"GLASS MENAGERIE, THE" (TENNESSEE WILLIAMS).   Term Paper ID:25568 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Analyzes family dynamics (parent-children & sibling-sibling) of play.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Analyzes family dynamics (parent-children & sibling-sibling) of play. Paper Introduction: Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie is a play about an incomplete family in which each character is expected in some way to take the place of the missing member in order to make the family function. The play is about Amanda Wingfield, whose husband abandoned her long ago, and her two adult children, Tom and Laura. The play centers on Tom's guilt as he looks back at the last time he was together with his family. Following the visit of a "gentleman caller," who was the family's last possible hope of replacing the father, Tom abandoned his mother and sister--although he had no idea how they could care for themselves. Tom feels guilt and sorrow but he never says that he had any other choice. There was no way that he--any more than Laura or the visitor--could take the missing father's place and the audience is left to conclude that Amanda probably had to do Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The play deals with a 24-hour period inwhich all the possibilities for replacing the father in his economic rolefinally collapse. His absence has, of course, left many holesin the fabric of family life, but the economic problem is so serious thatit shoves everything else to one side. The play is aboutAmanda Wingfield, whose husband abandoned her long ago, and her two adultchildren, Tom and Laura. Because they are always engaged in the struggle to provide for themselvesin some permanent way, the relationships among the family members takeunusual directions. There was no way that he--anymore than Laura or the visitor--could take the missing father's place andthe audience is left to conclude that Amanda probably had to do it herself. Tom feels guilt and sorrow but henever says that he had any other choice. Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie is a play about an incompletefamily in which each character is expected in some way to take the place ofthe missing member in order to make the family function. Boston: Twayne, 199 .Williams, Tennessee. Amanda tells him, "I know your ambitions do notlie in the warehouse" but she concludes by telling him that life is veryhard and "calls for Spartan endurance" (5 ). Griffin says that Williams turns the events of the play "into auniversal revelation about parent-child conflict and brother-sisterbonding" (22). Thesmiling young face of the father overlooks the scene and contrasts with thebrutal man who simply abandoned his wife and children and sent them onepost-card that said only "Hello-Goodbye!" (23). She says, for instance, thatshe understands that he might not be happy at home. Theterrible irony of the situation is that he is the only hope of each ofthem. Works CitedGriffin, Alice. Following the visit of a"gentleman caller," who was the family's last possible hope of replacingthe father, Tom abandoned his mother and sister--although he had no ideahow they could care for themselves. Seconds later she tells himthat she becomes afraid when he appears to act like his father. This is normal for ayoung man in his twenties. Amanda also tries to be understanding about how young men might wantadventure. Understanding Tennessee Williams. But Mr.Wingfield's abandonment made the normal functioning of the family almostimpossible. It would,of course, be normal for a mother to want her son to make an effort in lifeor not to want him to turn out badly. But he escaped from the burdenof being his father's replacement rather than out of a mere lack ofresponsibility or love. As Tom resumes the narration Amanda and Laura are seen withinthe room. Tom has taken steps to leave, Amanda demonstrates herineffectual attempts to earn money, and Laura reveals that she had left thesecretarial school. Even thoughLaura's needs come first she is, therefore, trying to meet Tom's needs aswell. The Glass Menagerie. Amanda's conflict with Tom is not the usual differenceover the parent's and the child's view of what is best for him. But underlying all her arguments, asTom understands, is her need to have him support the family. As Amanda comforts Laura she becomes purely maternal; "hersilliness is gone and she has dignity and tragic beauty" (114). The most immediate and pressing need for the family is to replace thefather in his economic role. One of the main functions of thefamily is to provide for the children and allow them to begin their ownlives at the proper time and have, in turn, families of their own. He has anotherlife elsewhere and is eager to leave once it becomes clear to him what hispresence means to Laura. And as Tomlooks back at the sister he loved he does so not as someone who might havecome to resent her dependence, but as someone moved by sadness at his owninability to help and at her need for help. But when she says, "Most young men find adventure in theircareers," she knows she is deliberately missing Tom's point and that shewants to channel his life in a direction that will produce economic safetyfor herself and Laura (51). Tom would be free, Amanda and Laura would be protected, and all thisis based on the flimsiest possibility imaginable. The play centers on Tom's guilt as he looks backat the last time he was together with his family. He was pressured to take hisfather's place in the family and, as his mother believed might happen, theonly part he took was the role of escapee. Trying to fit Laura into the mold of her ownyouth by expecting her to be saved by a gentleman caller "may seem extreme[but] this move should be viewed as Amanda's last resort--the only solutionshe can devise" for the terrible crisis (Presley 37). As Tom introduces himself and the playhe says that there is "a fifth character in the play who doesn't appearexcept in this larger-than-life-size photograph over the mantel" (23). He would havebeen released from his enslavement to the family's needs. But Jim O'Connor is nomore capable of filling the role than any of the others. Instead,she is forced to try to use her authority and her powers of persuasion tokeep him in the job that makes their bare existence possible. Had Laura been able to complete the course and take a job therewould have been no need for Tom to stay at the warehouse. The Glass Menagerie: An American Memory. Amanda lives with a number of illusions--suchas the stories about her past--but she also knows the hard facts of lifevery well and has no illusions about what she needs to do to protectherself and her daughter. The family is left with no hope that the absent father will bereplaced in a way that will make them function as a family again. She knows what she is doing toTom in the same way she knew all along that Laura would probably not becapable of completing the course at the secretarial school. Had thegentleman caller been interested in Laura, Tom and his mother could havereturned to a normal child-parent relationship while Tom and Laura couldhave been merely brother and sister, rather than an unwilling worker andhis dependent. Tom has no hope that anything can come of the visit, Laura lives infear of it, and Amanda only deludes herself out of desperation. She is "a universal type, a mother with thecharacteristic qualities of devotion to her offspring and determination tosurvive for their sakes," but she is also forced by circumstances to putmany ordinary concerns aside (Griffin 23). The Tom of the present is the play's narrator and the Tom of the pastis a character in the memory play. Columbia: U of South Carolina P, 1995.Presley, Delma E. At this point Amanda demands that Tom bring homefriends to meet his sister. New York: New Directions, 197 . But she has totry every possible course open to her--even if it she has little hope forthem. By abandoning the familyhe left them without economic support. In the arguments between Amanda and Tom she often begins as thoughthey are having a difference of opinion about his direction in life--butshe always ends by stressing the simple necessity of having him continue inhis hated job in order to support his family. But this revelation takes place because the family'ssituation does not allow for the more common kinds of conflict and bonding. But when Laura is incapable of filling the father's economic role,Amanda feels she will not be able to do it herself, or persuade Tom to doit, and she becomes desperate. Amanda is not likely to be able tosupport herself and her daughter, while Laura will probably never becapable of supporting herself at all. In memory, of course, this is what happens at the end ofthe play. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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