The Glass Menagerie Play Analysis

Improved Essays
I chose to read “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams. I chose to read this because I had read it before but I wanted to catch up and reread it. This play is a memory play told by Tom Wingfield, the son of an overbearing mother, who is torn between leaving to follow his dreams and staying because he deeply cares for his “crippled” sister. The play in my opinion is really a story full of false hopes, illusion of the mind, abandonment, lost youth, and escape. The main symbols in the play support its main theme; that change cannot be avoided and it is always accompanied by the sense of loss. There are many examples shown in the play of how Tom is basically driven away by his mother. When the play opens and the scene is set it starts with Tom, his sister Laura, and their mother Amanda sitting around the table to eat dinner. The first thing Amanda does is nag Tom about the way he is eating. She tells him not to push his food around with his hands and to chew his food thoroughly. This first scene already shows her need to direct and control everything and the people around her. I understand that most mothers feel the need to be in control but Amanda is someone who wants things to be done only the way she wants them done. I feel with the first scene showing his mother already nagging at Tom that she has been …show more content…
This of course, starts another argument between the two. Tom basically says he is tired of his mediocre life of working in a warehouse to support her and Laura. He always uses the same excuse to get away from their apartment and their mother. “I am going to the movies!” and his mother usually replies with “I don’t believe that lie!” (Williams 131). Tom says he is going to the movies almost every night and he usually leaves very late, this indicates that he is not going to the movies, but he is actually going to a

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the beginning of the story, Tom has to make a decision on whether to go to the movies with his wife or stay at home and work on his writing. He already has decided that he was not going to the movies which makes him have a “hot- guilty conscience”, so he opens the window. He feels guilty because he knew that he made the wrong decision on not going with his wife. As his wife leaves the apartment, she reminds him that he wanted to see it too. Instead of going to the movies with a wife and seeing a movie that he was really interested in, he chooses to stay behind and work on his project that he feels will promote him to the top of…

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the play American Century by Murphy Guyer, we find a woman waiting on her husband Tom to return from war. Upon his return while they’re reuniting, they are interrupted by a stranger, Tommy, who claims to be their son. Although at first Tom doesn’t believe him and thinks it’s a scam, the woman name Margaret knew the entire time because of motherly instincts. He goes on to tell them about the future and how he got back by taking drugs because he is a schizophrenic. He then continues to describe how the other children had turned out.…

    • 1580 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Every person has had a traumatic past or an unfortunate event that has affected them one way or another; all have a different way of coping, and for Tennessee Williams it was writing. One of his better known plays,“A Streetcar Named Desire”, is a play constructed of pieces of his past childhood. The play is constructed of symbolism, aggressive diction, and conflict to be as a stage for William’s broken, beaten down mind. Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi; he had two siblings and his mother and father- a full house. Though it may seem like he had a complete undamaged family, life wasn’t easy for him.…

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Yes, I do believe that Hansberry’s stage drama has helped be comprehend what she wanted her audience to understand through the story of the Younger family. Hansberry wanted to tell her audience the truth about the black people in that time period and teach about their life. she wanted to teach the audience whet the black people did on a day to day basis. She wanted her audiences to understand that the African American race is just as complicated and similar as other races of people are. She wants the audiences that experience the play first hand and those that read about the play in the future to realize that each race and group of people is more similar then they original believe.…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The movie and play productions of “The Glass Menagerie” tell very different stories. The play tells a story of a family with no father – emphasis on no father – that can’t seem to be nice or truthful to one another. The movie tries to tell a similar story but they avoid mention of the father as much as possible. In the beginning of the movie Tom’s opening words are cut out, negating the fact that the entire story is Tom’s memory of what happened.…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Great Job of John Erman’s Version of A Streetcar Named Desire John Erman had done a great job on filming the play, A Streetcar Named Desire written by Tennessee William, into movie, which was released in 1984. The classical music, lighting, and the representation by the actors were all blended together perfectly to express the play—I even think it is more engaged than the play. From the beginning to the end, Erman shortened scenes that are relatively insignificant to allow the main plots to “shine”.…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Emotional decisions leads to negative outcomes Have you made any decisions that did not turn out the way you want it to? It is probably because you made the decision based on your emotions. Well, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger , Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams has characters in their texts who make bad decisions because their emotions blocks their reasonable decisions. Therefore, emotional decisions leads to negative outcomes throughout The Catcher, Romeo and Juliet, and The Menagerie. To begin, J.D Salinger has shown us many examples of emotional decisions that lead characters, in The Catcher, to negative outcomes.…

    • 1182 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In 1920, Sigmund Freud published his first paper detailing the inner workings of the human mind. This essay was his first outlining of the id, the primal urges we feel for aggression and violence; the superego, our desire to respect society 's rules and appear “good” and moral; and the ego, our sense of consciousness that tries to balance them out. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan exemplifies the fight between his morals and his urges very well. Tom Buchanan is torn between maintaining his reputation, and his instinctual desires. As he tries to skate the line between these two, his selfishness shines through.…

    • 1383 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Glass Menagerie”, “Death of a Salesman”, and “A Raisin in the Sun” all reflect the human experience. The human experience in this case involves American families during the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s that are co-dependent on each other throughout the economic and social struggles of their time. The families’ struggles transcend their time periods; people empathize with them now and will continue to do so long into the future. The stories depict experiences that feel very real and that people can relate to in their own lives. Economic hardship and dreams of a better future are common themes in these plays.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Both of these women are very strong characters. A Streetcar Named Desire is entirely focused on Blanche and her delusions. Towards the end of The Glass Menagerie, Amanda reverts back to being the most popular girl in Blue Mountain. She is also assuming that the gentleman caller will take on look at Laura and want to marry her, thus securing Amanda and Laura’s future. Both of these women characters are very strong.…

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 4 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Amanda cannot face reality, and accept the fact that she has a quirky daughter and a son that is beginning to care less and less about his home life, and wants to pursue his own ventures. She can’t grasp the thought of Laura and Tom wanting something other than what she wants for them. She also can’t seem to even fathom that she is contributing to her children’s downfall. Granted, she’s not the only one contributing to it. Tom refuses to acknowledge the thought of actually humoring Amanda and becoming a businessman or indulging in a relationship, preferring to venture into the world of his poems and literature, movies and booze, delving into a fantasy world of his own “adventures”, far from the reality of a grown man.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Have there been that one or two people that affected your life in one way or another, and do you remember that story in your life? Well “The Glass Menagerie” written by Tennessee Williams in 1944 is a tale with many stories that are ties by family. The setting is the key to each one. The characters are also each independently living in a tale of their own even thought they are related. The time period is also a key to the story in the play.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Tom wants to go on an adventure, Amanda lives in the past and wants her children to be able to support themselves, Laura wants nothing more than to look at her glass ornaments, and Jim wants to be able to participate in the technological progress in America by working with televisions. The most noticeable conflict is between Tom and Amanda. Amanda wants Tom to keep his job at the factory at least until they can find a way to support Laura, and Tom wants to be left to his own devices: writing, drinking, and going to the movies. However, Amanda feels that Tom’s stating out late will jeopardize his job. This leads to constant arguments between the two that ultimately ends with Tom using the light bill to pay for a spot in the merchant marines and leaving after a failed attempt of finding a man for Laura.…

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Tom: I go to the movies because- I like adventure. Adventure is something I don 't have much of at work, so I go to the movies. Amanda: But, you go to the movies entirely too much!…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie is a play written by Tennessee Williams. Not only is this a play but also a book. Tennessee said he had known the four actors for a long time and that he never thought he would see them before his own eyes on stage. The play is based on a Caucasian family that is trying to please one another. In the play a lot of emotions and life problems are taking place with each character.…

    • 1087 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics