Character Analysis Of The Glass Menagerie - 1463 Words

The playwright Tennessee Williams referred to his play, The Glass Menagerie as a â€Å"Memory Play.† The play is narrated in perspective of the character, Tom Wingfield, his memory of living in an apartment with his overbearing mother, Amanda, and his shy sister Laura. Tom is an aspiring poet who is forced to work in a shoe warehouse to support his sister Laura and his mother Amanda. His sister Laura is a shy girl with a limp as a result of pleurosis attack as a teenager, who needs to be constantly taken care of as her glass figurines. His mother Amanda is a single parent who is infatuated with her past and nags her children to meet her expectations of better life. The Glass Menagerie is a play about how living in the past and memories can†¦show more content†¦Why, sometimes there weren’t chairs enough to accommodate them all! We had to send the nigger over to bring on folding chairs from the parish house (Williams 770). However, Amanda is a mother after all, and wakes up time to time from her dreams and tries very hard to fight against the grim world. At times Amanda comes off as evil women nagging the life out of her children but, â€Å"there is a certain pathetic heroism in her efforts to provide for her children† (Da Ponte 815); as she withstands the humiliation of selling magazine subscriptions in order to enhance her children’s future: â€Å"Ida Scott? This is Amanda Wingfield! We missed you at the D.A.R. last Monday! [†¦] Well, I just happened to notice that your subscription to the Companion’s about to expire! [†¦] just when that wonderful new serial by Bessie Mae Hopper is getting off to such an exciting start. [†¦] What—Burning?—Oh, honey, don’t let them burn, go take a look in the oven and I’ll hold the wire! Heavens—I think she’s hung up! (Williams 775). Amanda with her colorful characteristics, she often d ramatizes her actions throughout the play to deliver her emotions. â€Å"Her first part is that of martyred mother. When she removes her hat and gloves, she does so with a theatrical gesture†Show MoreRelatedLiterary Analysis of The Glass Menagerie by Tenessee Williams1462 Words   |  6 PagesThe Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams had ordinary people in an ordinary life that closely resembled the influences of Williams’ personal life while having reoccurring themes and motifs throughout the story. The play has been done by many with some variations in the scripts and setting while still clinging to the basic ideas of the original play. Amanda Wingfield was a complex character that encompassed many facets of her personality. She longed to have the life she had as a girl and youngRead More Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie as a Tragedy Essay1498 Words   |  6 PagesTennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie as a Tragedy The Glass Menagerie has, of course, been labelled as many different types of play, for one, a tragedy. At first glance it is clear that audiences today may, indeed, class it as such. However, if, looking at the traditional definition of the classification tragedy, one can more easily assess whether or not the Glass Menagerie fits under this title. To do this I will be using the views of Aristotle, the Greek Read MoreThe Glass Menagerie By Tennessee Williams Essay1211 Words   |  5 Pagesfigments of our own design? Regardless of reality’s genesis or authenticity it is indeed persistent and inescapable. In his play, The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams explores this notion of reality as a painful encroachment that all humans counteract with concocted fantasies and a willingness to exist in an illusionary state. While all of William’s characters exist in their individual realms of illusion, one stands out as the most harmful and pitiful of all. Amanda, the literal mother of theRead MoreAn Analysis Of Laura In The Glass Menagerie1579 Words   |  7 PagesLonging for Impossible Freedom: An analysis of Laura in The Glass Menagerie The French actor and enthusiast, Vincent Cassel, pronounced â€Å"You can’t escape from what you are†. No matter how much a person dislikes who they are, they will never be able to escape their body and their mind. People can attempt to forget who they are and what their life is like, but in the end, they will always be stuck in their current situation. Similarly, Laura, in The Glass Menagerie, deals with her self consciousnessRead MoreThe Glass Menagerie And Winnie Holzman And Stephen Schwartz s Mega Musical Wicked1316 Words   |  6 Pagesto life a more flashy, commercialized interpretation of this tool, and played to the societal theme of entertainment, as seen in the increase of musical theater (Janaro). A true example of this stark contrast is Tennessee Williams’ tragedy The Glass Menagerie and Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz’s mega-musical Wicked. Although from fundamentally different eras and using the employment of distinctive structures that correlate with the different branches of theater, at the core, these stories speakRead MoreFool For Love Essay1601 Words   |  7 Pages   Glass    Mengarie,   by   Tennessee   Williams’   will   be   used.   These   ideals   of   the   Ã¢â‚¬Å"American    Dream†,   prioritized   family,   and   psyche   that   have   been   formulated   through   Williams’    work,   hold   verisimilitude   to   the   way   individuals   have   navigated   and   continue   to    navigate   through   the   twentieth   and   twenty- ­Ã¢â‚¬ first   century.       Background          The   Glass   Menagerie   isRead MoreTennessee Williams: His Life in quot;Suddenly Last Summerquot; and quot;The Glass Menageriequot;2784 Words   |  12 PagesSuddenly Last Summer and The Glass Menagerie, we can find a great deal of autobiographical connections. The Glass Menagerie is particularly considered the authors most biographical work. It is described by the playwright as a memory play; indeed, it is a memory of the authors own youth, an expression of his own life and experiences. Similarly, Suddenly Last Summer includes many of Tennesse Williams real life details. First and foremost, this analysis is going to be focused on the familiesRead MoreThe Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams1525 Words   |  6 PagesThe Glass Menagerie, a family drama play written by Tennessee Williams, and published in 1945 tells a story of the Wingfield family as they struggles with choosing between one’s own personal dreams and accepting the reality of the family’s situation. The Glass Menagerie stresses the subject of failed endeavors to escape reality and to occupy an elaborate unsustainable fantasy world. â€Å"A blown-up photograph of the father hangs on the wall of the living room, to the left of the archway. It is the faceRead MoreCritical Analysis Of The Glass Menagerie By Tennessee Williams1455 Words   |  6 Pagessubmissions for this assignment are posts in the assignment s discussion. Below are the discussion posts for Samantha Stepzinski, or you can view the full discussion. from Discussion #1 - The Glass Menagerie Sep 8, 2017 10:31pm Click to change profile picture for Samantha Stepzinski In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the main topic of discussion is trying to find Laura a suitable gentleman caller that Amanda, her mother, would approve; however the overall theme is much deeper than thatRead MoreThe Glass Menagerie By Tennessee Williams914 Words   |  4 PagesVarious psychological frameworks can be applied to analyze the problems of literary characters, as well as those of real people. One such framework is Buddhism with its analysis of suffering and its causes. Noted Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh states that Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free (78). More specifically, Nhat Hanh and many other Buddhists recommend