... me a witch, and because of that I am hateful to my children." "The Glass Menagerie" A good example of this is when she told Laura that she was not finding a gentleman as easy as she did because she was not fully developed. "To be honest, your chest is flat." ... because she can't afford all the riches and be well known for what she has. Amanda is simply trying to relive her path through her daughter, Laura. Amanda grew up poor, but married wealthy then became widowed and now is suffering to make ends meet. Mutually, they come off strong. Both women ... . Literature Resource Center. Web. ...

• Word Count: 1708
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... 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 hopes her daughter, Laura, will get married. The glass menagerie symbolizes Amanda Wingfield's overwhelming need to cling to her past, and her paranoia of being alone, so she keeps herself surrounded ... have. The glass menagerie itself i...

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

... this paper I would like to compare the lives of two fairly young adults, Tom and Laura Wingfield. Being brother and sister, living in the dream world of their mother, they both hide from what reality has to offer. Their Mother, Amanda Wingfield, loved her children dearly. Maybe too dearly, she loved her children in such a way she ... long. Amanda, deep down knows the day is coming that Tom will leave. She says "But not till there's someone to take your place." She wants Laura, not herself to be taken care of. At that moment in the play Tom is the breadwinner in the family and up to this ...

• Word Count: 547
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Statement: Whereas Sylvia was outspoken and loud, Laura was quiet and subdued. Laura Wingfield was the protagonist in the play "The Glass Menagerie". Sylvia was the protagonist in the short story "The Lesson". Laura's leg was crippled. She had been that way since she was a baby. This minor problem haunted her throughout her entire life ... people other then her family talked to her, she could rarely reply with out being sick. For example, when Jim O"Conner cam to dinner with Tom Wingfield, Laura could not answer the door to let the two inside. She feared people in general. On the other ...

• Word Count: 414
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

The action of The Glass Menagerie takes place in the Wingfied's apartment in St. Louis, 1937. This play is framed around the memory of its narrator, Tom Wingfield. Tom's predicament is one of the play's major themes. This theme can be best described as the conflict between responsibility for one's family and the need to live one's own ... is character of true melancholy. Though he longs for freedom, his obligatory feelings toward his family keep him in St. Louis. Despite his feelings of obligation, Amanda's constant nagging and Laura's idiosyncrasies make the apartment oppressive and impris...

• Word Count: 458
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie were two plays in which there was a woman who played a drastic role in life of the other characters; they were Blanche DuBois and Amanda Wingfield. Written by the same playwright, these two main female characters featured characteristics that were similar to both. Blanche and Amanda were "southern belles" who couldn't adopt a new lifestyle other than ... both characters had problems dealing with. Their inability to change to the urban lifestyle caused them to be inferior to society. Amanda's experiences from the South caused her to push Laura into do...

• Word Count: 583
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In Tennessee Williams? play, the glass menagerie, all four members of the Wingfield family have chosen to hide from reality. Amanda tries to relive her past through Laura, and denies anything she does not want to accept. Laura is terrified of the real world, and choses to hide behind her limp, her glass menagerie and the victrola. Tom hides from his reality by going ... high school crush, and Amanda denies that it could be,It won't be him! It isn't the least bit likely.? (p 278). It is in these ways that Amanda Wingfield hides from reality. Laura Wingfield has chosen to hide from reality in t...

• Word Count: 1190
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... to fix myself now! You are going to be surprised by your mother's appearance!"(57) Levy believes that Amanda's way of treating Laura is responsible for Laura's "negative self-consciousness" (530). Amanda and Laura never have a truly honest conversation. Laura never responds except in short sentences and phrases. Mr. Wingfield's influence on Laura is also very remarkable. Darryl Darryl Erwin Haley believes that "it is Mr ... . Wingfield, not Amanda, who is ultimately to blame for Laura's seclusion from the world of physically ordinary people.[ ] Laura is forced by the actions of Mr. Wingf...

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

... of 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

... of 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

... 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

... In the wake of what Tom refers to as the "fiasco at Rubicam's Business College," Amanda has become obsessed with procuring a gentleman caller for Laura. It is a topic perpetually under discussion and the object of Amanda's planning. In order to make a little extra money "to feather the nest ... in the kitchen until at last Tom rises from the table and apologizes. Amanda gushes and Tom speaks gently. She is concerned about Laura. Laura thinks that Tom is not happy living with them, that he goes out every night to escape the apartment; she broods about this. ... the rainbow reflections of...

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

... their imagination. In Tennessee Williams the "Glass Menagerie" the members of the Wingfield family are all trapped in menial existences. Enveloped in their delusions or leading impoverished lives of symbolic displacements, they are almost a family of outcasts. Laura Wingfield is the main focus, who is living in a world of glass ornaments. Amanda Wingfield, Laura's mother, suffocating in her own affections, places her desires indirectly towards ... Laura. Additionally, there is Tom Wingfield, Laura's brother, who is immersed within a world of movies. Laura resembles a wounded animal, mir...

• Word Count: 1214
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... by Tennessee Williams revolves around the flaws of each of the Wingfields: Amanda Wingfield, a woman of a very confusing nature; Laura Wingfield, one who is partially crippled and lets that make her extremely self conscious; and Tom Wingfield, one who is seen as selfish, and feels trapped and is looking for ... a way out. Williams" characters are all lost in a dreamy state of illusion or escape wishing for something that they don't have. The mother, Amanda Wingfield ... her flawed and responsible for the tragedy that came upon them even though she didn't realize it. Laura Wingfield is ...

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

... towards each other, this is basically what immediately comes to mind when we think of a family, in Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie, The Wingfield's find that many of the family factors become obstacles that they struggle to overcome. Abandoned by her husband, Amanda is left to care for her two ... not only pays the bills but he cares for Amanda and Laura. They all have their individual roles in their household, Laura on the other hand sits by quietly, and she's considered the timid peacemaker of the house. In the Wingfield residence, their family struggle of accepting the ...

• Word Count: 1324
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography

... Tom as a subservient male who is unhappy with his life. Williams displays Amanda as a manipulative well-spoken Southern woman who cannot let go of her past. The writer expresses Laura as a dependant female with fragile emotions. 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 ... . 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" although Laura's brace would clump whe...

• Word Count: 634
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... me interested. To me all the family wanted was happiness and the tragic part was they never got it. The first character in the play is Tom Wingfield, he seems to be in his late 20's, and he works in a factory but aspires to be a poet/writer. He supports his "crippled" sister ... her daughter from reality at the same time without realizing she was treating her daughter like she was good for nothing. Then comes lovely Laura Wingfield the innocent hurt child even though she is grown. The only happiness she has is in her glass menagerie. She is very quiet and never ... gain some glory. Lau...

• Word Count: 850
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... and 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 each ... . 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 wit...

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

... - delayed but always expected something that we live for (23). Williams gives the reader many emblems throughout the play; there are three of them are especially interesting. The unicorn symbolizes Laura's uniqueness, the picture of Mr. Wingfield represents his strong influence on his deserted family, and Malvolio's coffin trick signifies Tom's suffocating lifestyle. The unicorn is a symbolic representation of ways that ... her glass menagerie, listening to records on the Victrola, and visiting the park and zoo. Laura identifies with her glass menagerie because she has trouble identifyin...

• Word Count: 531
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... on 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 ... Jim enters her life again. However we have disappointed expectations as at the end of the play we discover he has a wife. This heavily backfires on Laura, as it is the first time out of her precious seclusion as she retreats back into her bubble and the very end shows how she will ...

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

... Tennessee Williams uses symbolism throughout his classic play The Glass Menagerie. Through the eyes of Tom Wingfield, a character in the play, the reader gets a glance into the life of his family. Tom's mother, Amanda, is a southern belle desperately clinging to her past. Tom has a sister named Laura and she is a twenty-something woman that is too fragile to function in society. Tom ... . Symbols are a major part of this play. Symbols used in this classic play are the fire escape, Laura's "glass menagerie," and rainbows. One major symbol presented in the story is that of the fire escape,...

• Word Count: 991
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... Williams is a stage play 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 w...

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

... 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 ... desire of ever being with Mattie, causing him to be "trapped" under all of the snowfall in Starkfield. B-3 (Similarity) Amanda Wingfield and Zeena Frome are both presented as the controlling figures in both novels. Tom can't live his life without Amanda being in the way. Working ... Frome...

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

... their own little world in order to escape reality. We see various examples of this with the Wingfield family in Tennessee Williams' theatrical masterpiece, "The Glass Menagerie." Amanda Wingfield is the mother of Tom and Laura. She is a "southern belle" whose glory days have long since faded away. She ... escaping the harsh reality of her failed marriage, crippled daughter, and distant son. Tom Wingfield is the son of Amanda and the brother of Laura. He has multiple means of escaping the restrictive reality of the Wingfield household. He is very much into literature and writing poetry. H...

• Word Count: 485
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... 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