The Glass Menagerie Morally Evil

When we are drawn to chase our dreams, we often encounter risks and consequences along the way. Some dreams may be so beyond the bounds that the consequences may seem morally wrong. Although one’s intentions may seem purely good, it is the required action that can make one’s behavior appear purely evil. In the play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the narrator, Tom Wingfield feels confined at his job and in his own home, through which he feels the need to find a better life. Although Tom has good intentions to improve his life, he also has to decide whether he wants to abandon his family or not. Throughout the play, Tom develops a morally ambiguous persona, through which he fights in a mental battle of deciding what is more important
Tom’s dream to find life and adventure beyond the walls of the tenement and the shoe warehouse identifies him as purely good. He wants to escape primarily from Amanda’s domineering restrictions such as how he should eat, what he should read, and where he is allowed to go. Because he has no plans on where he wants to leave currently, he finds other ways to temporarily escape. Tom strays to smoking and drinking to depart from reality. He will often go to the apartment’s fire escape, and take a smoke in order to relieve his frustrations. When he is drunk, his reality becomes distorted and he is able to forget about his dilemmas. A more important escape for Tom is going to the movies. He states that he goes to the movies because “[he] likes adventure. Adventure is something [he does not] have much of at work” (Williams 63). At work, Tom is restricted to the same, continuous routine. The fact that Tom does not enjoy his work at the warehouse demonstrates that he wants to break free
Tom leaving the apartment means that Amanda and Laura will have to find a way to support themselves. Tom provides the financial support for the family. The money he earns from the shoe warehouse is the money he uses to pay the house bills. If Tom is paying the rent and the electric bills, then it is implied that Amanda no longer works. In addition, the fact that Laura no longer wants to go to business school means that Laura would not be working any time soon, as well. Tom leaves them financially unstable. Also, Tom’s depart would make Laura feel distraught. Not only does Laura have an overly sensitive nature, but Tom and Laura already have a strong sibling connection. She is perceptive in a way that she understands what Tom is going through. She explains in tears to Amanda that Tom “[hates] the apartment and that [he goes] out nights to get away from it” (Williams 63). Even though Tom feels just as passionate about Laura (“I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I inttended to be”), he still decides that his new life is more important (Williams 137). Lastly, Tom claims that he is following in the footsteps of his father. In the beginning of the play, Tom noted that their father had left them long ago, in order to pursuit a life of travelling. The father makes no contact with the family and leaves them to provide for themselves; to slowly