It was once said that ‘you can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.’ This idea is further explored in The Glass Menagerie, a play written by Tennessee Williams. The text delves into lives of Amanda, Laura and Tom Wingfield, a quarrelsome yet arguably loving family. Tom as the narrator and a character in the play recounts through his memories the events that unfolded in the ‘quaint period, the thirties,’ within the confines of the Wingfield apartment. Whilst the play concentrates on the intricate and somewhat disastrous lives of the Wingfield’s, the historical context of the play represents the reasoning behind their difficulties in accepting reality. This is shown through the Great Depression, the Spanish
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After the Wall Street Crash known as “Black Tuesday” occurred on October 1929, America and most of the world was plunged into a decade long economic struggle. This struggle left 13 million Americans unemployed, increased poverty, illness, deflation, and low farming incomes and profits. This devastating event took its toll on St Louis, Missouri where families struggled to make ends meet, were forced to live in poor apartment housing and unemployment reached over 30%. This historical event is clearly represented by the lives of the Wingfield’s, living in their dilapidated and run-down apartment in St Louis, frantically trying to make it by. In turn, the taxing effects of the great depression caused many Americans to focus on escaping the harsh reality of their lives and many, much like Tom, chose to escape to the movies. This is because ‘the movies offered a chance to escape, the cold, the heat, and the loneliness’ and it was a social event which brought strangers together and was available to everyone. Therefore, Tom used the movies as a means of escaping the reality of working monotonously at the warehouse, allowing him the chance to dream of future adventure, and not the squalid economy. Similarly, Laura escapes her reality of dropping out of school and business college by closing herself off from the outside world by playing with her glass …show more content…
While the great depression swept America, ‘in Spain there was Guernica.’ Tom alludes to this in his narration because of the ongoing Spanish Civil War. The revolutionaries were led by Francisco Franco, supported by the uprising Nazi Germany, and were found to have bombed the ‘sleepy Spanish market town’ known as ‘Guernica,’ creating ultimate destruction in 1937. Approximately 1,650 people were killed and it was known as one of the first raids in modern aviation history on innocent civilians. Then later in the play, Tom is coincidentally holding a newspaper with the enormous caption ‘Franco Triumphs,’ thus showing his revolutionary win over Spain, and new dictatorship. This newspaper represents the changing world going on around outside the Wingfield apartment, whether the characters are aware or not. Then, Tom also alludes to the outside world with looming change about to occur with World War II. He does this in narrating that for the youth in the Paradise Dance Hall, ‘adventure and change were imminent this year’, ‘suspended in the mist over Berchtesgaden, caught in the folds of the Chamberlain’s umbrella.’ This suggests that the mounting World War II will change the lives of the youth through the allusion to Adolf Hitler’s popular vacation retreat, ‘Berchtesgaden’, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain who believed that
After the Wall Street Crash known as “Black Tuesday” occurred on October 1929, America and most of the world was plunged into a decade long economic struggle. This struggle left 13 million Americans unemployed, increased poverty, illness, deflation, and low farming incomes and profits. This devastating event took its toll on St Louis, Missouri where families struggled to make ends meet, were forced to live in poor apartment housing and unemployment reached over 30%. This historical event is clearly represented by the lives of the Wingfield’s, living in their dilapidated and run-down apartment in St Louis, frantically trying to make it by. In turn, the taxing effects of the great depression caused many Americans to focus on escaping the harsh reality of their lives and many, much like Tom, chose to escape to the movies. This is because ‘the movies offered a chance to escape, the cold, the heat, and the loneliness’ and it was a social event which brought strangers together and was available to everyone. Therefore, Tom used the movies as a means of escaping the reality of working monotonously at the warehouse, allowing him the chance to dream of future adventure, and not the squalid economy. Similarly, Laura escapes her reality of dropping out of school and business college by closing herself off from the outside world by playing with her glass …show more content…
While the great depression swept America, ‘in Spain there was Guernica.’ Tom alludes to this in his narration because of the ongoing Spanish Civil War. The revolutionaries were led by Francisco Franco, supported by the uprising Nazi Germany, and were found to have bombed the ‘sleepy Spanish market town’ known as ‘Guernica,’ creating ultimate destruction in 1937. Approximately 1,650 people were killed and it was known as one of the first raids in modern aviation history on innocent civilians. Then later in the play, Tom is coincidentally holding a newspaper with the enormous caption ‘Franco Triumphs,’ thus showing his revolutionary win over Spain, and new dictatorship. This newspaper represents the changing world going on around outside the Wingfield apartment, whether the characters are aware or not. Then, Tom also alludes to the outside world with looming change about to occur with World War II. He does this in narrating that for the youth in the Paradise Dance Hall, ‘adventure and change were imminent this year’, ‘suspended in the mist over Berchtesgaden, caught in the folds of the Chamberlain’s umbrella.’ This suggests that the mounting World War II will change the lives of the youth through the allusion to Adolf Hitler’s popular vacation retreat, ‘Berchtesgaden’, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain who believed that