Similarities Between The Glass Menagerie And Death Of A Salesman
“The Glass Menagerie” and “The Death of a Salesman” In Tennessee William’s Glass Menagerie and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the reader can see two characters who make their best effort to move on from their pasts. Biff and Tom both grudge the lives they feel cornered in, as if they were forced on them in the form of family responsibility; while Biff blames Willy, Tom blames Amanda. Both characters search for a way out from their sorrowful lives, often in the appearance of adventure, whether their own or by substitution. Readers are eventually able to connect Biff and Tom as being more similar than different. Biff and Tom speak on behalf of those who, in this period of time, set about the shift from urban living to suburban living,
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Both Willy and Amanda are incapable of moving on from their past: Willy focuses on when Biff and Happy were younger, before his relationship with them became so disfigured; at the same time, he refuses to recognize this relationship with the past – “I’m not interested in stories about the past or any crap of that kind…” (Death of a Salesman - Audio recording). Amanda goes even farther back to her younger days when she was courting and concentrated more on how she could have done so much better than Laura and Tom's father. Both the parents are so weighed down by their infatuation with the past that they are incapable of actually helping their children. Willy has his flashbacks and can not grasp the believe that Biff has lost out on his dream of being successful; all Amanda wants for Laura is to have a boyfriend, but instead of helping or making her feel comfortable without them, she just goes on and on about how she “received – seventeen! – gentleman callers!” (The Glass Menagerie - Video). They also both have siblings that, in a way, ease their escape and their bad parent-child relationships; Happy likes taking advantage of the fact that he’s now Willy’s favorite, the “successful” one, and uses every chance to create conflict between Biff and Willy. Laura, however unintentionally, creates tension for Tom by needing the care he provides. The pressure Amanda feels from having to
Both Willy and Amanda are incapable of moving on from their past: Willy focuses on when Biff and Happy were younger, before his relationship with them became so disfigured; at the same time, he refuses to recognize this relationship with the past – “I’m not interested in stories about the past or any crap of that kind…” (Death of a Salesman - Audio recording). Amanda goes even farther back to her younger days when she was courting and concentrated more on how she could have done so much better than Laura and Tom's father. Both the parents are so weighed down by their infatuation with the past that they are incapable of actually helping their children. Willy has his flashbacks and can not grasp the believe that Biff has lost out on his dream of being successful; all Amanda wants for Laura is to have a boyfriend, but instead of helping or making her feel comfortable without them, she just goes on and on about how she “received – seventeen! – gentleman callers!” (The Glass Menagerie - Video). They also both have siblings that, in a way, ease their escape and their bad parent-child relationships; Happy likes taking advantage of the fact that he’s now Willy’s favorite, the “successful” one, and uses every chance to create conflict between Biff and Willy. Laura, however unintentionally, creates tension for Tom by needing the care he provides. The pressure Amanda feels from having to