tom is unhappy with is life at home mainly because of his overbearing, over protective mother named Amanda. Tom also has a sister within the play named Laura who chooses to isolate herself from the rest of society. During the play Tom's relationship with his mother is filled with very harsh and abrasive

TThis essay will discuss the metaphors associated with the characters in The Glass Menagerie and how each of these metaphors represents a fragment of the American Dream. She is like a piece of her glass collection, too fragile to be brought into the real world without being devastated. Because of her sensibility, she has avoided dealing with people for so long that when she finally tries to socialise with Jim, she fails to see that she is being manipulated. Amanda is a faded Southern belle who is trying to relive her past by using her daughter to mirror her former self. She represents nostalgia for the Old South in the play. Tom is a struggling poet who dreams of real adventures but has to provide support for his family. Jim, despite

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.

Isolation is prevalent in “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams. This is presented in symbols such as blue roses and the glass unicorn, for they are imagined objects and only existent in another fantasy world. Williams incorporates such arcane symbols to draw out his characters, Amanda, Laura, and Tom, and how they cope with confinement. Most importantly, the symbols of the play represent how isolation debilitates them psychologically in an attempt to connect with reality. The jonquils represent how Amanda desperately clings on to her past, resulting in her inappropriate behavior during Jim’s visit. The glass menagerie reveals Laura’s inability to face reality, trapping her in perpetual isolation. The fire escape demonstrates Tom’s journey on conquering desolation because he take action to prevent the detriment that drains him of energy.

The three-story I have chosen to write on is Saint maybe, The glass menagerie, and For whom the southern belle tolls. All three those related in different ways, even though they are different, they all have similarity for examples; Family, these story deals with the family issue whether it’s good or bad. As I continue it will show what each of these of the story is about and how they are related in different ways, different story, different family, but falls into similar family conflict. The glass menagerie and the whom the southern belle tolls are based on the same story but the play is slightly different from the articles.

In the Glass Menagerie by Tennessee William’s, Tom narrates the story through his memories. Tom resided in a small tenement with his older, slightly crippled sister, Laura and his overbearing, audacious mother, Amanda. Tom is a young man in his mid-twenties who has had to assume the role as provider for the household. His and Laura’s father left them and their mother years ago. Their father was an alcoholic with adulterous tendencies. That left Tom no choice, but to be the man of the house. His mother though filled with good intentions, created strife among the family. Amanda nagged and harped on her children about everything, to no bitter end. Amanda entwined every aspect of her children’s life into her own, she relied on them for

The Glass Menagerie is a play written by Tennessee Williams. It is mainly about three characters: Tom Wingfield, the narrator; Amanda Wingfield, Tom’s mother; and Laura Wingfield, Tom’s sister. The family is supported by both Tom and Amanda, working at a shoemaking warehouse and selling magazine subscriptions respectively. However, with some things unable to work, Amanda wants Laura to have a man to support both of them, but there are some things that are restraining her from doing so, such as Laura’s disposition. Tom brings a man named Jim O’Connor to satisfy Amanda’s wants, but this, too, does not work out. The Wingfields are all stuck in their own illusions in some way, and Jim is the only escape, coming from the real world. The Glass Menagerie explores many things in the aspects of a dysfunctional family, using contrasts between fantasy and reality.

Her story of seventeen callers in one evening appears to be incomprehensible additionally portrays that she was well known amid those early days. In any case, Amanda has believed in this story so much that the callers have moved toward becoming reality. She gets away from the drudgery of life in the apartment world by playing recreations. In one such amusement, she reveals to her little girl "You be the woman this time, and I will be the darky". She alludes to Laura 's deformation as a little physical imperfection as opposed to tolerating that her girl is injured. Inevitably,

¨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.

In the play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, is a great example of how common it is to have a broken family especially in today’s society. I know a lot of people would disagree with my opinion and say that the family wasn’t broken at all. I understand that there are several families out there that seem very complete even without a father figure. In the play we the readers get to see firsthand, on how Tom’s father essentially broke up this family without even knowing it. I can’t say that I know how tom, Amanda and Laura feel because I’ve never actually been in their situation.

The twentieth century was a century full of memorable events. These events influence most everything going on around them. Tennessee Williams’s play, The Glass Menagerie, influenced twentieth century American theatre and continues to influence theatre to this day.

In the reading of The Glass Menagerie, we see how Laura, Tom, Jim O’Conner, and Amanda are trying to escape his or her situation. In this final paper we will see how they were trapped, and what they done to be released from their caged life. You will see how Amanda lives in the past, Laura lives in her own little world, Tom is living for the present and looking for the best way out, and Jim O’Conner is trying to become someone famous..

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