Preview

Why Tom Is Unhappy

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
821 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Tom Is Unhappy
Why Tom Is Unhappy and, Eventually, Leaves In the play, The Glass Menagerie, the main character Tom Wingfield lives with his mother Amanda and his sister Laura. Tom’s father abandoned the family many years ago, leaving them without a provider, thus causing his son Tom to become the main source to support for the family. Tom works at a warehouse and has for many years, but the job is unappealing to him. He craves adventure and wants to follow his dreams to become a writer. However, his mother does not support his aspirations. By the end of the play, Tom decides that he no longer belongs there with his family and he deserts them. The three main reasons as to why Tom make the final decision to leave his family: Tom’s dreary job, Amada’s constant nagging, and Tom not being able to live the life that he hopes for. Tom’s hate for his job drives him away from his family. After a long day of work, Tom comes home and his mother Amanda begins to hassle him about not being home enough. She cannot seem to grasp the idea that Tom is sacrificing many things for his family, she only sees the things that he is doing wrong. Tom’s response to his mother's complaining is “What do you think I’m at? Aren’t I supposed to have any patience to …show more content…
For instance Tom works all day at a warehouse, he has no interest in his job but he works so he can support his mother and sister. To fulfill his creative thoughts, at night Tom usually goes to the movies to seek adventures, Amanda however must ask “Where are you going?” Tom explains “I am going to the movies!” Amanda then states “I don't believe that lie!” then, without thinking Tom could not control his rage and he goes on to sarcastically tell her that he is a psycho serial killer. (3, Amanda and Tom) Tom is beginning to face the fact that no matter what he does, he will never live the life he wants to if he stays with Amanda and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Tom Brennan

    • 3738 Words
    • 15 Pages

    - Relationship with grandmother shows how affectionate Tom is, although originally he barely tolerated her, towards the end of the novel he begins to manage his emotions and sees the kindness in her…

    • 3738 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Story of Tom Brennan

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Tom initially feels guilt ridden by a number of the tragedies that had occurred. With support from people such as C,T and B, Tom starts to realise that these tragedies were not his fault. He could not control what had happened. Tom pays his respects to the families of N and L. He starts to visit Finn on a more regular basis and he acknowledges that things will never return to how they were. Tom “moves on with his life” and in doing so overcomes many of his fears.)…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    For the first part of the book, the author is too young to understand that her predicament is not the average upbringing. Her father is an alcoholic, and her mother is somewhat of a free spirit. Neither can maintain jobs, and therefore do not stay in any one place for an extended period of time. Her father continually mentions building his family the “Glass Castle,” a house made completely of glass that he will build his family once they are wealthy enough. This castle represents the overall achievement of happiness later explained by the author. This is where the negative circumstances of the family are discussed. Jeanette is burned, and after receiving medical care, is taken from the hospital by her father to avoid paying the bill. “A few days later, when I had been in the hospital for about six weeks, Dad appeared alone in the doorway…

    • 859 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Their family always was pleased and in check with the bills for the first few months when they moved to a new house. Two places where they stayed the longest was Phoenix and Blue Mountain. In both areas Dad found good paying job as miner or electrician in a mine and for the first few months all the family’s needs were full filled according to the writer. However, when dad lost his job, things around the house would go back into chaos and left mom no choice but to teach and this made life better with their needs met again. During these days everyone was happy and the children received presents regularly like a new bicycle. These events were when the most smiles and happiness in kids was shone off. Finally towards the end of the book everyone moved to New York City and from beginning to end in their stay everyone was joyful. However their dad did die and Maureen moved to California after stabbing her mother but order was still there. Jeanette went to an Ivy League college and after graduating she became a journalist which was what she always wanted to be since high school. The author made this time seem very cheerful except when they talked about her parents in the streets. Towards the end the thanksgiving dinner brought the family all together witch it brought forth a conclusion worth reading. The Glass Castle states on the last paragraph “We raised our glasses. I could almost hear Dad chuckling at Mom's comment in the way he always did when he was truly enjoying something.” This showed at the end of all the pain and suffering there was true peace for their family at…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Glass Menagerie the younger brother and son Tom was put in a difficult situation. His dad had abandoned the family and he was left with his slightly un-normal sister and his bossy hard to live with mom. Tom was the only one bringing in the income because his sister didn’t want to finish the trade school she was going to and his mother couldn’t get a job that could bring any real money to pay the bills. Tom was living an unhappy life because he wasn’t doing what he wanted to do in life he was doing what was right. In other words he wasn’t acting on emotion in him wanting to leave he was acting on reason by staying and helping his family. That was at least until he couldn’t take it anymore and he decided he had to change his life and do what was write for him and that was to act on emotion and that motivated him to do what he wanted to, that being leave his family to become a marine sailor. That made the book more interesting and enjoyable, than to him just staying there being in the same situation.…

    • 474 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tortilla Sun

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For example Izzy and her mom don’t see eye to eye with the mother’s opinion on leaving her over the summer, so she can finish her research in Costa Rica. She said that she will leave on Tuesday and Izzy responds by saying, “ But that’s only three days away.” She must feel as if her mother is placing her own needs in front of her’s. The mother continues by saying, “ And after this I can finally graduate. Our lives will change then. For the better.” The mom doesn’t see how she is doing something corrupt. She believes that she is simply helping the family out for the better. When Izzy finds out that she is staying at her grandma’s house in New Mexico, the mother acts as if she had been busted. “A flash of surprise crossed Mom’s face. Like she knew I had heard her phone conversation. ‘She’s so excited to have you and….’” Izzy begins to feel a sense of hopelessness which is apparent later when she starts writing out a story on a notecard. “Staring at the card, I wondered what should happen next. Maybe a daring escape or a sorceress could rescue her. When nothing came to me, I scratched out the word opportunity until it was a big blue blob of blue ink and tossed the card on the floor.” In the story it talks about how Izzy has a baseball that used to belong to her father. That is hinting towards the fact that the dad has passed away. That further piles up on the stress she is facing which can…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Innocent Mockingbirds WantedA harmless mockingbird is flying in the air while singing a tune. As the bird hums its lovely music it is shot. Why was the bird shot? Like characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, the mockingbird was viewed as dangerous. The only way people knew how to deal with problems was by “shooting them down.” The innocence of killing a mockingbird is shown by three characters in the book: Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and Boo Radley. Their traits and actions shown throughout To Kill a Mockingbird help symbolize the mockingbird. Even though they all resemble mockingbirds in the novel, they all symbolize the bird in their own unique way. Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and Boo Radley all symbolize mockingbirds because of their traits,…

    • 2615 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Katie is a 13 year old girl. Her mom has left home. She lives with her farther and brother. Her farther runs his own business and is a very busy man, he has to leave Katie with her brother to get him ready for school. When Katie comes home from school she has to cook her brother some tea and do all the house work as her dad is still at work and he believes that because she’s the only girl in the house that is her job.…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    While reading the play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the reader quickly learns of a, sadly, typical tale of family strife. In this play a family struggles to find the way out of their secluded, seemingly solitary life. Amanda Wingfield, the mother of Tom and Laura, only craves for the best for her kids. However, this ostensibly adoring mother puts Toms needs at the bottom of list. As a family without a father figure Tom, being the only boy, steps up to help his mother and sister. Striving to live up to his father’s memory, Tom helps by paying for the rent while putting his personal goals on hold. The Wingfield family goes through much trouble and strife portraying the sad truth of what goes on in the everyday family and home.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dissatisfied, Tom wishes to escape from his lifestyle and enter the poetry business and move forward from there. He wants to peruse a life where his family are not in the picture, he feels as if they are shattering his dreams. Ultimately, Tom wants to escape his reality, become a writer and leave his own family behind "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, 91) At The end of the story, Tom leaves his family, abandoning Amanda and Laura to pursue an independent future. Tom is not living out the American dream because all that he does for his family he does not feel good about it, expressing the amount of virtue he lacks. The fact that he abandoned his own families emphasizes the point that he is not an ideal citizen because he is not a virtuous person who is seeking moral…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, we embark on the task of seeing a family living in the post WWII era. The mother is Amanda, living in her own world and wanting only the best for her son, Tom. Tom, a dreamer, tired of Amanda's overbearing and constant pursuit of him taking care of the family, wants to pursue his own goals of becoming a poet. He is constantly criticized and bombarded by his mother for being unsuccessful. This drives him to drinking and lying about his whereabouts, and eventually at the end of the play, he ends up leaving. An example of Amanda and Tom's quarrel I when he quotes, "I haven't enjoyed one bit of this dinner because of your constant directions on how to eat it. It's you that makes me rush through meals with your hawklike attention to every bit I take."(302) Laura, on the other hand, is shy and out of touch with reality because of a slight disability, in which she is comforted by her glass menageries. Amanda, sees Laura as fragile, like glass, and hopes she can find her a gentleman caller to take care of her and the family. In this play, Amanda, wants the best for her children, but should realize that they have their own lives.…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams utilizes the characters in such a way, that Tom is not only a character, but he is also the narrator, the father is in the play but only figuratively, but his character can also be seen through Tom “ I’m like my father. The bastard son of a bastard! see how he grins and he’s been absent going on sixteen years!” ( Williams Pg. 483) . There is also another character and that is Jim, Jim is one of Tom’s friends and he is seen as a gentleman caller by Amanda, yet he engaged to his high school sweetheart he is also see as a very sweet person “people are not so dreadful when you get to know them. That’s what you have to remember and everybody has problems not just you, but practically everybody has got some problems,…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Glass Menagerie” by the famous American playwright Tennessee Williams is well-known for its lyrical tone and poetic power. The play is about love and understanding, inner isolation and desire to escape, when the main characters have their own paths to follow. Tennessee Williams depicts a true-to-life picture of the family survival with their mutual care and tenderness, but at the same time pressure and home violence. The events are presented by one of the main characters, Tom Wingfield, who lives with his mother and a crippled sister, and because of their father’s financial problems it is Tom who has to take care of others. In fact, he dreams to quit his tiring job at a shoe warehouse and become a poet, but being unable to do it, he starts…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom: Tom is a very talented actor with the potential to go far with his acting. “You’ll be our next Chips Rafferty eh, son”. He and his family moved to Australia from England 8 years ago and there not the wealthiest family but there certainly the happiest family. His acting and certainly his family are important to him. Tom is quite defensive, and criticism towards his family concerns him and doesn’t make him happy. Tom has a great relationship with his parents as he gets on great with them, he gets on well with Meg but he cares for her more than he lets on. “It’s from the bottom of my heart, actually” Tom doesn’t really get along with Megs mum Gwen. She’s quite rude towards Tom and his family and that makes Tom really defensive. [Tom runs back in. He has heard this] “I hope you have a rotten holiday”.…

    • 2392 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the The Glass Menagerie, Tom Wingfield is the breadwinner of his family by day and an aspiring poet by night. However, he is chained from leaving his post as the man of the house. Tom tries to find balance between working for his family, taking care of his elderly mother, and finding a husband for his sister, Laura; all of these tasks prevent Tom from fulfilling his own…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays