The Glass Menagerie Contrast

Contrast in the Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a story that is filled with many contrast which seems to give the story more life. The contrast that I will be discussing will involve the characters, their ambitions, the past and future, gender roles. As I said before these contrast is what pulls the story together, and makes it intriguing. I will discuss what the glue is keeping this family all together. The Glass Menagerie shows a family whose views on their lives are on different spectrums. First, we have Amanda, reality does only wants the best for her daughter Laura and wants thinks having men waiting on her is what creates happiness and her son to know how to be a “man”. In Amanda’s youth we learn she was quite popular
We have our typical gender roles for what a women and man should be. The Glass Menagerie created during the 1940s. A time where women were considered objects, an actual human being that could look after themselves. During this time it was abnormal if a women was not married with children while taking care of her husband and house, and most likely not working. This thought process is the same for the characters in the Glass Menagerie.” As soon, as Laura has got somebody to care for her, married, A home of her own, and independent.” (Williams 1670) In Amanda’s mind her daughter being without a husband or any children might be the worst thing that can happen to a young girl. But this is not the case with men in the story, men are meant to work and be the bread winner primarily to care for their families. This goes for Tom who must the person in the household that needs to work because that is the man’s job and does not get enjoy worldly pleasures because of his anatomy. While his mother goes off to play with her older friends and his sister stays in her house glass dreams. This is huge factor into way Tom urges to leave are so strong, he does not feel appreciated in-house where he does the grunt work. Because of this stereotype we expect more of our men and women to be fit into their typical criteria. This stigma now seems to brings air of disgust to either exes because of how dated it
It is almost refreshing to not to see the all American families keep all the secrets behind a lock door. The Glass Menagerie paints the Wingfield family perfectly as an imperfect family having a family that clashes with each other often in how they feel their life should go. Sometimes writers try to make all their characters seem all squeaky clean and have no issues with their families, generally all their thinking is always the same. So having a family fight, disrespect, and not want to be all sweet each other is what makes this story more familiar and relatable. We see mother and daughter whose youth are two different worlds and a son who is fighting his inner demons that eventually need to be release before he explodes. We also see the effects of what can happen when someone who once was on tops trips down to bottom causing a state of denial in life. In the end, I think all our lives are almost like The Glass Menagerie, we all have a little dysfunctional family secrets in lives that we keep behind the closed-door. Not once have I known a family that did not have some dirt under their rug. The differences in a family is what makes it so