... at his own life. However, being a memory play, many events are exaggerated and these exaggerations describe how Williams felt during these moments. The way Williams has created the complex character of Amanda Wingfield may reflect how Williams own mother may have been. The overbearing and domineering mother, Amanda, spends much of her time reliving her past days as a southern belle. She desperately ... escape, wishing for something that they don't have. The glass menagerie itself is a symbol Williams" uses to represent the broken lives of Amanda, Laura and Tom Wingfield, and their inabi...

• Word Count: 1670
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... 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 ... needs her children to be proud of their mother. Amanda needs to release her grip on this past and move on. Amanda's personality reflects a domineering character. She cannot refrain herself from making decisions for her two children. Her many ways of motherly love, sometimes seems too much for any person. At one...

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

... a modern world inimical to transcendent ideal and aspiration" (Thompson 6). In order to give the impression of the reality of such a situation, Williams represents his play as the construction of Tom Wingfield's memory. There are important autobiographical aspects in The Glass Menagerie and the characters which it depicts. These biographical connections are important in understanding the characters. Tennessee Williams himself admits the ... impaired and terminally shy is to some extent a representation of Tennessee's beloved sister Rose, whom the family had lobotomized in an ill-fated a...

• Word Count: 3081
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the mid 1930's, during the depression era. There was war in Europe and a struggling economy in America. The Wingfield family, who lived in an apartment building, consisted of Amanda, Laura, and Tom Wingfield. They are all unique individuals sharing the same home but lost in their own imaginary world. As each character attempt to escape reality, we will examine the symbols, which gave each ... character an opportunity for escape. We will first look at Amanda Wingfield. She is the mother of Tom and Laura and is portrayed as a loving but over zealous mother, who at times is controlling and...

• Word Count: 1620
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Scenes 1+2 The Wingfield apartment faces an alley in a lower middle class St. Louis tenement. There is a fire escape with a landing that serves as a porch. "The ... play, from the rainbow reflections of the dance hall's glass ball to the magician's rainbow scarf. Delicate, illusory, fragile, fleeting, they capture something essential of Laura's character. Christian religious imagery also abounds, though not perhaps in any coherent way. In this scene, Tom's inebriated account of the magic show ends with his description ... boredom. On a larger level, that coffin can be seen as membership in t...

• Word Count: 5517
• Approx Pages: 22
• Grade Level: High School

... technology and gives it a high regard because the emphasis society places on it. Thus, Jim symbolizes the only aspect reality in the play. Opposite to Jim is Laura, who represents illusion. Laura Wingfield portrays a dependent female; whose crippled leg foreshadows the crippling of her emotions and her ability to communicate with people other than Tom and Amanda. She evades the characteristics ... of reality entirely through her imagination. Laura's damaged leg began to haunt her throughout high school. Amanda would tell Laura that she just had "a little defect, hardly noticeable even- ...

• Word Count: 1784
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... put the past behind her. Amanda is obsessed with her past as she constantly reminds Tom and Laura of that one Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain. She chooses to live in the past. She hopes that the gentleman caller is not handsome because Mr. Wingfield is handsome and he wins her heart in a second. She does not want Tom to be a drunk ... 't have much of at work, so I go to the movies." Since his life is full of responsibility, money, future of Laura, boring job. He wanted more in his life than just a worker in a shoe factory. Tom is very much like Mr. Wingfield because they left home to s...

• Word Count: 1092
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... technology and gives it a high regard because the emphasis society places on it. Thus, Jim symbolizes the only aspect reality in the play. Opposite to Jim is Laura, who represents illusion. Laura Wingfield portrays a dependent female; whose crippled leg foreshadows the crippling of her emotions and her ability to communicate with people other than Tom and Amanda. She evades the characteristics ... of reality entirely through her imagination. Laura's damaged leg began to haunt her throughout high school. Amanda would tell Laura that she just had "a little defect, hardly noticeable even- ...

• Word Count: 1745
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... these relationships is a significant theme throughout the play. These "escapes" may be related to the fire escape, the dance hall, the absent Mr. Wingfield and Tom's inevitable departure. The play opens with Tom addressing the audience from the fire escape. This entrance into the apartment provides a different purpose for ... Her escape seems to be hiding inside the apartment, not out. The fire escape separates reality and the unknown. Across the street from the Wingfield apartment is the Paradise Dance Hall. Just the name of the place is a total anomaly in the story. Life with the Wingf...

• Word Count: 840
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... set in St. Louis in 1937. " The Glass Menagerie" is a memory play drawn from the narrator, Tom Wingfield played by Michael A. Newcomer. Tom Wingfield who is also a character in this play is an aspiring poet who works in a shoe warehouse to support his mother Amanda played by Darrie ... Lawrence, and his sister Laura played by Christi Craig. Jim O' Connor played by Derek Phillips is the guy from high school who Laura had ... a devastating crush on and who now works with Tom at the warehouse. There is also a fifth character Mr. Wingfield ... , Tom and Laura's father who ran off years ago...

• Word Count: 746
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... the streets but they are poor enough. Amanda Wingfield is portrayed as a very pushy mother who always tries to urge on and persuade her two children to do exactly what she says. However, it is this sort of behaviour that I feel has lead her daughter Laura to be terribly timid and shy and reluctant ... to be a part of the world. This driving behaviour has lead her son Tom in the total opposite direction, constantly annoyed by his mother waiting for the perfect time to escape. And last but certainly not least, Amanda. The character most longing ... for succession - the American Dream. Ama...

• Word Count: 847
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... flawed and responsible for the tragedy that came upon them even though she didn't realize it. Laura Wingfield is a romantic, who has a physical defect which causes her to limp slightly. Laura is emotionally delicate, which causes her to escape to a world of beauty she created for ... herself. In reality, she is living in a world of despair. When Jim kisses Laura, she comes to reality and forgets about the broken piece of glass, and becomes a real person for a moment. But ... she lacks the strength to stay in reality, for when Jim breaks the news that he is engaged, Laura looks in her ha...

• Word Count: 551
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Frome. In The Glass Menagerie, Tom's actions act upon the similarities and differences to Ethan from Ethan Frome In Ethan Frome, Zeena's character and personality acts upon the similarities and differences to Amanda from The Glass Menagerie Even though both novels have similar and different points, each ... work tells the reader about dreams being unfulfilled. B-1 (Similarity) Ethan Frome and Tom Wingfield were both on a route to escape their obligations. In the beginning of scene four in The Glass Menagerie, Tom states how the coffin in ... both contain characters with comparable simi...

• Word Count: 1101
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... minimal contact with them. In Tom's introductory narration, even though there are only four characters in the play, Tom acknowledges, "There is a fifth character in the play who doesn't appearThis is our father who left a long time ago[he] fell in love with long distances; he gave up his ... Tom's motives regarding his aspirations to escape. In the beginning of scene four, Tom returns home late at night after hours of drinking, explaining to Laura how he was enjoying a magician's show. Tom is fascinated and he recalls that "..the wonderfullest trick of all was the coffin trick. We ... ...

• Word Count: 1672
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The Search for Happiness Tennesse Williams examines the main theme of happiness in his play "The Glass Menagerie." The play revolves around the Wingfield family, a family caught in a life just outside the reach of happiness. Each family member strongly acts in different ways to fulfill their interpretation of individual happiness. But the family member's ... , will be left feeling trapped and incapable of finding true happiness. Williams first explores a family that is unable to face reality, using a glass unicorn to represent one family member's uniqueness, Laura. Each Wingfield has a differ...

• Word Count: 1763
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... in order to survive. Moreover, in Tennessee Williams' play "The Glass menagerie-, he exemplifies the plight of pursuing the American dream through the character of Amanda Wingfield. "The Glass Menagerie" is a memory play set in the 1940's during World War II but is told in retrospect to the late 1930 ... probably due to war, it was concerned with the health and happiness of your family. The main character Amanda Wingfield is a overbearing mother who has an imaginative son Tom and a slightly crippled, overly timid daughter Laura. She is a lonely mother whose refuge are her memories. Aman...

• Word Count: 2761
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... avoid reality. Through symbolism, William is able to emphasize how one will create an escape to avoid facing reality. In The Glass Menagerie, Tom Wingfield is unhappy with his life as his primary role is to work and provide for his family. Tom creates many escapes to avoid the reality ... life. Thus, by using these examples of symbolism, Williams is able to prove how one will create an escape to avoid facing reality. Another character in The Glass Menagerie that creates escapes to avoid reality is Tom's mother Amanda. Amanda creates escapes to because she too has difficulty accepting ma...

• Word Count: 1274
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... successful in his escape because he never has to deal with anything at home. He actually leaves and doesn't look back. As for the other four: Laura, Amanda, Tom, and Jim, they seem to be stuck throughout the play. Jim seems to be the only one with a real chance at breaking ... in a make-believe reality. In Amanda's mind she is still a girl receiving "gentlemen callers" (1270). Even when Laura is to receive a caller, Amanda gets more dressed up than Laura. Amanda even refuses to acknowledge that Laura is " crippled" (1275). She illustrates this point by saying " you"re not crippled, you j...

• Word Count: 911
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... The main theme of this play is about a frustrated family who are deserted by the father and each character escapes his/her reality in a different way. Amanda Wingfield, she is the mother of Tom and Laura and often digresses back to memories of her former days on the southern plantation farm and her night with ... 17 gentleman callers. Laura, she is the crippled and very shy daughter of Amanda who keeps her hard pressed to ... job at the shoe factory to support the family. Jim OConnor is a friend of Tom from the factory who Tom invites to dinner and Amanda treats as Laura's first gentle...

• Word Count: 2132
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School