The Glass Menagerie: The Issue of Marriage in a Dysfunctional Family
The Glass Menagerie is a dramatic play which was written by Tennessee Williams. Tennessee, the writer of this play employed some characters to perform certain assigned roles to depict a picture of a dysfunctional family. The characters are Amanda Wingfield, the mother of Tom and Laura, and Jim O’Connor, a friend of Jim. This play springs out some issues of life which affect the lives of the characters in the play. One of the issues is marriage and this was relevant in the life of Amanda and her daughter.
In this play, Amanda Wingfield was abandoned by her husband, who happens to leave her and the family with a picture post card containing a message of two words, “Hello and …show more content…
She always hoped for the best for her children especially Laura. One of her expectations for Laura was that she could find a gentleman caller and later get married. She never wanted her daughter to be left unmarried like she was, so she had to work out something to find her daughter a suitor. With this being a serious issue, she had to ask her son, Tom, to help find a gentleman caller for his sister. Amanda says, “…as soon as Laura has got somebody to take care of her, married, a home of her own, independent.”(4.403) Under this condition, Tom had to try as much as possible to help find a man for his sister so he could be able to pursue his career as well. Amanda added, “…then you’ll be free to go wherever you please, on land, on sea, whichever way the wind blows! But until that time you’ve got to look out for your sister.” Amanda insisted that Tom looks out for certain qualities of the kind of man to suit his sister. Some of the qualities include: a man who does not drink, a man with a good job or pursuing a good career, and a man with good …show more content…
From one of the conversations Amanda and Tom had in the play, Amanda warned Tom not to bring any man who drinks to the house. Amanda had discussed the issue of Laura’s singleness to Tom and had asked him to invite someone at the warehouse for dinner so he could be the suitor for Laura. Amanda said to Tom, “Find out one that is clean living, doesn’t drink and ask him out for sister!”(4.404). This statement tells us that Amanda really wanted to find the right person for her daughter, not just any kind of man. I think the reason why Amanda disliked a man who drinks is because her husband who abandoned her was a drunkard so she did not want her daughter to be abandoned like she was. Every mother in Amanda’s shoes would have done same because most mother would not want their daughters to get married to a drunkard who will mistreat them and also be irresponsible for performing his duties as a
The Glass Menagerie is a dramatic play which was written by Tennessee Williams. Tennessee, the writer of this play employed some characters to perform certain assigned roles to depict a picture of a dysfunctional family. The characters are Amanda Wingfield, the mother of Tom and Laura, and Jim O’Connor, a friend of Jim. This play springs out some issues of life which affect the lives of the characters in the play. One of the issues is marriage and this was relevant in the life of Amanda and her daughter.
In this play, Amanda Wingfield was abandoned by her husband, who happens to leave her and the family with a picture post card containing a message of two words, “Hello and …show more content…
She always hoped for the best for her children especially Laura. One of her expectations for Laura was that she could find a gentleman caller and later get married. She never wanted her daughter to be left unmarried like she was, so she had to work out something to find her daughter a suitor. With this being a serious issue, she had to ask her son, Tom, to help find a gentleman caller for his sister. Amanda says, “…as soon as Laura has got somebody to take care of her, married, a home of her own, independent.”(4.403) Under this condition, Tom had to try as much as possible to help find a man for his sister so he could be able to pursue his career as well. Amanda added, “…then you’ll be free to go wherever you please, on land, on sea, whichever way the wind blows! But until that time you’ve got to look out for your sister.” Amanda insisted that Tom looks out for certain qualities of the kind of man to suit his sister. Some of the qualities include: a man who does not drink, a man with a good job or pursuing a good career, and a man with good …show more content…
From one of the conversations Amanda and Tom had in the play, Amanda warned Tom not to bring any man who drinks to the house. Amanda had discussed the issue of Laura’s singleness to Tom and had asked him to invite someone at the warehouse for dinner so he could be the suitor for Laura. Amanda said to Tom, “Find out one that is clean living, doesn’t drink and ask him out for sister!”(4.404). This statement tells us that Amanda really wanted to find the right person for her daughter, not just any kind of man. I think the reason why Amanda disliked a man who drinks is because her husband who abandoned her was a drunkard so she did not want her daughter to be abandoned like she was. Every mother in Amanda’s shoes would have done same because most mother would not want their daughters to get married to a drunkard who will mistreat them and also be irresponsible for performing his duties as a