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Her expectation is anything but realistic. To deal with her mother's insurmountable expectations, Laura disappears into her own fantasy world with the sparkling, clear world of the glass animals. These unique glass figurines give her something positive and of value, which is lacking in her present life.
Unfortunately, Laura, like her mother, cannot always stay in this fantasy world. She has a more difficult time staying in an unrealistic world freeing herself from the pain of her present one. The broken unicorn represents her fractured life; she is not physically whole with her limp and emotional fragility. She clearly recognizes the truth about herself, as she says to her mother: "I'm crippled!" (Williams xx) That is, she cannot complete Amanda's expectation; she cannot be "as popular" as her mother. Every once and a while, she forgets who she is. She forgets that she cannot live up to her mother's or even her...
For example, she has fragile hopes that she will shine liker her glass and be something special when Jim comes for dinner. She is instead resigned to her continually despondent and lonely future. It is Jim, the representative of reality, who makes both Laura and Amanda see the world for what it is.
When the play comes to an end, the Wingfields are more in touch with reality as they were previously. Amanda says she has put aside her "silliness" and realizes more fully that she cannot change Laura. She blames Tom for his selfish dreaming, but actually it has been her selfish dreaming all along that caused such problems. People cannot be changed from who they are, even loved ones.
Williams, Tennessee. "Glass Menagerie" Literature, an Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eds. Edgar Roberts and Henry Jacobs. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007, xx-xx
Unfortunately, Laura, like her mother, cannot always stay in this fantasy world. She has a more difficult time staying in an unrealistic world freeing herself from the pain of her present one. The broken unicorn represents her fractured life; she is not physically whole with her limp and emotional fragility. She clearly recognizes the truth about herself, as she says to her mother: "I'm crippled!" (Williams xx) That is, she cannot complete Amanda's expectation; she cannot be "as popular" as her mother. Every once and a while, she forgets who she is. She forgets that she cannot live up to her mother's or even her own personal expectations. For example, she has fragile hopes that she will shine liker her glass and be something special when Jim comes for dinner. She is instead resigned to her continually despondent and lonely future. It is Jim, the representative of reality, who makes both Laura and Amanda see the world for what it is.
When the play comes to an end, the Wingfields are more in touch with reality as they were previously. Amanda says she has put aside her "silliness" and realizes more fully that she cannot change Laura. She blames Tom for his selfish dreaming, but actually it has been her selfish dreaming all along that caused such problems. People cannot be changed from who they are, even loved ones.
Williams, Tennessee. "Glass Menagerie" Literature, an Introduction to Reading and Writing. Eds. Edgar Roberts and Henry Jacobs. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007, xx-xx
Tom states that the events are based on a "working memory" thus suggesting that aspects of the story are exaggerated. Williams works to point out that the story will not follow the conventions of conventional theatre which is evident in the narrator addressing the audience directly. 3. Describe the contrast between Amanda's perception of the night Jim comes to visit, and Laura's perception of the same evening. What does this
86). Jim symbolically inspires Laura to accept her individuality and to see that beneath her outstanding traits she is no different from anyone else. His gentility and kindness, borne of Southern culture, help Laura come to terms with herself and her social awkwardness. Laura's personality transformation through Jim's kindness paralleled her symbolic transformation through the unicorn. Had the unicorn not been made of glass, its horn would not have so
Glass Menagerie: An Uncertain Reality This essay will examine the ways in which the three main characters in "The Glass Menagerie" soften with harshness of day-to-day living with an insulating blanket of self-deception. This play is one of Tennessee Williams's earliest and most biographical plays (Patterson, 27). "The Glass Menagerie" was written by Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams (1911-1983) in 1944, incorporating his short story "Portrait of a Girl in Glass" with the unproduced
In The Glass Menagerie, the self-induced isolation of Laura stands in parallel to the mostly perceived isolation of Tom. These siblings suffer from symbiotic emotional illnesses that, if we are to understand Williams' works taken together, are indicative of a home itself shrouded in an unhealthy blanket of stunted relationships and the chilling void of empathy. The Glass Menagerie would be the first of his plays to achieve widespread critical
Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams, His Mother and the Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams is among the most celebrated playwrights of the 20th century. His family portraits, set to the backdrop of a deteriorating Southern tradition, are a window into human foibles like vanity, insecurity, detachment and personal disappointment. All of these themes are in full display with Williams' breakthrough work, 1944's The Glass Menagerie. A peering insight into the unhappy lives of the
Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams Humankind's destiny has always been driven by fate and circumstances and in dealing with these two, people have ways of changing the outcome while others simply accept what comes their way. Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie is a play that portrays the manners by which the characters handle their situations in life. What they have are not the best of circumstances especially since the play was