Glass Menagerie 3
Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie is about the struggle with the hardships reality throws at the characters. In this American memory play, produced in 1945, Amanda Wingfield hides from life and lives hers through separate illusions. Amanda resides in an apartment in St. Louis with her two children, Laura and Tom, the narrator. The play circulates around the Wingfields and Jim who is a gentleman caller. In an aside Tom forewarns the readers that the characters, setting, props, and effects are not meant to be real. The purposes of these things are rather to serve as metaphors and symbols of reality. As the setting is an illusion, Amanda also depends heavily on the use of illusions. This is very significant to the play because Williams' portrayal of the Wingfields and how they perceive reality shows how out of touch they are. Amanda survives on account of her illusions, which protect her from the painful facts of life, allowing her to escape the frenzy of life itself. Amanda lives mainly in the past and her memory recalls experiences she cherished while living as a young "southern belle." The reader is not aware if these reminiscences are genuine or if they are wh
Most of Amanda's illusions are derived from her situation with Laura. These illusions keep her from realizing that Laura and her condition are helpless (Nelson 90). When Amanda's business school plan for Laura falls through, she begins preparing her for a gentleman caller, and potential husband. Everything Amanda does and tries for Laura fails, she pushes her family too far! Amanda feels that Laura needs to be rescued to save her future. Though Laura has no interest in a gentleman caller, but Amanda has Tom find one anyway (Falk 77). Tom finds his sister a friend from his job, named Jim O'Connor, to come over for dinner. Amanda's practicality gives her dignity and as she cares for Laura we realize that she too needs to be cared for. Before Laura has even met Jim, Amanda feels that he will be the one to sweep her away. As Laura is getting ready to meet Jim, Amanda tells her "you couldn't be satisfied with just sitting at home, and yet whenever I try to arrange something for you, you seem to resist it." when in fact Laura chooses to remain at home and feels very insecure while outside the St. Louis apartment (MLM 425). Reality strikes, of course, and this ends in disaster as she finds out that Jim is getting married to someone else. The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams' is a play about how all four characters are out of the realm of reality, especially Amanda. She uses numerous escape tools to bypass actuality. Amanda can only attempt to survive life through illusions. These illusions protect them from painful facts of life and allow them to escape life itself. Eventually she falls back into her distinct realm in an attempt to change her true presence. The Glass Menagerie is an extremely practical play. The way Williams represents the Wingfield family and their perception of reality shows how out of touch they really are from l
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Approximate Word count = 1254
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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