The Glass Menagerie

To: Ms. Sykes

From: Shawn Ticknor

Assignment: Research Paper

English 1302

CRN #: 87474

July 30, 2011

Thesis Statement: The characters in the play put on display and show the struggle that families have to endure during turbulent economic times, both internally and externally. The Wingfield family exhibits the struggle between the parent and child, the normal human tendency to escape reality to avoid unhappiness, and the ability to experience regret.
I. Parent and Child

A. Amanda and Tom 1. Amanda’s imperfections 2. Dependence vs. independence 3. Blame and guilt 4. Embarrassment

B. Amanda and Laura 1. Suffocating mother 2. Unheard demands

II. Reality and Illusion A. Amanda 1. Living in the Past - Jonquils 2. Living in the Past – Seventeen gentlemen callers

B. Tom 1. Magic Shows 2. Movies 3. Drinking

C. Laura 1. Her Glass Menagerie 2. Walks in the Park

III. Regret

A. Amanda choice for a husband B. Abandonment of Laura

Concluding Statement: The epiphany moment of the play is expressed in the three main themes; the struggle between the parent and child, the normal human tendency to escape reality to avoid unhappiness, and the ability to experience regret.

A Lost World

In the play, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, the playwright uses various themes to express what the meaning of the play conveys. The play takes place during the Great Depression in the 1930’s, prior to World War II. The Wingfield family consists of three members, Amanda, Tom, and Laura. Amanda is an overly aggressive, old-fashioned mother who lives in the past and demands respect from her children, Tom and Laura. Amanda’s relationship with her children begins to dissipate as the dreams of her children, Tom and Laura, are not shared by their mother. As with most families during this decade, the Wingfields are experiencing extreme economic hardship and a lack of fulfillment in their lives. Mr. Wingfield, husband to Amanda, and father of Tom and Laura, is absent in the play and has no role other than being a symbol of abandonment. Mr. Wingfield abandons his family prior to the start of the play and has left them all alone to fend for themselves. Mr. Wingfield 's abandonment from his family is not only reflected in the play 's theme, but has influenced the characters ' identities and actions throughout the play. Tom Wingfield is the narrator of the play and it is through his persona that the themes of the play are revealed. The Wingfield family members begin to engage in a world of make believe to try and escape their daily struggles. These escape mechanisms only serve as a mask to cover up the truth in their lives; the truth of being bored, alone, and unhappy. In the end, Tom Wingfield becomes a carbon copy of his father and eventually abandons his mother and sister. The characters in the play put on display and show the struggle that families have to endure during turbulent economic times, both internally and externally. In the play, The Glass Menagerie, the Wingfield family shows the meaning of the play; the struggle between the parent and child, the normal human tendency to escape reality to avoid unhappiness, and the ability to experience regret. Tennessee Williams brilliantly portrays the struggle between parent and child throughout the play. Amanda Wingfield is having a difficult time adjusting to life without a husband as she tries to navigate through life as a single mother. Kimberly Hall, a literary critic notes, “Amanda’s home and life are a failure: a runaway husband, resistant son, dependent daughter, and economic deprivation. Amanda is unhappy, with two children that don’t live up to her expectations, but tries to maintain a lost gentility in the midst of overwhelming poverty and cajoling her children into her idea of happiness” [ (Hall) ]. Amanda’s biggest adversary in the play is her son, Tom Wingfield. As the financial provider for the family, Tom feels burdened by his family. He feels obligated to support his mother and sister, yet he wants to be free to do as he pleases and escape the control his mother has over him. Nancy Tischler, a famous critic states, “The problem basic to the play is again the hesitation to cross a threshold – this time between adolescence and youth, dependence and independence” [ (Tischler 55) ]. The previous quote illustrates the grief that Tom fights internally as he knows what he wants but feels reluctant to act on his impulse to leave his family. He wants to be adventurous and independent. Tom has a strong desire to quit his job at the shoe factory where he works and join the merchant marines; this only develops into more conflict when Amanda finds a note in Tom’s pocket. Amanda exclaims, "Oh, I can see the handwriting on the wall as plain as I can see the nose in front of my face! It’s terrifying! More and more you remind me of your father! He was out all hours without explanation!—Then left! Goodbye! And me with the bag to hold. I saw that letter you got from the Merchant Marine. I know what you’re dreaming of. I’m not standing here blindfolded. Very well, then. Then do it! But not till there’s somebody to take your place" [ (Williams 1261) ]. This quote taken directly from the play shows the controlling nature of Amanda and tells him he cannot leave until he finds a suitor for Laura. Amanda again puts more pressure on Tom and asks him to bring home a gentleman caller for Laura. When Jim O’Connor, Tom’s friend and co-worker, arrives and it is revealed that he is engaged to be married, Amanda becomes furious with Tom. Amanda yells, “That 's right, now that you 've had us make such fools of ourselves. The effort, the preparations, all the expense! The new floor lamp, the rug, the clothes for Laura! All for what? To entertain some other girl 's fiancé! Go to the movies, go! Don 't think about us, a mother deserted, an unmarried sister who 's crippled and has no job! Don 't let anything interfere with your selfish pleasure I just go, go, go — to the movies!” [ (Williams 1287) ]. This quote exemplifies the complicated and unrealistic relationship Tom has with his mother. Amanda is so demanding of Tom, not only with financial matters, but now Tom becomes the blame for not being a perfect matchmaker to find a man for Laura to marry. Amanda Wingfield also thrusts her vision upon Laura. This vision is not accepted well by Laura and Amanda betrays her own daughter. Lester Beaurline asserts, “Yet, she cannot resist the temptation to smother her daughter and relive her Blue Mountain days; she vicariously seduces the man herself. She has to keep bringing the dead but beautiful past into the present” [ (Beaurline 51) ]. Beaurline suggests that not only does Amanda continue with stories of the past that Laura is not interested in, but she tries to seduce Jim O’Connor with subtle chatter. The conflict between Amanda and Laura continues when Amanda demands that Laura practice her shorthand. Amanda says, “No, dear, you go in front and study your typewriter chart. Or practice your shorthand a little. Stay fresh and pretty! – It’s almost time for our gentlemen callers to start arriving. How many do you suppose we’re going to entertain this afternoon?" [ (Williams 1250) ]. Unbeknownst to Amanda, Laura has dropped out of Business College and has been lying to her mother about her attendance. The basic premise to the conflict between Amanda and her children is that she wants a life for Tom and Laura that they do not want. The pressures that Amanda presses upon her children act only to harm their relationship, not nurture it.
The three main characters in the play, Amanda, Tom, and Laura all engage in their own escape methods to avoid unhappiness throughout the entire play. The Wingfields cannot co-exist with the real world around them because to live as they wish is to deny the existence of such a world. Laura, Amanda, and Tom use varying methods to escape the brutal reality that is their boring and stressful life. Amanda’s dreams deny the passage of time. Amanda is constantly reliving the past when she was a younger woman. In the opening scene of the play, Amanda remembers a time when she had seventeen gentlemen callers come visit her one day. Critic Nilda Joven writes, “This starts her talking about one Sunday in Blue Mountain when she received seventeen gentlemen callers. It is obviously an oft-repeated story, for Tom exclaims, ‘I know what’s coming!’ after she mentions ‘one Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain’. It is a wistful story as she remembers it, so many fine southern gentlemen she could have married, and she chose their father!” [ (Joven 54) ]. Amanda is reminiscing when she was an important Southern Belle and when men came to call on her. She had her whole life ahead of her, with so many men to choose from, there is no reason for her to worry about her future. To further illustrate, Amanda decorated the apartment with jonquils prior to the arrival of Jim O’Connor. Jonquils are the flowers of her youth and they represented promise and an exciting future to come. Joven says, “Amanda lives in the past, in her world of jonquils and gentlemen callers. She is presented as out of touch with reality; she is flighty, and a source of embarrassment to her children. However, she is genuinely concerned about securing her crippled daughter’s future” [ (Joven 53) ]. Just as she remembered how jonquils made her feel, Amanda is trying to generate the same aura for Laura when her gentleman caller arrives, Jim O’Connor. Tom uses a completely different method to enjoy his escape from reality; he indulges in going to the movies, going to magic shows, and drinking. As intended, the persona of Tom Wingfield is actually the real life character of Tennessee Williams. Harold Bloom implies, “Of course, Williams’s own close ties to the cinema and its influence upon him have not been ignored. Characterizing the young Tom Williams as ‘weak, timid, and introspective,’ Gilbert Maxwell, a friend of Williams since 1940, suggests that Williams went to the movies to escape ‘from a world of poverty and misunderstanding,’ and there took comfort in the ‘make-believe world of . . . motion pictures’ [ (Crandell 51) ]. Tom also escaped his problems by going to the local magic shows. He came home late one evening and began to express to Laura how unbelievable the magic show was to watch. Tom exclaims, "But the wonderfullest trick of all was the coffin trick. We nailed him into a coffin and he got out of the coffin without removing one nail. There is a trick that would come in handy for me—get me out of this two-by-four situation!” [ (Williams 1258) ]. Tom unequivocally implies that if he could only be as mysterious as the magician he saw, then he could disappear from his deplorable life. Tom also escaped some evenings for a night of drinking. He would return at dubious hours late in the evening and Amanda would question where he has been in a constant nagging nature. Critic Gilbert Debusscher exerts, "Amanda still possesses the characteristics of the enabler. She fails to see her situation with objectivity. She is afraid of abandonment and engages in destructive rituals, primarily neurotic nagging. In so doing, she displays the urge to control that is so common to the enabling spouse. It is as if she had a surplus of willpower to compensate for the lack of it in the drinker” [ (Debusscher) ]. Amanda is terrified that Tom is just like his father and is resorting to drinking alcohol. She suspects that he is not going to the movies so late at night. The last examples of escape concern Laura. She is painfully shy and self-conscious because of her deformity, and because she is so timid, she withdraws from society. Laura finds comfort, safety, and companionship among the glass animal figurines she collects, her glass menagerie. Kimberly Hall asserts, “Her collection of glass animals represents different parts of her personality. Laura, like the glass unicorn in her collection, is delicate, unusual, with an inner beauty and fragility that leaves her lonely, and ill-adapted to the world in which she lives. She, like her beloved animals, lives in a cage from which she cannot escape” [ (Hall) ]. Laura is a loner and is supposed to be attending the local Business College. She realizes that she is unfit and ill equipped to handle the Business College so she secretly drops out and wonders seamlessly around town to deceive her mother. Laura says, "I went into the art museum and the bird house at the Zoo. I visited the penguins every day! Sometimes I did without lunch and went to the movies. Lately I’ve been spending most of my afternoons in the Jewel Box, that big glass house where they raise the tropical flowers” [ (Williams 1253) ]. Laura, just like the rest of her family, engages in activities that shield their unhappiness that they feel. Among the most prominent themes of The Glass Menagerie is the difficulty the characters have in accepting and relating to reality. Each member of the Wingfield family withdraws into a private world of illusion. So, in the end, there is no escape from the family prison for any of the three characters. The final idea of what The Glass Menagerie represents is the theme relating to regret. Mr. Wingfield’s abandonment some sixteen years prior continues to haunt the Wingfield family through the entire play. His picture, prominently displayed in the living room, is a constant reminder to the Wingfield family the reason for their current struggles. It is, after all, Amanda, who chose him to be her husband many years ago. Amanda states, “That Fitzhugh boy went North and made a fortune – came to be known as the Wolf of Wall Street! He has the Midas touch, whatever he touched turned to gold! And I could have been Mrs. Duncan J. Fitzhugh, mind you! But – I picked your father!” [ (Williams 1288) ]. This quote delivered by Amanda in Scene VII explicitly reveals her sadness and regret for marrying Mr. Wingfield. She uses imagery of a potential different life consumed with money and success. His absence has forced extreme pressure on Tom to provide for his mother and sister. Tom is the financial glue that holds the Wingfield family together. Tom wants adventure, excitement, and the ability to experience what the world has to offer other than a prison which he calls home. These potential opportunities are opposite of what he is getting working at the shoe warehouse and living at home. Tom eventually decides to make a final escape and joins the merchant marines. Tom’s relationship with Laura is a loving, special connection that they share; he is devastated by leaving his family, especially in an unlit apartment. Tom narrates, “Then all at once my sister touches my shoulder. I turn around and look into her eyes. Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be! I reach for a cigarette, I cross the street, I run into the movies or a bar, I buy a drink, I speak to the nearest anything-anything that can blow your candles out! For nowadays the world is lit by lightning! Blow out your candles, Laura-and so, goodbye” [ (Williams 1288) ]. Although he does escape as his father did, he is still haunted by the memory of his sister he left behind, Laura; his memory of her is everlasting and regret for leaving her all alone, eternal.
The epiphany moment of the play is expressed in the three main themes; the struggle between the parent and child, the normal human tendency to escape reality to avoid unhappiness, and the ability to experience regret. From the perspective of the narrator, Tom Wingfield, he bestows some shame upon himself for abandoning his family. Is it plausible for the audience to expect that a man stay behind forever and support a nagging mother and a loving, crippled sister? The Glass Menagerie ultimately forces the audience to look at the lives of these three main characters experiencing economic hardship. The play shows how human beings mask pressure, fear and create illusions. The play exhibits the normal struggle that all human beings have with their parents; separation into adulthood. Lastly, the play displays the raw human emotion of love, where difficult decisions have to be made even though regret becomes collateral damage.

Word Count 2,562

Works Cited

Beaurline, Lester A. "Critical Views." Bloom, Harold. Bloom 's Guides. New York: Chelsea House, 2007. 7- 109.

Crandell, George W. "Critical Views." Bloom, Harold. Bloom 's Guides. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2007. 51-55.

Debusscher, Gilbert. Tennessee Williams’s Dramatic Charade. 1997. <http://www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org/archives/2000/4debusscher.pdf>.

Hall, Kimberly. Kimberly Hall 's Blog on OZ. 19 April 2011. <http://kimberlyhallinaustralia.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/wednesday-april-20th-2011-im- exhausted/>.

Joven, Nilda. "Illusion Versus Reality in The Glass Menagerie." Readings on The Glass Menagerie. San Diego: Green Haven Press, Inc., 1998. 52-60.

Tischler, Nancy M. "Nancy M. Tischler on Tom As A Man of Imagination." Bloom, Harold. Bloom 's Major Dramatists: Tennessee Williams. Broomall: Chelsea House Publishers, 2000. 55-59.

Williams, Tennessee. "The Glass Menagerie." Barnet, Sylvan, William Burto and William E. Cain. Literature for Composition, 9th ed. New York: Pearson, 2011. 1246-1288.

Research Paper Note cards - “The Glass Menagerie”

Note No. 1

Name: Bloom’s Guides

Author: Bloom, Harold

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 51

Note: “Yet, she cannot resist the temptation to smother her daughter and relive her Blue Mountain days; she vicariously seduces the man herself. She has to keep bringing the dead but beautiful past into the present; Tom must go into the ugly but live future. He must break out of the coffin and leave his sister behind in darkness”.

Note No. 2

Name: Bloom’s Guides

Author: Bloom, Harold

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 52

Note: “Of course, Williams’s own close ties to the cinema and its influence upon him have not been ignored. Characterizing the young Tom Williams as “weak, timid, and introspective,” Gilbert Maxwell, a friend of Williams since 1940, suggests that Williams went to the movies to escape “from a world of poverty and misunderstanding,” and there took comfort in the “make-believe world of ...motion pictures”.

Note No. 3

Name: Bloom’s Guides

Author: Bloom, Harold

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 27

Note: “When in the role of narrator, Tom frequently appears here. The fire escape doesn’t primarily or ultimately symbolize freedom or escape, but rather the opposite. Like the alleys, it indicates the potential for catastrophe”.

Note No. 4

Name: Bloom’s Guides

Author: Bloom, Harold

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 34

Note: “Jim’s coming is infused with the hope of providing a miraculous transformation for the Wingfield family”.

Note No. 5

Name: Bloom’s Major Dramatists

Author: Bloom, Harold

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 54

Note: “Though the glass is most directly relevant to Laura, all four characters have sublimated their animal drives into esthetics. Laura has her glass animals, Tom his movies and poems, Amanda her jonquil-filled memories distorted into hopes, and Jim his baritone clichés of progress”.

Note No. 6

Name: Bloom’s Major Dramatists

Author: Bloom, Harold

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 55

Note: “The problem basic to the play is again the hesitation to cross a threshold – this time between adolescence and youth, dependence and independence”.

Note No. 7

Name: Bloom’s Major Dramatists

Author: Bloom, Harold

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 57

Note: “The separation from the mother-figure parallels the separation from society and its values”.

Note No. 8

Name: Bloom’s Major Dramatists

Author: Bloom, Harold

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 61

Note: “The glass menagerie is itself the most obvious organizing symbol. It embodies the fragility of Laura’s world, her search for beauty; it registers sensitively changes in lighting and stand in vivid contrast to the harshness of the outer world which can (and does) shatter it so easily”.

Note No. 9

Name: http://kimberlyhallinaustralia.wordpress.com

Author: Hall, Kimberly

Type of source: Website

Page number: Background and Environment

Note: “Tennessee Williams portrays characters experiencing financial, and therefore emotional, crisis, examining characters trying to overcome obstacles to prosperity and happiness. It also takes up related family issues and social injustice with a candor hardly imaginable before on an American stage”.

Note No. 10

Name: http://kimberlyhallinaustralia.wordpress.com

Author: Hall, Kimberly

Type of source: Website

Page number: Amanda Wingfield

Note: “Amanda’s home and life are a failure: a runaway husband, resistant son, dependent daughter, and economic deprivation. Amanda is unhappy, with two children that don’t live up to her expectations, but tries to maintain a lost gentility in the midst of overwhelming poverty and cajoling her children into her idea of happiness”.

Note No. 11

Name: http://kimberlyhallinaustralia.wordpress.com

Author: Hall, Kimberly

Type of source: Website

Page number: Laura Wingfield

Note: “Her collection of glass animals represents different parts of her personality. Laura, like the glass unicorn in her collection, is delicate, unusual, with an inner beauty and fragility that leaves her lonely, and ill-adapted to the world in which she lives. She, like her beloved animals, lives in a cage from which she cannot escape”.

Note No. 12

Name: http://kimberlyhallinaustralia.wordpress.com

Author: Hall, Kimberly

Type of source: Website

Page number: Characters Motivation & Escape

Note: “Among the most prominent themes of The Glass Menagerie is the difficulty the characters have in accepting and relating to reality. Each member of the Wingfield family withdraws into a private world of illusion. So in the end there is no escape from the family prison for any of the three characters”.

Note No. 13

Name: Readings on The Glass Menagerie

Author: Joven, Nilda

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 53

Note: “As always with Williams, illusion is viewed kindly in the play. The Wingfields live in their own private worlds that are far removed from reality, hugging closely hopes for the future, occasionally engaging in pathetic attempts to make them come true”.

Note No. 14

Name: Readings on The Glass Menagerie

Author: Joven, Nilda

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 53

Note: “Amanda lives in the past, in her world of jonquils and gentlemen callers. She is presented as out of touch with reality; she is flighty, and a source of embarrassment to her children. However, she is genuinely concerned about securing her crippled daughter’s future”.

Note No. 15

Name: Readings on The Glass Menagerie

Author: Joven, Nilda

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 54

Note: “The ironic impact of the play comes with Amanda’s manipulation of the events that lead to a confrontation between the Wingfields and the outside world. To live, it is necessary either to go into the outside world, or find someone in the outside world to support Laura. Either process means her destruction”.

Note No. 16

Name: Readings on The Glass Menagerie

Author: Joven, Nilda

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 54

Note: “This starts her talking about one Sunday in Blue Mountain when she received seventeen gentlemen callers. It is obviously an oft-repeated story, for Tom exclaims, “I know what’s coming!” after she mentions “one Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain”. It is a wistful story as she remembers it, so many fine southern gentlemen she could have married, and she chose their father!”

Note No. 17

Name: Readings on The Glass Menagerie

Author: Joven, Nilda

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 54

Note: “The scene ends with Laura’s apologetic comment to Tom, “Mother’s afraid I’m going to be an old maid”.

Note No. 18

Name: Readings on The Glass Menagerie

Author: Joven, Nilda

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 56

Note: “Amanda will not allow the word “crippled” to be used. She maintains, besides, that the difference (between Laura and the other girls) is all to Laura’s advantage”.

Note No. 19

Name: Readings on The Glass Menagerie

Author: Joven, Nilda

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 56

Note: “For a second time in the play Laura is identified with the glass menagerie, as Tom elaborates, “She lives in a world of her own – a world of – little glass ornaments, Mother…. She plays old phonograph records and -- that’s about all --”.

Note No. 20

Name: Readings on The Glass Menagerie

Author: Joven, Nilda

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 60

Note: “It is the poet’s mind which perceives the ironic contrast between the hopes of Amanda and Laura and the harsh reality of Paradise Dance Hall. It is also Tom’s mind, strongly biased in favor of his family that draws such a caricature of Jim O’Connor”.

Note No. 21

Name: Literature for Composition

Author: Williams, Tennessee

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 1287

Note: “That 's right, now that you 've had us make such fools of ourselves. The effort, the preparations, all the expense! The new floor lamp, the rug, the clothes for Laura! All for what? To entertain some other girl 's fiancé! Go to the movies, go! Don 't think about us, a mother deserted, an unmarried sister who 's crippled and has no job! Don 't let anything interfere with your selfish pleasure I just go, go, go — to the movies!”

Note No. 22

Name: Literature for Composition

Author: Williams, Tennessee

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 1250
Note: "No, dear, you go in front and study your typewriter chart. Or practice your shorthand a little. Stay fresh and pretty! – It’s almost time for our gentlemen callers to start arriving. How many do you suppose we’re going to entertain this afternoon?"
Note No. 23

Name: Literature for Composition

Author: Williams, Tennessee

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 1261
Note: "Oh, I can see the handwriting on the wall as plain as I can see the nose in front of my face! It’s terrifying! More and more you remind me of your father! He was out all hours without explanation!—Then left! Goodbye! And me with the bag to hold. I saw that letter you got from the Merchant Marine. I know what you’re dreaming of. I’m not standing here blindfolded. Very well, then. Then do it! But not till there’s somebody to take your place."
Note No. 24

Name: Literature for Composition

Author: Williams, Tennessee

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 1253
Note: "I went into the art museum and the bird house at the Zoo. I visited the penguins every day! Sometimes I did without lunch and went to the movies. Lately I’ve been spending most of my afternoons in the Jewel Box, that big glass house where they raise the tropical flowers”.

Note No. 25

Name: Literature for Composition

Author: Williams, Tennessee

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 1254
Note: "When I had that attack of pleurosis – he asked me what was the matter when I came back. I said pleurosis – he thought that I said Blue Roses! So that’s what he always called me after that. Whenever he saw me, he’d holler, ‘Hello, Blue Roses!"

Note No. 26

Name: Literature for Composition

Author: Williams, Tennessee

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 12
Note: "You don’t know things anywhere! You live in a dream; you manufacture illusions!"

Note No. 27

Name: Literature for Composition

Author: Williams, Tennessee

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 1258
Note: "But the wonderfullest trick of all was the coffin trick. We nailed him into a coffin and he got out of the coffin without removing one nail. There is a trick that would come in handy for me—get me out of this two-by-four situation!”
Note No. 28

Name: http://www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org/archives/2000/4debusscher.pdf Tennessee Williams’s Dramatic Charade: Secrets and Lies in The Glass Menagerie

Author: Debusscher, Gilbert

Type of source: Website

Page number: 60

Note: "Amanda still possesses the characteristics of the enabler. She fails to see her situation with objectivity. She is afraid of abandonment and engages in destructive rituals, primarily neurotic nagging. In so doing, she displays the urge to control that is so common to the enabling spouse. It is as if she had a surplus of willpower to compensate for the lack of it in the drinker”.

Note No. 29

Name: http://www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org/archives/2000/4debusscher.pdf Tennessee Williams’s Dramatic Charade: Secrets and Lies in The Glass Menagerie

Author: Debusscher, Gilbert

Type of source: Website

Page number: 63

Note: Tom’s refusal to abide by the meal rituals and his reluctance to listen to the family saga reveal rebelliousness, a refusal to conform, to pretend to be and act like the others, to suppress that otherness which nature has planted in him. His restlessness, his impatience, his swearwords, his outbursts, his drinking, and his final flight may all be symptoms of the bottled up frustrations of the gay person in the straight-laced environment created and insisted on by Amanda”.

Note No. 30

Name: http://www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org/archives/2000/4debusscher.pdf Tennessee Williams’s Dramatic Charade: Secrets and Lies in The Glass Menagerie

Author: Debusscher, Gilbert

Type of source: Website

Page number: 64

Note: “On the whole, then, and although there can be no absolute certainty in the text itself in this respect, Tom’s burden may be less immediately visible but more intensely unbearable than Amanda’s since there is nowhere he can turn, neither inward nor outward; neither warehouse nor home, where secrets of the heart can be shared”.

Note No. 31

Name: Literature for Composition

Author: Williams, Tennessee

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 1288

Note: “Then all at once my sister touches my shoulder. I turn around and look into her eyes. Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be! I reach for a cigarette, I cross the street, I run into the movies or a bar, I buy a drink, I speak to the nearest anything-anything that can blow your candles out! For nowadays the world is lit by lightning! Blow out your candles, Laura-and so, goodbye”.

Note No. 32

Name: Literature for Composition

Author: Williams, Tennessee

Type of source: Hard copy book

Page number: 1288

Note: “That Fitzhugh boy went North and made a fortune – came to be known as the Wolf of Wall Street! He has the Midas touch, whatever he touched turned to gold! And I could have been Mrs. Duncan J. Fitzhugh, mind you! But – I picked your father!”

Unable to live in the Real World
Merchant Marines
Crippled
Laura’s Gentleman Caller
Shy and Lonely
Glass Figures
Potential Savior
Jim O’Connor
Represents Hope
Engaged to be Married
Escape
Goes to the Movies
Adventurous
Magic Shows
Merchant Marines
Paranoid
Gentlemen Callers
Lives in the Past
Jonquils – Flowers of her past
Controlling Mother
Laura Wingfield
Amanda Wingfield
Tom Wingfield
The Glass Menagerie
Cluster Map

Annotated Bibliography

Crandell, George W. "Critical Views." Bloom, Harold. Bloom 's Guides. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2007. 51-55.

This book was a good source in varying critical opinions on various topics. The source was perfect for insight into the mind of Tennessee Williams. It served as an excellent source to give personal insight in Tennessee Williams’ personal life and showed motive for writing the play.

Debusscher, Gilbert. Tennessee Williams’s Dramatic Charade. 1997. <http://www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org/archives/2000/4debusscher.pdf>.

This website contained scholarly critical insight to Tennessee Williams’s personal life. It chronicled his life from his parents to battles with alcoholism. It also served as an excellent source of psychological criticism of the charcters in the play.

Hall, Kimberly. Kimberly Hall 's Blog on OZ. 19 April 2011. <http://kimberlyhallinaustralia.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/wednesday-april-20th 2011-im-exhausted/>.

This website served as a general source into the basic background of the play’s themes, background information and character assessment.

Joven, Nilda. "Illusion Versus Reality in The Glass Menagerie." Readings on The Glass Menagerie. San Diego: Green Haven Press, Inc., 1998. 52-60.

This book provided in depth professional criticsm of the play. The chapter most used gave details into the fanatasy world incorporated in the character’s lives.

Williams, Tennessee. "The Glass Menagerie." Barnet, Sylvan, William Burto and William E. Cain. Literature for Composition, 9th ed. New York: Pearson, 2011. 1246-1288.

This book section presented the actual literary work, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams. This source provided detailed citations from from the play that were used to prove mant assertions. This soucre provided the most improtant information.

Analysis for Dramas - Plot Outline - Sheet 1

I. Plot Outline
A.) Roles of the Characters

1. Amanda Wingfield – A classic Southern Belle who plays the mother of Tom and Laura Wingfield. She is an extrovert and the most dominant character in the play that was abandoned by her husband 16 years earlier now trying to raise her children under harsh financial conditions. She struggles to accept her role as a woman in society and the values she was taught as a little girl. She refuses to accept her daughter for who she is and she is ill concerned with the wishes of Tom. 2. Tom Wingfield – The son of Amanda Wingfield . He works at a shoe factory while aspiring to be a writer. He feels obligated to support his mother and sister yet at the same time he is burdened by them. 3. Laura Wingfiled – The daughter of Amanda Wingfield. She is crippled, shy, scared, and incapable of providing for herself. 4. Jim O’Connor – A co-worker of Tom Wingfiled. He is an old classmate of Laura’s from high school. He symbolizes the perfect man that Laura desires as well as the perfect man from Amanda’s perspective. He is invited over to the Wingfields ' home for dinner with the intent of being Laura 's first gentleman caller. He represents the answer to the Wingfield’s problems. 5. Protagonist – Tom Wingfiled 6. Antagonist – Amanda Wingfield B.) Nature of the Conflict 1. Type of Conflict – Person vs. Person. 2. Obstacles – The main obstacle place in the way of the protagonist in Amanda Wingfield. Amanda wants Tom to find his sister a gentleman caller, and to keep the job at the shoe factory to support the family. C.) Events Revealed 1. Where – There is the living room and the kitchen of an apartment St. Louis, Missouri. The Wingfield living room takes up most of the play and the two rooms are separated by curtains. 2. When – In the 1930’s during the Great Depression and prior to World War II.

D.) Rising Action 1. Contributing Events – Amanda yearns greatly for things for her daughter Laura, a young adult with a crippled foot and immense insecurity about the outside world. Tom continues his escape from reality when he goes to the movies whenever he starts to get frustrated with his life or forced to listen to his mother’s stories. He is escaping the unpleasant world he is living in and escapes to a place where he envisions himself to be, traveling and independent. Tom eventually gives in to his mother’s demands and invites a co-worker, Jim, over for dinner with the intention of him being his sister’s first gentleman caller. The play begins to sway the reader that he will be the savior to the Wingfield’s troubles and relieve their daily turmoil and struggles. When Jim arrives for dinner he appears to be the perfect man for Laura and Amanda immediately approves as she is very pleased with his visit. The play appears as it is heading for a fairy tale ending. 2. My Opinion – The play appears as though two people, Jim and Laura, are meant for each other. The play swayed me into believing that is was a fairy tale story where soul mates are eventually reunited and that one man is the savior or the entire family. This theory turns out to be gravely wrong. E.) Climax Quote 1. Jim: “No Ma’am, not work but – Betty!” F.) Epiphany of Realization 1. It is revealed to Laura and Amanda by Jim that he is engaged to be married as he is leaving the Wingfield home. G.) Denouement 1. Once Jim reveals that he is engaged to be married, the plot of the play unfolds quickly. It becomes apparent immediately that Tom will be leaving for good and that Laura and Amanda will be abandoned just as Mr. Wingfield abandoned Amanda sixteen years ago.

Dialogue - Sheet 2

II. Dialogue A.) Tom Wingfiled Quotes 1. "House, house! Who pays rent on it, who makes a slave of himself to—" 2. "Listen! You think I’m crazy about the warehouse? You think I’m in love with Continental Shoemakers? You think that I want to spend fifty-five years down there in that – celotex interior! with—fluorescent—tubes! Look! I’d rather somebody packed up a crowbar and battered out my brains—than go back mornings! I go! Every time you come in yelling that Goddamn ‘Rise and Shine! Rise and Shine!’ I say to myself, ‘How lucky dead people are!’ But I get up. I go! For sixty-five dollars a month I give up all that I dream of doing and being ever! And you say self—self’s all I ever think of! Why, listen, if self is what I thought of, Mother, I’d be where he is—GONE! As far as the system of transportation reaches!" 3. "Man is by instinct a lover, a hunter, a fighter, and none of those instincts are given much play at the warehouse!" B.) The reader learns that he is not happy at all. He is unhappy with his current job at the shoe factory where he works and his unhappiness foreshadows what is to come at the end of the play. C.) The dialogue of Mrs. Hale or any character is much more intriguing than a narrated type play or story. Dialogue can be delivered with strong emphasis and a reinforced tone, whereas, a narrated story cannot go as far. Narration tends to be more boring and dialogue can grab the reader’s attention. Real words are powerful.

Characterization - Sheet 3

III. Characterization A. Amanda Wingfield – A classic Southern Belle who plays the mother of Tom and Laura Wingfield. She is an extrovert and the most dominant character in the play that was abandoned by her husband 16 years earlier now trying to raise her children under harsh financial conditions. She struggles to accept her role as a woman in society and the values she was taught as a little girl. She refuses to accept her daughter for who she is and she is ill concerned with the wishes of Tom. B. Tom Wingfield - Amanda’s son and Laura’s younger brother. An aspiring poet, Tom works at a shoe warehouse to support the family. He is frustrated by the numbing routine of his job and escapes from it through movies, literature, and alcohol. C. Laura Wingfield - Amanda’s daughter and Tom’s older sister. Laura has a bad leg, on which she has to wear a brace, and walks with a limp. Twenty-three years old and painfully shy, she has largely withdrawn from the outside world and devotes herself to old records and her collection of glass figurines. D. Jim O’Connor - An old acquaintance of Tom and Laura. Jim was a popular athlete in high school and is now a shipping clerk at the shoe warehouse in which Tom works. He is unwaveringly devoted to goals of professional achievement and ideals of personal success.

Setting - Sheet 4

IV. Setting A. Place – The setting of The Glass Menagerie takes place in an apartment in St. Louis, Missouri. Tom is the narrator and he remembers the winter and spring of 1937. The setting of The Glass Menagerie is interesting because it has many symbols that contribute greatly to the story. The Wingfield apartment faces an alley in a lower-middle class St. Louis tenement. B. Time – The time takes place during the 1930’s prior to World War II. The country is struggling financially, just as the Wingfields are. The play takes place over a few days.

C. Mood – The mood is very somber and depressing. As the Wingfields are experiencing tough economic times, their relationships with each other are mirrored. Towards the end of the play when the lights go out accurately depict the overall mood of the play. Overall, the lighting changes with the mood.

Symbolism - Sheet 5

V. Three Symbols A. The Glass Menagerie – As the title of the play informs us, the glass menagerie, or collection of animals, is the play’s central symbol. Laura’s collection of glass animal figurines represents a number of facets of her personality. Like the figurines, Laura is delicate, fanciful, and somehow old-fashioned. Glass is transparent, but, when light is shined upon it correctly, it refracts an entire rainbow of colors. Similarly, Laura, though quiet and bland around strangers, is a source of strange, multifaceted delight to those who choose to look at her in the right light. The menagerie also represents the imaginative world to which Laura devotes herself—a world that is colorful and enticing but based on fragile illusions. B. “Blue Roses” – Like the glass unicorn, “Blue Roses,” Jim’s high school nickname for Laura, symbolizes Laura’s unusualness yet allure. The name is also associated with Laura’s attraction to Jim and the joy that his kind treatment brings her. Furthermore, it recalls Tennessee Williams’s sister, Rose, on whom the character of Laura is based. C. The Fire Escape – Leading out of the Wingfields’ apartment is a fire escape with a landing. The fire escape represents exactly what its name implies: an escape from the fires of frustration and dysfunction that rage in the Wingfield household. Laura slips on the fire escape in Scene Four, highlighting her inability to escape from her situation. Tom, on the other hand, frequently steps out onto the landing to smoke, anticipating his eventual getaway.

Theme -- Sheet 6

I. Male Dominated Society and Gender Roles 1. Memory, The Past, and Illusion (Theme) – In The Glass Menagerie, memory plays an important part, both thematically and in terms of the play’s presentation. Thematically, we see the detrimental effects of memory in the form of Amanda’s living in the past. As far as the play’s presentation is concerned, the entire story is told from the memory of Tom, the narrator. He makes it clear that, because the play is memory, certain implications are raised as to the nature of each scene. He explains that memory is selective, that events are remembered with music, with peculiar lighting, that reality is altered and edited and made presentable in certain ways. This is how we see the play, directly as a memory. 2. Person vs. Society – I think the main conflict in this story is Person vs. Person. The conflict between the Wingfield family members is portrayed through Amanda, Tom, and Laura. They all have unique and individual relationships with one another.

Theme – Sheet 7

I. Overview 1. The apparent audience in the play is both men and women. Williams wrote the play that was based on his life. He found comfort in writing and that was his escape. Tom Wingfield is Tennessee Williams. Williams wanted to highlight the struggles that families had to endure during the Great Depression. Many people utilized various escape mechanisms to mask their unhappiness. The play was intended to portray the life and times of Tennessee Williams.

A Lost World

In the play, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, the playwright uses various themes to express what the meaning of the play is about. NOTE The play takes place during the Great Depression in the 1930’s, prior to World War II. The Wingfiled sp family consists of three members; P Amanda, Tom, and Laura. Amanda is an overly aggressive, old-fashioned mother who lives in the past and demands respect from her children, Tom and Laura. Amanda’s relationship with her children begins to dissipate as the dreams of her children, Tom and Laura, are not shared by their mother. As with most families during this decade, the Wingfields are experiencing extreme economic hardship and a lack of fulfillment in their lives. Mr. Wingfield, husband to Amanda, and father of Tom and Laura P is absent in the play as WC has no role other than being a symbol of abandonment. Mr. Wingfield abandons his family prior to the start of the play and has left them all alone to fend for themselves. Mr. Wingfield 's abandonment from his family is not only reflected in the play 's theme, but has influenced the characters ' identities and actions throughout the play. Tom Wingfield is the narrator of the play and it is through his persona that the themes of the play are revealed. The Wingfield family members begin to engage in art world of make believe fantasy NOTE world rep to try and escape their daily struggles. These escape mechanisms only serve as a mask to cover up the truth in their lives; the truth of being bored, alone, and unhappy. In the end, Tom Wingfield becomes a carbon copy of his father and eventually abandons his mother and sister. The characters in the play put on display and show the struggle that families have to endure during turbulent economic times, both internally and externally. In the play, The Glass Menagerie, the Wingfield family shows the meaning of the play; the struggle between the parent and child, the normal human tendency to escape reality to avoid unhappiness, and the ability to experience regret. Tennessee Williams brilliantly portrays the struggle between parent and child throughout the play. Amanda Wingfield is having a difficult time adjusting to life without a husband as she tries to navigate through life as a single mother. Kimberly Hall, a literary critic notes, “Amanda’s home and life are a failure: a runaway husband, resistant son, dependent daughter, and economic deprivation. Amanda is unhappy, with two children that don’t live up to her expectations, but tries to maintain a lost gentility in the midst of overwhelming poverty and cajoling her children into her idea of happiness” (Hall, 2011). Amanda’s biggest adversary in the play is her son, Tom Wingfield. As the financial provider for the family, Tom feels burdened by his family. He feels obligated to support his mother and sister, yet he wants to be free to do as he pleases and escape the control his mother has over him. Nancy Tischler, a famous critic states, “The problem basic to the play is again the hesitation to cross a threshold – this time between adolescence and youth, dependence and independence” (Tischler, p. 55). The previous quote illustrates the grief that Tom fights internally as he knows what he wants but feels reluctant to act on his impulse to leave his family. He wants to be adventurous and independent. Tom has a strong desire prep quit his job prep the shoe factory where he works and join the merchant marines; this only develops into more conflict when Amanda finds a note in Tom’s pocket. Amanda exclaims, "Oh, I can see the handwriting on the wall as plain as I can see the nose in front of my face! It’s terrifying! More and more you remind me of your father! He was out all hours without explanation!—Then left! Goodbye! And me with the bag to hold. I saw that letter you got from the Merchant Marine. I know what you’re dreaming of. I’m not standing here blindfolded. Very well, then. Then do it! But not till there’s somebody to take your place" (Williams, p. dele 1261). This quote taken directly from the play shows the controlling nature of Amanda and tells him he cannot leave until he finds a suitor for Laura. Amanda again puts more pressure on Tom and asks him to bring home a gentleman caller for Laura. When Jim O’Connor, Tom’s friend and co-worker, arrives and it is revealed that he is engaged to be married, Amanda become SV furious with Tom. Amanda yells, “That 's right, now that you 've had us make such fools of ourselves. The effort, the preparations, all the expense! The new floor lamp, the rug, the clothes for Laura! All for what? To entertain some other girl 's fiancé! Go to the movies, go! Don 't think about us, a mother deserted, an unmarried sister who 's crippled and has no job! Don 't let anything interfere with your selfish pleasure I just go, go, go — to the movies!” (Williams, p. dele 1287). This quote exemplifies the complicated and unrealistic relationship Tom has with his mother. Amanda is so demanding of Tom, not only with financial matters, but now Tom becomes the blame for not being a perfect matchmaker to find a man for Laura to marry. Amanda Wingfield also thrusts her vision upon Laura. This vision is not accepted well by Laura and Amanda betrays her own daughter. Lester Beaurline asserts, “Yet, she cannot resist the temptation to smother her daughter and relive her Blue Mountain days; she vicariously seduces the man herself. She has to keep bringing the dead but beautiful past into the present” (Beaurline, p. 51). Beaurline suggests that not only does Amanda continue with stories of the past that Laura is not interested in, but she tries to seduce Jim O’Connor with subtle chatter. Laura is shy and non-confident, so why would Amanda engage in such deceit as to overshadow her daughter’s inefficiencies? QU The conflict between Amanda and Laura continues when Amanda demands that Laura practice her shorthand. Amanda says, “No, dear, you go in front and study your typewriter chart. Or practice your shorthand a little. Stay fresh and pretty! – It’s almost time for our gentlemen callers to start arriving. How many do you suppose we’re going to entertain this afternoon?" (Williams, p. 1250). Unbeknownst to Amanda, Laura has dropped out of Business College and has been lying to her mother about her attendance. The basic premise to the conflict between Amanda and her children is that she wants a life for Tom and Laura that they simply are not interested in. NOTE The pressures that Amanda presses upon her children act only to harm their relationship, not nurture it.
The three main characters in the play, Amanda, Tom, and Laura all engage in their own escape methods to avoid unhappiness throughout the entire play. The Wingfields cannot co-exist with the real world around them because to live as they wish is to deny the existence of such a world. Laura, Amanda , conj Tom and use varying methods to escape the brutal reality that is their boring and stressful life. Amanda’s dreams deny the passage of time. Amanda is constantly reliving the past when she was a younger woman. In the opening scene of the play, Amanda remembers a time when she had seventeen gentlemen callers come visit her one day. Critic Nilda Joven writes, “This starts her talking about one Sunday in Blue Mountain when she received seventeen gentlemen callers. It is obviously an oft-repeated story, for Tom exclaims, “I know what’s coming!” after she mentions “one Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain”. NOTE It is a wistful story as she remembers it, so many fine southern gentlemen she could have married, and she chose their father!” (Joven, p. 54). Amanda is reminiscing when she was an important Southern Belle and when men came to call on her. She had her whole life ahead of her, with from ONW so many men to choose from, there is no reason for her to worry about her future. To further illustrate, Amanda decorated the apartment with jonquils prior to the arrival of Jim O’Connor. Jonquils are the flowers of her youth and they represented promise and an exciting future to come. Joven says, “Amanda lives in the past, in her world of jonquils and gentlemen callers. She is presented as out of touch with reality; she is flighty, and a source of embarrassment to her children. However, she is genuinely concerned about securing her crippled daughter’s future” (Joven, p. 53). Just as she remembered hoe sp jonquils made her feel, Amanda is trying to generate the same aura for Laura when her gentleman caller arrives, Jim O’Connor. Tom uses a completely different method to enjoy his escape from reality; he indulges in going to the movies, going to magic shows, and drinking. As intended, the persona of Tom Wingfield is actually the real life character of Tennessee Williams. Harold Bloom implies, “Of course, Williams’s own close ties to the cinema and its influence upon him have not been ignored. Characterizing the young Tom Williams as “weak, timid, and introspective,” NOTE Gilbert Maxwell, a friend of Williams since 1940, suggests that Williams went to the movies to escape “from a world of poverty and misunderstanding,” and there took comfort in the “make-believe world of ... NOTE motion pictures” (Crandell, p. 51). Tom also escaped his problems by going to the local magic shows. He came home late one evening and began to express to Laura how unbelievable the magic show was to watch. Tom exclaims, "But the wonderfullest trick of all was the coffin trick. We nailed him into a coffin and he got out of the coffin without removing one nail. There is a trick that would come in handy for me—get me out of this two-by-four situation!” (Williams, p. 1258). Tom unequivocally implies that if he could only be as mysterious as the magician he saw, then he could disappear from his deplorable life. Tom also escaped some evenings for a night of drinking. He would return at dubious hours late in the evening and Amanda would question where he has been in a constant nagging nature. Critic Gilbert Debusscher exerts, "Amanda still possesses the characteristics of the enabler. She fails to see her situation with objectivity. She is afraid of abandonment and engages in destructive rituals, primarily neurotic nagging. In so doing, she displays the urge to control that is so common to the enabling spouse. It is as if she had a surplus of willpower to compensate for the lack of it in the drinker” (Debusscher, 1997). Amanda is terrified that Tom is just like his father and is resorting to drinking alcohol. She suspects that he is not going to the movies so late at night. The last examples of escape concern Laura. She is painfully shy and self-conscious because of her deformity, and because she is so timid, she withdraws from society. Laura finds comfort, safety, and companionship among the glass animal figurines she collects, her glass menagerie. Kimberly Hall asserts, “Her collection of glass animals represents different parts of her personality. Laura, like the glass unicorn in her collection, is delicate, unusual, with an inner beauty and fragility that leaves her lonely, and ill-adapted to the world in which she lives. She, like her beloved animals, lives in a cage from which she cannot escape” (Hall, 2011). Laura is a loner and is supposed to be attending the local Business College. She realizes that she is unfit and ill equipped to handle the Business College so she secretly drops out and wonders seamlessly around town to deceive her mother. Laura says, "I went into the art museum and the bird house at the Zoo. I visited the penguins every day! Sometimes I did without lunch and went to the movies. Lately I’ve been spending most of my afternoons in the Jewel Box, that big glass house where they raise the tropical flowers” (Williams, p. 1253). Laura, just like the rest of her family, engages in activities that shield their unhappiness that they feel. Among the most prominent themes of The Glass Menagerie is the difficulty the characters have in accepting and relating to reality. Each member of the Wingfield family withdraws into a private world of illusion. So P in the end P there is no escape from the family prison for any of the three characters. The final idea of what The Glass Menagerie NOTE represents is the theme relating to regret. Mr. Wingfield’s abandonment some sixteen years prior continues to haunt the Wingfield family through the entire memory ONW play. His picture, prominently displayed in the living room, is a constant reminder to the Wingfield family the reason for their current struggles. It is P after all, Amanda, who chose him to be her husband many years ago. Amanda states, “That Fitzhugh boy went North and made a fortune – came to be known as the Wolf of Wall Street! He has the Midas touch, whatever he touched turned to gold! And I could have been Mrs. Duncan J. Fitzhugh, mind you! But – I picked your father!” (Williams, p. 1288). This quote delivered by Amanda in Scene VII explicitly reveals her sadness and regret for marrying Mr. Wingfield. She uses imagery of a potential different life consumed with money and success. His absence has forced extreme pressure on Tom to provide for his mother and sister. Tom is the financial glue that holds the Wingfield family together. Tom wants adventure, excitement, and the ability to experience what the world has to offer other than a prison which he calls home. These potential opportunities are opposite of what he is getting working at the shoe warehouse and living at home. Tom eventually decides to make a final escape and joins the merchant marines. Tom’s relationship with Laura is a loving, special connection that they share; he is devastated by leaving his family, especially in an unlit apartment. Tom narrates, “Then all at once my sister touches my shoulder. I turn around and look into her eyes. Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be! I reach for a cigarette, I cross the street, I run into the movies or a bar, I buy a drink, I speak to the nearest anything-anything that can blow your candles out! For nowadays the world is lit by lightning! Blow out your candles, Laura-and so, goodbye” (Williams, p. 1288). Although he does escape as his father did, he is still haunted by the memory of his sister he left behind, Laura; his memory of her is everlasting and regret for leaving her all alone, eternal.
The epiphany moment of the play is expressed in the three main themes; the struggle between the parent and child, the normal human tendency to escape reality to avoid unhappiness, and the ability to experience regret. From the perspective of the narrator, Tom Wingfiled, he bestows some shame upon himself for abandoning his family. Is it plausible for the audience to expect that a man stay behind forever and support a nagging mother and a loving, crippled sister? The Glass Menagerie ultimately forces the audience to look at the lives of these three main characters experiencing economic hardship. The play shows how human beings mask pressure, fear and create illusions. The WC exhibits the normal struggle that all human beings have with their parents; separation into adulthood. And NOTE lastly, the play displays the raw human emotion of love, where sometimes decisions have to me WC made even though regret is forefront in our WE minds.

For a review of your Works Cited page, please go to http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource//747/06/ As placement of date, quotation marks around article titles, omitting pp. for pages, and indenting second and third line to name a few errors.

Works Cited

Beaurline, L. A. (2007). Critical Views. In H. Bloom, Bloom 's Guides (pp. 7-109). New York: Chelsea House.
Crandell, G. W. (2007). Critical Views. In H. Bloom, Bloom 's Guides (pp. 51-55). New York: Chelsea House Publishing.
Debusscher, G. (1997). Tennessee Williams’s Dramatic Charade. Retrieved from www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org: http://www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org/archives/2000/4debusscher.pdf
Hall, K. (2011, April 19). Kimberly Hall 's Blog on OZ. Retrieved from www.kimberlyhallinaustralia.wordpress.com: http://kimberlyhallinaustralia.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/wednesday-april-20th-2011-im-exhausted/
Joven, N. (1998). Illusion Versus Reality in The Glass Menagerie. In Readings on The Glass Menagerie (pp. 52-60). San Diego: Green Haven Press, Inc.
Tischler, N. M. (2000). Nancy M. Tischler on Tom As A Man of Imagination. In H. Bloom, Bloom 's Major Dramatists: Tennessee Williams (pp. 55-59). Broomall: Chelsea House Publishers.
Williams, T. (2011). The Glass Menagerie. In S. Barnet, W. Burto, & W. E. Cain, Literature for Composition, 9th ed. (pp. 1246-1288). New York: Pearson.

A Lost World – Rough Draft (500 Words)

In the play, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, the playwright uses various themes to express what the meaning of the play is about. The play takes place during the Great Depression in the 1930’s, prior to World War II. The Wingfiled family consists of three members; Amanda, Tom, and Laura. Amanda is an overly aggressive, old-fashioned mother who lives in the past and demands respect from her children, Tom and Laura. Amanda’s relationship with her children begins to dissipate as the dreams of her children, Tom and Laura, are not shared by their mother. As with most families during this decade, the Wingfields are experiencing extreme economic hardship and a lack of fulfillment in their lives. Mr. Wingfield, husband to Amanda, and father of Tom and Laura is absent in the play as has no role other than being a symbol of abandonment. Mr. Wingfield abandons his family prior to the start of the play and has left them all alone to fend for themselves. Mr. Wingfield 's abandonment from his family is not only reflected in the play 's theme, but has influenced the characters ' identities and actions throughout the play. Tom Wingfield is the narrator of the play and it is through his persona that the themes of the play are revealed. The Wingfield family members begin to engage in world of make believe fantasy world to try and escape their daily struggles. These escape mechanisms only serve as a mask to cover up the truth in their lives; the truth of being bored, alone, and unhappy. In the end, Tom Wingfield becomes a carbon copy of his father and eventually abandons his mother and sister. The characters in the play put on display and show the struggle that families have to endure during turbulent economic times, both internally and externally. In the play, The Glass Menagerie, the Wingfield family show the meaning of the play; the struggle between the parent and child, the normal human tendency to escape reality to avoid unhappiness, and the ability to experience regret. Tennessee Williams brilliantly portrays the struggle between parent and child throughout the play. Amanda Wingfield is having a difficult time adjusting to life without a husband as she tries to navigate through life as a single mother. Kimberly Hall, a literary critic notes, “Amanda’s home and life are a failure: a runaway husband, resistant son, dependent daughter, and economic deprivation. Amanda is unhappy, with two children that don’t live up to her expectations, but tries to maintain a lost gentility in the midst of overwhelming poverty and cajoling her children into her idea of happiness” [ (Hall, 2011) ]. Amanda’s biggest adversary in the play is her son, Tom Wingfield. As the financial provider for the family, Tom feels burdened by his family. He feels obligated to support his mother and sister, yet he wants to be free to do as he pleases and escape the control his mother has over him. Nancy Tischler, a famous critic says, “The problem basic to the play is again the hesitation to cross a threshold – this time between adolescence and youth, dependence and independence” [ (Tischler, p. 55) ]. The previous quote illustrates the grief that Tom fights internally. He wants to be adventurous and independent. Tom has a strong desire quit his job the shoe factory where he works and join the merchant marines; this only develops into more conflict when Amanda finds a note in Tom’s pocket. Amanda exclaims, "Oh, I can see the handwriting on the wall as plain as I can see the nose in front of my face! It’s terrifying! More and more you remind me of your father! He was out all hours without explanation!—Then left! Goodbye! And me with the bag to hold. I saw that letter you got from the Merchant Marine. I know what you’re dreaming of. I’m not standing here blindfolded. Very well, then. Then do it! But not till there’s somebody to take your place" [ (Williams, p. 1261) ].

A Lost World – Rough Draft (1000 Words)

In the play, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, the playwright uses various themes to express what the meaning of the play is about. The play takes place during the Great Depression in the 1930’s, prior to World War II. The Wingfiled family consists of three members; Amanda, Tom, and Laura. Amanda is an overly aggressive, old-fashioned mother who lives in the past and demands respect from her children, Tom and Laura. Amanda’s relationship with her children begins to dissipate as the dreams of her children, Tom and Laura, are not shared by their mother. As with most families during this decade, the Wingfields are experiencing extreme economic hardship and a lack of fulfillment in their lives. Mr. Wingfield, husband to Amanda, and father of Tom and Laura is absent in the play as has no role other than being a symbol of abandonment. Mr. Wingfield abandons his family prior to the start of the play and has left them all alone to fend for themselves. Mr. Wingfield 's abandonment from his family is not only reflected in the play 's theme, but has influenced the characters ' identities and actions throughout the play. Tom Wingfield is the narrator of the play and it is through his persona that the themes of the play are revealed. The Wingfield family members begin to engage in world of make believe fantasy world to try and escape their daily struggles. These escape mechanisms only serve as a mask to cover up the truth in their lives; the truth of being bored, alone, and unhappy. In the end, Tom Wingfield becomes a carbon copy of his father and eventually abandons his mother and sister. The characters in the play put on display and show the struggle that families have to endure during turbulent economic times, both internally and externally. In the play, The Glass Menagerie, the Wingfield family shows the meaning of the play; the struggle between the parent and child, the normal human tendency to escape reality to avoid unhappiness, and the ability to experience regret. Tennessee Williams brilliantly portrays the struggle between parent and child throughout the play. Amanda Wingfield is having a difficult time adjusting to life without a husband as she tries to navigate through life as a single mother. Kimberly Hall, a literary critic notes, “Amanda’s home and life are a failure: a runaway husband, resistant son, dependent daughter, and economic deprivation. Amanda is unhappy, with two children that don’t live up to her expectations, but tries to maintain a lost gentility in the midst of overwhelming poverty and cajoling her children into her idea of happiness” [ (Hall, 2011) ]. Amanda’s biggest adversary in the play is her son, Tom Wingfield. As the financial provider for the family, Tom feels burdened by his family. He feels obligated to support his mother and sister, yet he wants to be free to do as he pleases and escape the control his mother has over him. Nancy Tischler, a famous critic states, “The problem basic to the play is again the hesitation to cross a threshold – this time between adolescence and youth, dependence and independence” [ (Tischler, p. 55) ]. The previous quote illustrates the grief that Tom fights internally as he knows what he wants but feels reluctant to act on his impulse to leave his family. He wants to be adventurous and independent. Tom has a strong desire quit his job the shoe factory where he works and join the merchant marines; this only develops into more conflict when Amanda finds a note in Tom’s pocket. Amanda exclaims, "Oh, I can see the handwriting on the wall as plain as I can see the nose in front of my face! It’s terrifying! More and more you remind me of your father! He was out all hours without explanation!—Then left! Goodbye! And me with the bag to hold. I saw that letter you got from the Merchant Marine. I know what you’re dreaming of. I’m not standing here blindfolded. Very well, then. Then do it! But not till there’s somebody to take your place" [ (Williams, p. 1261) ]. This quote taken directly from the play shows the controlling nature of Amanda and tells him he cannot leave until he finds a suitor for Laura. Amanda again puts more pressure on Tom and asks him to bring home a gentleman caller for Laura. When Jim O’Connor, Tom’s friend and co-worker, arrives and it is revealed that he is engaged to be married, Amanda become furious with Tom. Amanda yells, “That 's right, now that you 've had us make such fools of ourselves. The effort, the preparations, all the expense! The new floor lamp, the rug, the clothes for Laura! All for what? To entertain some other girl 's fiancé! Go to the movies, go! Don 't think about us, a mother deserted, an unmarried sister who 's crippled and has no job! Don 't let anything interfere with your selfish pleasure I just go, go, go — to the movies!” [ (Williams, p. 1287) ]. This quote exemplifies the complicated and unrealistic relationship Tom has with his mother. Amanda is so demanding of Tom, not only with financial matters, but now Tom becomes the blame for not being a perfect matchmaker to find a man for Laura to marry. Amanda Wingfield also thrusts her vision upon Laura. This vision is not accepted well by Laura and Amanda betrays her own daughter. Lester Beaurline asserts, “Yet, she cannot resist the temptation to smother her daughter and relive her Blue Mountain days; she vicariously seduces the man herself. She has to keep bringing the dead but beautiful past into the present” [ (Beaurline, p. 51) ]. Beaurline suggests that not only does Amanda continue with stories of the past that Laura is not interested in, but she tries to seduce Jim O’Connor with subtle chatter. Laura is shy and non-confident, so why would Amanda engage in such deceit as to overshadow her daughter’s inefficiencies? The conflict between Amanda and Laura continues when Amanda demands that Laura practice her shorthand. Amanda says, “No, dear, you go in front and study your typewriter chart. Or practice your shorthand a little. Stay fresh and pretty! – It’s almost time for our gentlemen callers to start arriving. How many do you suppose we’re going to entertain this afternoon?" [ (Williams, p. 1250) ]. Unbeknownst to Amanda, Laura has dropped out of Business College and has been lying to her mother about her attendance. The basic premise to the conflict between Amanda and her children is that she wants a life for Tom and Laura that they simply are not interested in. The pressures that Amanda presses upon her children act only to harm their relationship, not nurture it.
The three main characters in the play, Amanda, Tom, and Laura all engage in their own escape methods to avoid unhappiness throughout the entire play. The Wingfields cannot co-exist with the real world around them because to live as they wish is to deny the existence of such a world. Laura, Amanda, Tom and use varying methods to escape the brutal reality that is their boring and stressful life. Amanda’s dreams deny the passage of time. Amanda is constantly reliving the past when she was a younger woman. In the opening scene of the play, Amanda remembers a time when she had seventeen gentlemen callers come visit her one day. Critic Nilda Joven writes, “This starts her talking about one Sunday in Blue Mountain when she received seventeen gentlemen callers. It is obviously an oft-repeated story, for Tom exclaims, “I know what’s coming!” after she mentions “one Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain”. It is a wistful story as she remembers it, so many fine southern gentlemen she could have married, and she chose their father!” [ (Joven, p. 54) ]. Amanda is reminiscing when she was important and when men came to call on her. She had her whole life ahead of her, with from so many men to choose from, there is no reason for her to worry about her future. To further illustrate, Amanda decorated the apartment with jonquils prior to the arrival of Jim O’Connor. Jonquils are the flowers of her youth and they represented promise and an exciting future to come. Joven says, “Amanda lives in the past, in her world of jonquils and gentlemen callers. She is presented as out of touch with reality; she is flighty, and a source of embarrassment to her children. However, she is genuinely concerned about securing her crippled daughter’s future” [ (Joven, p. 53) ].

Bibliography: Crandell, George W. "Critical Views." Bloom, Harold. Bloom 's Guides. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2007 Debusscher, Gilbert. Tennessee Williams’s Dramatic Charade. 1997. &lt;http://www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org/archives/2000/4debusscher.pdf&gt;.