Class Roles in Pygmalion

A detailed Summary of Class Roles in Pygmalion

Laura Wingfield has the fewest lines in the play "The Glass Menagerie," yet the play revolves around her. Laura is twenty-three, and walks with a limp due to a brace on her leg. Although Laura faces problems throughout the play, she is very compassionate. She is humble, shy, and never does anything to hurt anyone else. The character of Laura throughout the play is like a fragile piece of glass, unable to survive in the outside world, and she always retreats to her glass collection. Laura is a loving portrait locked up in her own little world, her lobotomy trapping her in a permanent adolescence. Due to Laura's low self-esteem, and inferiority complex she devotes herself to an imaginative world, which is colorful and enticing, but based on fragile illusions.

Laura's mother, Amanda, comes from a Southern family and has had an idyllic youth. A former jet setter, Amanda relishes telling stories about her exciting past. " My callers were gentlemen, all! Among my callers were some of the most prominent planters of the Mississippi Delta; planters and sons of planters" (Williams 8). Amanda is disappointed in Laura because is not as proficient in the area of picking paramours; "It wasn't enough for a girl to be possessed of a

There was a lot of fuss made for the meeting of Laura and Jim. Laura got a new dress, and was transformed by her mother. When Laura realizes that Jim is the same man on whom she had a crush in high school, she panics. Laura became so uptight that she told her mother she may not even be able to eat at the same table as him.

Laura is one of the weakest people in the play. She falls victim to the circumstances that surround her. Laura's obsession of living in her own world comes from her family, each respective member existing in his or her own reality. For example, Amanda's world is based on her teenage years where she is young and popular, as if looks and social status are what constitute one's worth. Tom's world was centered on being a writer. His zeal for the future and power to block out the burdens of his past define him. Each of these examples set the stage for Laura's own shyness and disillusions of reality. "At the end of "The Glass Menagerie" the candles of Laura's life are snuffed out" (Patrowicz [online]).

Laura's feelings of insecurity and inferiority slowly diminish with the help of Jim. "When Laura brings the high school yearbook out to reminisce after dinner, Jim accepts it reverently. They smile across the book with mutual wonder. Laura crouches beside him and they begin to turn the pages. At this point, Laura's shyness is dissolving in his warmth" (Williams 77). Jim makes her feel comfortable and accepts her as she is. He realizes that when they attended high school Laura had a low self-esteem. He tries to comfort her by telling her she should not be so self-conscious and that everyone has problems. Jim speaks of an inferiority complex he suffered from after post- high school disappointments. He indicates that Laura may suffer from this same complex, and that she "low rates" herself.

Laura does not want to do anything drastic to change her life. In fact, it seems that all she wants is to keep inside her personal microcosm, without having to deal with the decisions, demands, and disappointments of the real world. This is evident through her attempt to attend Business College, in which she fails quite dramatically when her skills are to be tested. When Laura lies to her mother about dropping out of school, it shows that Laura is extremely afraid of confrontations and situations where someone has high expectations for her.

, which she sets up against her reality. Laura is escaping from the real world because she is afraid of it. She believes that her physical defect defines her as a person, and when people look at her that is all they see.

Jim O' Conner is a shipping clerk at the warehouse where Tom works. Tom invites Jim to the house to have din

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Approximate Word count = 1833
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts