... husband has abandoned her and their children. She has to live with the fact that her son, Tom could turn out a drunkard and also her daughter, Laura who in life may not achieve much because of her shyness. Amanda is a strong human being even though her family life as well as her own is ... arguments. This is Amanda's weakness. It is her weakness of not being able to let her children live their own lives. Her daughter, Laura seems to be the shy type but Laura herself knows when one does not have a chance at something. In her case she is not able to find gentlemen callers. However, ... . H...

• Word Count: 532
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... part only in the background. Another likeness is the short temper that these two characters posses. Both characters seem to lose their tempers very easily. Tom Wingfield gets in a heated argument with his mother every time the reader sees them interact. Tom Joad, on the other hand, rarely looses his temper, but ... coincidence. However, at the culmination of each work of literature, the characters, through a similar action, display their distinct differences. Both Tom Joad and Tom Wingfield leave their families. The difference in character lies in the motives behind each Tom's departure....

• Word Count: 861
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... , mainly, because every character of the play lives, in some degree, in illusion. The ones which face life in a more realistic way are Tom Wingfield and Jim O"Connor. Tom could be considered to be realistic because of his attitude towards life. Unlike him, every character has discovered a way to escape ... towards that situation. That, added to the factor of a job which brings no adventures or satisfactions, and a smothering home makes both Tom and Mr. Wingfield leave home. Of course it should be mentioned that in the case of Tom there is also another reason for his departure and that is,...

• Word Count: 1571
• Approx Pages: 6

... before the story begins. We are led to believe that Amanda's anxiety, paranoia and neediness compelled his actions. Due to the disappearance of Mr. Wingfield, Tom, who is a poet by nature, is left to spend his day working in a shoe factory in order to support his mother and ... lead to him becoming an executive. Jim is the same age as Tom, and attended high school with both Wingfield children. Jim is fairly intelligent, a good speaker and generally charming. Laura had spoken to him a few times in high school, but even though she liked him, she was always ... too self-conscious to let t...

• Word Count: 774
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... of the 1930s. The mother, Amanda, clings to her past life as a Southern debutant and hopes desperately that her daughter, Laura, will follow in her footsteps. Tom Wingfield, the narrator and Amanda's son, dreams of breaking free from the mundane, simple life he is forced to lead once his ... is able to incorporate elements such as setting, symbolism, and conflict to express a main theme of escape. Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie takes place in the Wingfield family apartment, in 1937. Driven by postwar poverty, they are forced to live in a lower-class urban section of St. Louis. ...

• Word Count: 559
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... and financially. The absence of a father figure has forced Tom into the position of being sole breadwinner. She also believes that Tom will turn on her and Laura because he is tired of the life his mother is living and wants to escape from it. She points this out, "More and more you remind me ... of But not till there's somebody to take your place" (439). She does not mind him leaving, but she wants him to make sure that she and Laura will be financially taken care of. Tom, also referred to as Shakespeare, is the main character in the play. He spends much of his time at home ... old enou...

• Word Count: 875
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School