The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

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The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
It is believed that only through learning from the past experience can enable an individual grow. However, this may not be possible especially when an individual finds it hard to forget past memories and when she finds herself mentally trapped in the past experience without any need for escaping from such a reality. The future could be at a distant place when a person is mentally stuck in the values and experience of the past. By acknowledging and accepting the past, an individual can make progress and move on to the future prospects. This paper reflects on the fact that the Glass Menagerie was not story based on reality, but on memory, and the main characters (Laura, Amanda and Tom) are stuck between the past and the far-away future since they are victim subjects of Tennessee Williams’ innovative imagination.
The Glass Menagerie is a memory play written by Tennessee Williams. Tom looks at the past and reflects how he would manage escape the situation facing him. His mother, Amanda, is also preoccupied by past memories. Moreover, his sister, Laura, is mentally stuck due to her past experience and therefore is shy and introverted. She is unable to open to the world. Her childhood illness affects her and therefore is shy and introvert. This is a family play that depicts the theme of entrapment as well as isolation because of the characters’ incapability to forget the past and the fact that they are abandoned by their father.
Amanda’s husband left and abandoned the family many years in the past. Being that the father is absent; the family has been financially and emotionally stagnant (Bert 45). Tom had to support his mother and sister after his father abandoned them. He got a job at a certain warehouse to sustain his family. His situation is pitiful because he is over reprimanded by his mother who is always strict on him. Tom needs to escape the traps facing him in his family, but he is unable. Amanda is a lovely mother who loves his children. Nevertheless, she always scolds her son about his eating habits, behaviors and his fledgling job. Though, Laura is a shy lady, her mother expects her to be open and outgoing. In contrast, Amanda is highly sociable and remembers her past days when she could be visited by 17 gentlemen in single a day.
Laura lacks any aspiration or hope for her future. She abandoned her typing class since she was very shy and therefore feared taking the speed exam. According to Sojtaric, since her childhood, Laura liked her Glass menagerie (a set of animal figurines) including old music records (9). Laura, thus, only interest appears to be preoccupied with these activities. Tom does not want to accept his past to continue with life positively. He is disturbed and intends to abandon the family to take adventure to the outer world. He still lives in the negative...