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"The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams shows a scene where Amanda (the mother) confronts Tom (her son) who made a grave mistake in match making Laura (his sister) and his best friend, who happens to be engaged. All this events happen within the comfort of the family home, displaying the intense feeling of something ominous just about to happen- the family conflict. This is demonstrated through the failure in the family's ability to communicate and comprehend each other. This creates familiarity within the audience as well as sympathy, as the audience is able to relate to the happenings as depicted. Sympathy wells up within them too as the break up of the family is about to happen, showing how the characters become disappointed and the sense of guilt breaks out within them, in which their only reaction is to flee from it. The extract opens with Amanda facing her son, Tom who appears to be totally nonchalant and self-righteous.
The sarcasm in her tone showed the awkwardness and the escalated tension in the whole event. The opening lines "Come in here a minute. I want to tell you something awfully funny" shows how the use of oxymoron emphasize on the distant nature between mother and son, fencing a barrier between them, as a result of their inability to communicate, finally ending in the contrasting interests between them. What more, Tom's lines of "The warehouse is where I work, not where I know things about people!" shows his inability in relating to others, including his family.
This stirs up sympathy from the audience towards Tom as his inability to feel belonged to someplace force him to become entrapped in his own world as suggested by the lines "You don't know things anywhere! You live in a dream; you manufacture illusions!" The use of repetition also serves the purpose escalating the building tension between the two whereby Tom turns to leave the house angrily. Amanda's incorporation of the lines "Go to the movies, go!" shows her despondency and disgust towards her son. Tom's gesture of shattering the glass and Laura's act of snuffing out the candles during which the legend on screen shows "And say goodbye" are symbolic of Tom finally snapping the bonds that he once held towards his family. With relationships needing to work both ways, this confirms Tom's freedom as displayed in the earlier lines of the extract, where "Tom smashes his glass on the floor. " whereby his action of breaking away earns him a reaction from Laura, bidding him goodbye. Even though the audience is happy that Tom is able to follow his passion now, it is inevitable that sympathy is also evoked as this is at the expense of being cut away from his family and ties, thus the feeling of sullen displeasure.
The setting of the extract also plays a part, in which - "The dance-hall music becomes louder. " and "The moon breaks through the storm clouds, illuminating his face" displays a glimmer of hope for the characters. In this case, the increasing loudness of the music shows how Tom's desire for the arts is no long stifled by his family and thus the increasing emphasis of it coming into play. The moonlight also displays the new hope and start that is rising amidst the family problems and conflicts brewing. With the unfolding of events on stage, the silenced moves of Amanda serve as a comfort towards Laura. Her "slow and graceful almost dance-like" gestures seems to display a mystical view of the events on stage, thus creating a sense of distance, showing how Tom has withdrawn to his own world, closing out everyone else.
Furthermore, Tom's unwillingness to admit his mistake or even offer comfort to his sister despite his actions creates the sense of disgust and displeasure felt for him. Laura's silence and "huddled upon the sofa", with her face hidden from the audience is significant of her unwillingness to face up to reality. The audience thus feels for her as she was left broken and powerless as shown in the lines "silliness is gone and she has dignity and tragic beauty. "Followed, from then on, in my father's footsteps, attempting to find in motion what was lost in space" displays a paradox in which the lack of a complete family- the father- serves to show how these happened as a result of this lack. More sympathy is then felt towards Tom and Laura, as they are the ones most impacted from this loss of a complete family. Imagery used in the lines "The cities swept about me like dead leaves, leaves that were brightly coloured but torn away from the branches" shows how Tom was attached closely to his family, thus, evoking the sense of disappointment and regret felt towards Tom when all of this finally results in the split between his family. Imagery of his family being a tree and him being torn away from them illustrates this point.
The parallel drawn between the candlelight and lightning displays the vulnerable nature of this family in the light of the harsh beginnings of life. In this case, candlelight is soft and gentle as compared to lightning, which is swift, sudden and intimidating to the point of it being dangerous. The lightning thus displays the strength and the harshness of the world as compared to the small and hopeless Laura who is confronted with the dangers of the world. Tom's soliloquy at the end of the extract reveals more of the family and its background to a more intimate detail.
This method used creates in the audience the feeling of "dramatic irony" whereby the climax is known even before it is seen on stage. This tends to provide a foreboding feeling in the play whereby it escalates the tension felt by the audience as they are given an insight to the events and yet, not able to change that fact. What more, the timing in which Tom's soliloquy plays out, whereby it was in sync with the happenings in the house builds up additional tension. In conclusion, the "Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams shows how human relations fail as a result of the reluctance to face up to reality and thus the effects of escapism. This is in view of the structure of the family and the happiness and warmth felt within is just a fa& amp; credit; ade put on for show. What goes on inside is something totally in contrast than what is portrayed.
This also determines the false front of human nature as it tries to escape from the things that they do not want to face up to and choose to live in self-delusion, attempting to cheat others, and in the process, ends up cheating themselves. Personally, I am able to relate to this feeling as often, I tend to run away from things I do not want to face and thus, avoid the feeling of being weak in the process. The pride and ego gets in the way when admitting a wrong as there is a tendency to want to feel "right" all the time, and therefore, never wanting to admit a wrong, as displayed in the extract found in the "Glass Menagerie"
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Research essay sample on Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams
