'The Glass Menagerie'

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the failure of the 'American Dream' in the play 'The Glass Menagerie' by Tennessee Williams.The paper discusses how the Wingfield family tends to blur reality preferring to live an illusion. According to the paper, this leaves the Wingfield family with continuous feelings of rejection, frustration and desperation.

From the Paper:

"Initially, from Tom's end, he showed no conscious effort to redeem himself from the fact that will always be poor and underprivileged, in the midst of the affluent lives of other people in the society they lived in. However, eventually as the play comes to a close, he realized that he cannot always live his life based on simple aspirations and hopes fueled by his movie-watching. Interestingly, Tom's fascination with movies eventually became the catalyst for him to realize that life was harshly and radically different from the movies. The sheltered lives of people in movies are hardly what Tom and his family had experienced, a realization that made him hopeless and desperate, but also motivated to take action. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cluck, N. (1979). "Showing or telling: Narrators in the drama of Tennessee Williams." American Literature, Vol. 51, No. 1.
• King, T. (1973). "Irony and distance in 'The Glass Menagerie'." Educational Theatre Journal, Vol. 25, No. 2.
• Williams, T. (1987). The Glass Menagerie. NY: Signet.

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• Essay # 73644 : "Reality Vs. Illusion in "The Glass Menagerie"
• Essay # 33644 : "Tennessee Williams and "The Glass Menagerie"

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