The_Glass_Menegerie

Thesis Statement: The absence of individual independence in each of the characters in “The Glass Menagerie” causes them to want to escape into their own world of fantasy. I. Amanda’s personal escape is within the memory of her youth. A. Tennessee Williams describes Amanda as trying to live in the past. 1. Domina writes, “Yet although she has kept her husband's photograph on her wall, Amanda sometimes seems to forget that she chose to marry a less-than-ideal man. She speaks frequently, almost obsessively, of the Sunday afternoon when she received “seventeen!—gentlemen callers!” (Domina). 2. Amanda talks of her past in the sense that she was better than females today. “Girls in those days knew how to talk, I can tell you” (1.25). II. Laura’s escape is within her love for unreal objects and fantasies. A. Lauras love for her glass animals and material objects is a way of her not to face people but to escape to her own little world. “Lately I’ve been spending most of my afternoons in the Jewl Box, that big glass house where they raise the tropical flowers” (2.29). B. Cardullo says, “Like a romantic, then, Laura has a love for Nature in addition to Art – a nature that is artfully memorialized in her collection of little animals made out of glass” (Cardullo). III. Tom’s escape is clearly the movies and his imagination. He says he goes to the movies but it is not a proven fact. He longs for a day to be his own man. A. Tom says “That’s a secret” when his mother asks him what he wished for (5.18). B. Presley says, “His escape from responsibility is but another in a long series which began, of course, with the father’s desertion (Presley). A Character Analysis of “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams. In “The Glass Menagerie”, Williams shows how the Amanda, the mother, Laura, the daughter, and Tom, the son all have insecurities which they handle in separate ways. The mother uses her memories of the past to incorporate ideas on her children. The daughter lives in a fantasy world of glass figurines. Tom lives his life on the run, escaping to the movies often. The absence of individual independence in each of the characters in “The Glass Menagerie” causes them to want to escape into their own world of fantasy. Amanda has locked in memories of the past which she uses to escape from the present way of life. Williams describes Amanda as “frantically clinging to the past”. She talks vainly in a sense that she behaved better than females do today. “Girls in those days knew how to talk, I can tell you” (1.25). She was often giving instructions to her children about how to behave. She found a way of escape in trying to relive her life through Laura, while invoking her memories from the past. “Just look at your mother! This is the dress in with I led the cotillion” (6.19). Domina writes, “Yet although she has kept her husband's photograph on her wall, Amanda sometimes seems to forget that she chose to marry a less-than-ideal man. She speaks frequently, almost obsessively, of the Sunday afternoon when she received “seventeen!—gentlemen callers!” (Domina). She spoke of all of her callers from one spring and how she went to a ball and then she met Laura’s father. “and then I – [she stops in front of the picture. Music plays.] (1676) met your father”! (6.19). Amanda is an old fashioned lady who has ways of manipulating her children into helping her to live in her own memories. She intends to have Laura to act in a way in which she can land a gentlemen caller. Even though it made Laura feel ill that Jim O’Connor was coming for dinner, Amanda was set on having a gentlemen caller for her. This was a way for her to escape again; to a secure future. “I’m sick, too – of your nonsense! Why can’t you and your brother be normal people' Fantastic whims and behavior!” (6.58). When Jim arrived, Amanda was acting as if it was her gentlemen caller. She was dressed up in a famous dress from her past, had jonquils in her hair, and prancing around like a school girl. She tries to make Laura into what she wants to be. Laura has her own imagination of who she wants to be. She persuades Tom to find his sister a gentlemen caller. Laura’s escape is within her love for unreal objects and fantasies. Her love for her glass animals and material objects is a way of her not to face people but to escape to her own little world. “Lately I’ve been spending most of my afternoons in the Jewel Box, that big glass house where they raise the tropical flowers” (2.29). She doesn’t interact with other people well. She quit going to her typing school because she was shy and backward. She doesn’t have a boyfriend or mention having any other friends. When she was pretending to go to school, she walked in the park, art museum, and visited the zoo. “I visited the penguins every day!” (2.29). She can handle interacting with still objects or animals, but not humans. Cardullo says, “Like a romantic, then, Laura has a love for Nature in addition to Art – a nature that is artfully memorialized in her collection of little animals made out of glass” (Cardullo). It is not fully Laura’s own fault for being introverted. Amanda and Tom talk about her and what to do for her as if she cannot decide for herself. This has helped her to be dependent on them and on her imagination of her fantasy world. She has a glass collection of animals which she is caught up in. She places them on the shelf with such delicacy and honor. Her collection is like her life, delicate and fragile. “My glass collection takes up a good deal of my time. Glass is something you have to take good care of (7.186). Then gentleman caller Tom brought home from work is Jim O’Connor. When Jim comes to call and they spend time talking, she begins to feel a little better about herself. He tells her that she is pretty, gets her to dance, and even kisses her. “In all respects – believe me! Your eyes-your hair-are pretty!” (7.267). He helps boost her self confidence. Even though he does have a steady girlfriend, it has helped Laura for Jim to be here. She can see herself as a pretty girl now, and can venture out and become more confident with other people. Tom’s escape is clearly the movies and his imagination as well. He longs for a day to be on his own, doing whatever he wants to do. “That’s a secret” when his mother asks him what he wished for (5.18). He writes and dreams of a better, less responsible life. He says he goes to the movies, but is not a proven fact. He goes out nearly every night. It is his way of escaping the imprisonment of the responsibilities he has for taking care of his mother and sister. He took on this responsibility after the family was abandoned by the father. His escape is from the shadow of his father. He doesn’t want the responsibilities of being the man of the house. Presley says, “His escape from responsibility is but another in a long series which began, of course, with the father’s desertion (Presley). He gets angry at his mother for trying to manipulate his life. “I haven’t enjoyed one bite of this dinner because of your constant directions on how to eat it” (1.7). His love and concern for Laura is what keeps him there. He escapes to the “movies” most nights so that he doesn’t have to see the loneliness of his sister. He gets very angry at his mother but apologizes because Laura asks him to. “If you just say you’re sorry she’ll start speaking. Please-please!” (4.18,20). When he mends things with his mother, he agrees to find a gentlemen caller for Laura. It all goes well and there is hope for Laura to hook-up with Jim. When it is found out that he is engaged to another, well, that all goes down the drain. Jim says to them of he and his fiancé, “We’re going to be married the second Sunday in June” (7.294). This made Amanda angry at Tom. She blamed him for all the waste of time and effort for this visit. Her angry behavior caused Tom to launch into the great escape in the end. “All right, I will! The more you shout about my selfishness to me the quicker I’ll go, and I won’t go to the movies” (7.321)! He escapes, or does he' He leaves out and travels many places. He is still shadowed by the memory of Laura needing him to take care of her in every city he escapes to. Work Cited Cardullo, Robert J. “Liebestod, Romanticism, and Poetry in the The Glass Menegerie.” ANQ 23.2 (2010): 76-85. Academic Search Premier EBSCO. Web. 25 May 2011 Domina, L. M. "An overview of The Glass Menagerie." Drama for Students. Detroit: Gale. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 May 2011. Presley, Delma Eugene. “The Search for Hope in Plays of Tennessee Williams.” Mississippi Quarterly 25 (1971): 31-43. Rpt. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Deborah A. Schmitt. Vol. 111. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 May 2011 Williams. “The Glass Menagerie.” Literature: An introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Robert Kate Zweig. 10th ed. New York: Person Longman, 2012.1649. Print.