In “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams, the Wingfield family is a very broken one. The Wingfield family represents the average family living in St. Louis at the time of 1937. They consisted of the mother, Amanda, the older daughter, Laura, the younger son, Tom, and the nameless father.
In the beginning of the play the father is absent and represented by a picture on the wall. He would “stay out late” and drink and one day he never came back (940). The reader gets a feeling that the father was never happy settling down and that he did so because it was expected. Throughout the play, Williams puts out a sense that the mother despises him for leaving the family and that the son in a way admires him for the very same reason.
Tom …show more content…
Tom just wants his sister to be happy and do what she wants, even if that means just tending to her glass menagerie. He does not mind that she is antisocial and thinks of her as his best friend more than a sister. On the other hand Amanda wants her daughter to have a life she did not have which includes a husband that is always going to be there and her staying home taking care of the house and future children. Amanda is living through Laura and trying to make Laura’s life perfect based on how hers turned out with the decisions she made, not caring that they are different or that the times are different. She discourages her fascination with the glass figurines even though they are obviously so important to …show more content…
While it is good to have differences within the family complex, it is not good how the Wingfield handles them. Amanda tries to force her views on her children and Tom rebuffs them, while Laura accepts most of them and blames herself if she does not meet the views and expectations. Laura is easily manipulated between both and often stuck and does not know what to do. Tom meanwhile does not care and does what pleases him and only him, despite caring for his sister. The father and Tom deal with things the same way. The family is not only broken in just the dynamics but their dreams as well. Every remaining family members’ dream goes unfulfilled. Amanda does not marry off her daughter; Laura stays at home; Tom does get to travel, but not peacefully since he is haunted by Laura since he left her there unprovided for and with their overbearing
In the beginning of the play the father is absent and represented by a picture on the wall. He would “stay out late” and drink and one day he never came back (940). The reader gets a feeling that the father was never happy settling down and that he did so because it was expected. Throughout the play, Williams puts out a sense that the mother despises him for leaving the family and that the son in a way admires him for the very same reason.
Tom …show more content…
Tom just wants his sister to be happy and do what she wants, even if that means just tending to her glass menagerie. He does not mind that she is antisocial and thinks of her as his best friend more than a sister. On the other hand Amanda wants her daughter to have a life she did not have which includes a husband that is always going to be there and her staying home taking care of the house and future children. Amanda is living through Laura and trying to make Laura’s life perfect based on how hers turned out with the decisions she made, not caring that they are different or that the times are different. She discourages her fascination with the glass figurines even though they are obviously so important to …show more content…
While it is good to have differences within the family complex, it is not good how the Wingfield handles them. Amanda tries to force her views on her children and Tom rebuffs them, while Laura accepts most of them and blames herself if she does not meet the views and expectations. Laura is easily manipulated between both and often stuck and does not know what to do. Tom meanwhile does not care and does what pleases him and only him, despite caring for his sister. The father and Tom deal with things the same way. The family is not only broken in just the dynamics but their dreams as well. Every remaining family members’ dream goes unfulfilled. Amanda does not marry off her daughter; Laura stays at home; Tom does get to travel, but not peacefully since he is haunted by Laura since he left her there unprovided for and with their overbearing