'The Glass Menagerie'

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews one of Tennessee Williams' most memorable plays, 'The Glass Menagerie'. The paper reports that Williams could not help but to embed elements of his personal life in this play. The paper further discusses how, told through the eyes of narrator ,Tom, the story of the Wingfields remarkably resembles Williams' own life.

From the Paper:

"The glass menagerie symbolizes not only Laura's fragility but that of the entire Wingfield family. Amanda may be the strongest Wingfield but Tom and Laura's mother is also vulnerable. She demonstrates an acute sense of financial insecurity and must feign confidence and strength in spite of having been abandoned by the men in her life. The Glass Menagerie is an inadvertently feminist play for several reasons. First, Amanda encourages Laura's occupational growth and self-sufficiency. Although she was raised in a traditional Southern family, Amanda does not view marriage as a woman's only source of personal satisfaction. Williams suggests that women in fact should not rely on men, based on the playwright's own experiences with his distant father and his personal tendencies toward fantasy and escapism. Tom, like Tennessee, cannot contend with the responsibilities and pressures placed up on him by traditional family life and the American Dream."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Durham, Frank. "Tennessee Williams, Theatre Poet in Prose." Modern Critical Interpretations: Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1988. Pp. 59-73.
• Falk, Signi. "The Southern Gentlewoman." Modern Critical Interpretations: Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1988. pp. 79-87.
• Watson, Charles S. "The Revision of The Glass Menagerie: The Passing of Good Manners." Modern Critical Interpretations: Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1988. Pp. 75-78.
• Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. New York: NewDirections, 1945.

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