Sacrifice In Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie

When people think of the future just about everyone thinks of their hopes and desires. Some desires require painful sacrifices and others don’t require much. Everyone must eventually decide if their desire is worth the sacrifices they have to make in order to obtain it. The sacrifice may be big or little but it must be made. In Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie, Tom, Amanda, and Laura all desire to escape to more pleasurable futures. Their obligations, insecurities, hopes, and dreams all restrict them from easily obtaining their desires. Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie scene 7 demonstrates the characters’ denial of reality and their desire to escape using setting, staging, conflict, and symbolism.

The setting of The …show more content…
There is no way to escape their problems without hurting someone else. Tom desires to begin his own life but he held back by the moral obligations he has to his family. In scene 6 Tom tells Jim how he decided to pay his dues to “The Union of Merchant Seamen” (Williams 1680) instead of the light bill. Tom ultimately decides that he is going to take the same route as his father and disappear. Tom’s situation is complex because he has chosen to pursue his desires and sacrifice the well being of his mother and sister. Amanda is in conflict with her past and what she hopes for in the future for her kids. She constantly nags her son to take care of the family and tells him he can’t leave until his sister finds a husband who can support her financially. She’s denying the reality that she was abandoned by her husband because she keeps saying her husband was a “telephone man who-fell in love with long-distance” (Williams 1682). Laura is in conflict with her physical disability. She has let her physical disability restrain her from making friends, and meeting gentlemen callers. Laura is denying the reality that if she does not find a gentleman caller she is most likely going to be alone and in poverty