The Glass Menagerie: Character Tom
Throughout the play "The Glass Menagerie," Tennessee Williams uses glass as a reflection of how the characters' are being trapped by their situations (Capasso).Tom is anxious to leave his mother, because he is a grown man. Laura only has her glass figurines to keep her busy, and Amanda continues to live in the past instead of dealing with the present. At the end, it is only Tom who is able to move out of the past and into the future. According to Capasso (210), the glass symbolizes a trap in two ways. First, the word "menage" in French means "apartment," which is keeping the three characters away from the outside world. Laura is trapped inside her house, because of her self-consciousness. Amanda remains there, because she continues to relive her past, and Tom stays because of the obligation to his family with his father gone. Amanda tries to be a caring mot
This is especially true, since he is supporting the family. When Jim asks what interests her most, she says, ""Well, I do as I said have my glass collection. The feeling of entrapment makes Tom want to leave all the more. " Amanda is trapped in what she considered her colorful and much happier past. He plunges out on the fire escape" (Scene 7). She likes recalling her more pleasant times when she did not have to worry about being a single mother and worrying how to raise two children on her own. She is also somewhat lame in one leg, and thus she rarely leaves the apartment without being pressured by her mother. She wore it when winning the cakewalk twice at Sunset Hill and at the Governor's Ball in Jackson. She finds it easier and less frightening to live in her glass-animal world. The hope is that unlike his mother and sister, his life was able to be mended and he did not return to that apartment up the fire escape. Laura is a fearful and very bashful girl, who will not take any chances in life. Although my case was not so aggravated as yours seems to be. He uses the fire escape of the apartment in order to escape everyone when things become too stressful. Jim sees the problem for what it is: "You know what I judge to be the trouble with you? Inferiority complex! Know what that is? That's what they call it when someone low-rates himself! I understand it because I had it, too.
Common topics in this essay:
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Tennessee Williams,
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,
outside world,
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tom able,
scene 7,
glass menagerie,
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