The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

(146) In order to emphasize his humility and goodness, Tom has been cast as a ?one-arm jackleg? (as he so eloquently puts it). He is a carpenter, ably fixing up the Crater property. He performs the miracles of reviving Mrs. Crater?s long-dead Ford (the religious connection reinforced by O?Connor?s characterization of his expression ?as if he had just raised the dead? [151]) and teaching deaf and mute daughter Lucynell to say the word ?bird?. He eschews modern man?s obsession with money and claims that he has a ?moral intelligence? despite his physical shortcomings. By emphasizing his focus on the spiritual nature of life, Tom succeeds in marrying the daughter and receiving money from Mrs. Crater.

Amanda Wingfield’s life is turned upside down by her husband’s departure. In her mind it shatters hope for

Tennessee Williams, born Thomas Lanier Williams, wrote The Glass Menagerie, a play which premiered in Chicago in 1944. This award winning play, autobiographical in nature, represented a time in which Williams felt the obligation of his responsibilities in regards to the care of his family. Robert DiYanni, Adjunct Professor of Humanities at New York University, rated it as, “One of his best-loved plays...a portrayal of loneliness among characters who confuse fantasy and reality” (DiYanni 1156). Alternatively, The Glass Menagerie, a play set in the era of the Great Depression and written from the narrator’s memory, was meant to teach us the how our relationships with one another can alter our futures, for better or worse. Everything about this particular play was a direct and clear symbolization of Williams ' life growing up. Williams uses characterization to depict several people from his real life in this play; his sister, himself, his overbearing mother, absent father, and a childhood best friend. Williams does a splendid job transforming his personal life into a working piece of art. In Tennessee Williams ' play, The Glass Menagerie, his character, Laura, is central to the structure and focus of the story due to her individual ties to all of the supporting characters throughout the seven scene play.

Tom’s neglecting manner of Daisy brings out his supercilious manner of feeling superior to others. In another instance, Tom’s supercilious manner is shown once again. In fact, we find out a little secret about Tom’s life. Tom describes a man, named Wilson as, “Wilson? He thinks she goes to see her sister in New York.

Tom Robinson went to the Ewell’s house because Mayella said “I will give you a nickel if you would chop up the chiffarobe.” Also I think that Tom went because mayella was tired and went to rest and take a break. And I think because Tom see her doing all the work around the house and want’s to help her.

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

When Tom introduces the characters in the play, he includes his father as one of them although clearly stating that he is not going to appear on stage. Tom also gives a brief description of his father, helping to establish a lasting impression on the audience after seeing the photograph which Williams has described to be “blown-up” and Tom describes as “larger-than life”. Mr. Wingfield is described by Tom as a “telephone man who fell in love with long distances”, “gave up his job with the telephone company and skipped the light fantastic out of town”. In addition to that, Tom provides us in his opening narration information about the postcard from his father containing the message of two words “Hello – Goodbye!” From Tom’s narration, we see the lasting effects of Mr. Wingfield’s abandonment on Tom.

Tom Wingfield and Ethan Frome are both intellectual dreamers who live in stifling, hopeless conditions. Ethan gave up his dreams of becoming an engineer due to his duty to care for his ailing parents, and later Zeena. Similarly, Tom writes poetry, reads literature, follows European politics, and dreams of escaping from his current circumstances. Just as Ethan never fulfills his dream of becoming an engineer, Tom is trapped in his job at a warehouse to support his family. Both of these characters desire a life that is more exciting and fulfilling than the one they currently have. The difference between Tom and Ethan is that while Ethan stays with Zeena in Starkfiled, Tom leaves his family in St. Louis. Ethan is a highly passive character, relying

Everyone in the family sticks to their societal role, Tom takes care of the Amanda and Laura, Amanda does some work, but she does do a lot of work in the house, and Laura is attempting to find someone to marry so she does not have to go to work. When Amanda was younger, she tells the reader that she always had gentleman callers, and she is always hoping that Laura will get gentleman callers. An example of Amanda projecting this belief onto Laura is when Amanda says “"Resume your seat, little sister – I want you to stay fresh and pretty – for gentlemen callers! (1.14)”. However, having to take care of his sister and living with Amanda causes tension in Tom’s life. Tom works in a factory, as most men did in the 30s, and this meant that he worked long hours for little pay. Tom wanted to be a poet, but he had to keep working because he had to support his family. Amanda puts a lot of pressure on Tom to be there for his sister, to be his older sister’s guardian, and she gets upset when Tom is out late drinking and going to the movies as his

Tom Wingo lives on Sullivans Island, South Carolina - the sanctuary in which he neglects his past - with his three daughters and his wife, Sallie; however, their family dynamics do not replicate those of the archetypal Southern family. For one, Tom takes care of the domestic affairs while Sallie brings home the money as she divulges into the disciplined study of medicine. In the 1980s, the domestic Southern Belle and hard-working, sexist, racist male were prevalent in the distinct culture of the South (Conlee 4). It is evident Tom adores his daughters, but the translation of his love comes in subtle

   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.

Next character tries to find a way out of her own empty world is Amanda, in the play; she is the mother of two specific children. She has high hopes to marry a wealthy man, but she never finds out who like her need. She lives with a bitter of obsession and paranoia so she has high need for her children, Tom and Laura; she

Amanda Wingfield was a complex character that encompassed many facets of her personality. She longed to have the life she had as a girl and young woman with gentleman callers and being the center of attention; her reality though, was a much more dismal existence with a son who worked at a factory making little money at a job he despised and a daughter that was as emotionally and physically

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

The present does not satisfy him working at the same warehouse as Tom, despite Tom’s prediction that he would "arrive at nothing short of the White House by the time he was thirty" (Williams, 190). Tom realizes that he "was valuable to him [Jim] as someone who could remember his former glory" (Williams, 190). Jim reminisces about his lead in the operetta and Laura asks him to sign her program. He signs it "with a flourish" (Williams 218). Only as Jim enters the Wingfield’s illusory world, can he become this high school hero again. Subsequently, Jim regresses to his high school days of wooing women as he woos innocent Laura by dancing with her and kissing her. While this might as well be an illusion, the situation’s reality is that Jim is engaged. Unlike the Wingfield’s, Jim can only live temporarily in the past. Thus, he leaves the dream world of the Wingfields.