"The Glass Menagerie"

Paper Summary:

This paper studies the fifth scene of the play "The Glass Menagerie," by Tennessee Williams. In this scene, Amanda has persuaded her husband Tom to find a gentleman caller for their daughter Laura. Tom has asked a fellow worker to come home with him after work one evening. This paper's author first describes the scene and then analyzes the dialogue in an attempt to better understand the characters' motivation and vision. The paper goes on to address the overarching themes of this scene -- and the larger play. The author says that "The Glass Menagerie" is about fragility, which each of the three main characters falls victim to in one way or another.

From the Paper:

"Amanda is not a bad mother. She really does want the best for her daughter (her son has left, more or less, her aura of control). But, she has the firm belief that her daughter is far more fragile than Laura really is. Looking at Amanda today, we might easily call her "a control freak". She wants everything planned. The worst thing that could happen to her- in her wishes and in her reality- is for her plans not to work out. She even chastises Tom when she tells him "You are the only young man that I know who ignores the fact that the future becomes the present, the present the past, and the past turns into everlasting regret if you don't plan for it." She has planned for a future that, one would think deep down in her heart, she knows will never come to pass. She does live, from time to time, in the past. It is what keeps her going, seeing the present be such an unpleasant reality. But, she even plans for a possible mismatch."

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