GCSE: The Glass Menagerie
- Marked by Teachers essays 1
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Discuss the extent to which language creativity can be identified in everyday interaction in English, with reference to an extract of authentic language data that you have collected from everyday conversation, or dialogue between children, or computer-med
4 star(s)On Band 12 of CD-ROM 1, the two girls, Laura and Aalliya are both six years old and from a middle class background based on their non-specific accents. They are at an age where they are already going to school. The video band consists of the two girls preparing for acting out a small scene from the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in a playful way. The first setting is in Laura's bedroom and the second in her living room. They appear to be thoroughly enjoying themselves by engaging in an activity of play and learning simultaneously.
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Significance of Last Scene in The Glass Menagerie
Despite this, Jim turns out to have illusions as well. His long winded speeches reveal his insecurities of not coming far in life since high school and his fear of getting left behind by democracy. He latches onto things that he believes will propel him along into the future industrial developments, public speaking and radio engineering. Just like the other characters in the play, he is trying his hardest to survive in the outside world. His fears and insecurities are covered up by his confident and boisterous demeanor, as well as his attempt to boost Laura's confidence.
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Main Themes in The Glass Menagerie
Hence Amanda Wingfield clings to her Southern background, a past of servants, jonquils, and gentlemen callers, and in the meantime puts hope into the future of her children, of a steady job for Tom and a husband to support Laura. In this attempt to pull her life and family together, she consequently causes the eventual destruction of her family. Tom Wingfield cuts of all ties binding him to his family and leaves to pursue his dreams of adventure and poetry, but at the very end he discovers that the outside world is no more sympathetic.
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Theme of Escape in the Glass Menagerie
The play then presents Tom's frustrated attempt to escape from his intolerable job, situation, and life. Tom uses it as an opportunity to escape from Amanda, giving him the opportunity to smoke, which is one way that he can relax from the real world. His frequent visits to the fire escape show his desire to leave. The fire escape also Amanda perceives the fire escape as an opportunity for gentleman callers to enter their lives and Laura views it differently to her mother and brother as her means of escape lies within the apartment; hiding away.
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tConsidering the opening two scenes of 'The Glass Menagerie', how effectively does Tennessee Williams use imagery and dramatic devices to suggest the themes of the play to his audience?
Williams doesn't show the apartment to be desirable but 'dim, grim' and ' murky' with rubbish on the ground. The imagery of the 'dark', sad and 'sinister' unwelcoming apartment suggests the theme of disappointment and the overall unhappiness of each character with their lives. The image he creates is not photographic but a more ' vivid penetrating' expession of what should be there. The apartment is realistic compared to the dreams that they each have. Certain staging such as the fire escape represents an underlying theme too.
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The Glass Menagerie
Poverty is what is keeping them there. However on the other hand they can escape reality through staying at home, but they cannot escape their own family within the apartment. Tom Wingfield is the narrator of the play, but also the son of the family. Tom hates the apartment, his mother and the fact that he is the one who has to work at the warehouse to take care of the family since his father left. Tom's escapes from the family can be related to the fire escape, the movies, and last but not least Tom's expected departure.
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The Glass Menagerie
A paramount example of this can be seen within the character Laura. Throughout the novel, Laura's shy, awkward and antisocial character quickly becomes evident and this is reflected in her glass menagerie which she takes much pride in. Williams clearly makes a connection between the fragile nature of Laura, similar to that of glass - which is very easily broken. To emphasize this connection is a particular piece, the Unicorn. Essentially, the Unicorn mirrors Laura as it stands out having one horn, just as she believes she stands out - having a limp due to pleurosis.
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glass menagerie Creative Writing Task
I'm so sorry, but I have no choice. This is the only way I can truly be set free and experience all the things I've always wanted to do. I really hope you understand. I desperately need to get away from here. I need some adventure in my life. I can't stand my dreary job, my mothers irksome nagging, and the whole family relying on my miniature paychecks to survive. I mean, I can't always be there for you Laura.
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The Charles Hamilton story - creative writing.
He was wondering what to tell his fianc�e, when he dropped his cup. The coffee went everywhere. He was about to go and get one of those cleaners he always seen walking around: - face caked with orange make up, fag hanging out of their mouth, wandering around pretending to work. Then he noticed a small frail blonde woman already cleaning his spilt coffee. He reached down to help her, his hand brushed against her knee and she glanced up at him with her bright blue eyes. He looked at her wondering whether she had one of those name tag things but she didn't.
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In the memory play "The Glass Menagerie", by Tennessee Williams, the author is giving his audience a peek of his own life. With exaggeration of the character's emotions and situations,
He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion." He puts across that he visualizes the truth as illusion in order to get rid of his every day problems. His sister Laura gives the impression that she is a fragile, emotional person, as well hiding from the real world, and looking for escape in her glass menagerie. On the other hand, Tom discusses his situation openly and often gets into a clash with his mother because they have different opinions.
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"Plays consist mostly of talking". In light of this statement consider the extent to which dialogue and monologue are used to advance the principle themes of the Glass menagerie.
The story that the play tells is told because of the unforgiving grip it has on the narrator's memory. Thus, the fact that the play exists at all is a testament to the power that memory can exert on people's lives and consciousness. Another theme of 'escape and confinement' is shown by Tennessee Williams through the use of monologue, with dialogue and imagery. Tom narrates at the start of the play that his father was "a telephone man who fell in love with long distances". This shows that Tom sees his father's departure as essential to the pursuit of 'adventure', his taste for which is halfly satisfied by the movies that he attends nightly.
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Discuss the dramatic impact of Scene One in the Glass Menagerie. Tennessee Williams uses a vary of dramatic techniques in Scene One
The play demonstrates the unhappiness that Tom is feeling and how hard it is for him to let go of the past events. The stage directions in The Glass Menagerie give the audience a focus on what detail the play has. It helps them imagine what the setting would be truly like in real life. It also allows the director of the play to set the stage and give the play the proper feel that Williams intended. The dark alleys mentioned in the stage directions give the setting a claustrophobic environment.
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Escape There was no time. The only way out was the window. He ran to it, hotly persued by a thick dust cloud
The chaos came to a sudden stop. Craig's body tried to carry on, forcing his head into what was left of the piece of floor that was now ceiling. He rubbed his neck as he looked up at the four floors that he had fallen through, amazed that he was still alive. He worked out that he was on the ground floor. He looked again at the piece of floor that had saved his life! Craig's senses began to come back as he noticed he was struggling to breathe through the thick dust cloud that choked in the air.
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Explore the treatment of deception in "The Glass Menagerie" The term 'deception' is defined as the distortion of reality or employing tricks, ruses and
To end with, Laura and Amanda are also seen conversing in sound proof glass. Now that it is obvious that they are living in a world of deception, I will go on to elaborate on how this world of deception works. In the play, the characters deceive themselves, particularly Amanda. Amanda deceives herself various ways. She lives in the world she wishes to remember rather than her present world. She rants about the number of gentlemen callers there were in Blue Mountain while constantly boasting about her popularity amongst them.
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The importance of theatrical devices in the staging of 'The Glass Menagerie'
Laura is at first paralyzed by Jim's presence, but his warm and open behaviour soon draws her out of her shell. They had a long serious talk but Jim must leave because of an appointment with his fianc�e. Amanda sees him off warmly but, after he is gone, turns on Tom, who had not known that Jim was engaged. The scene ended with Amanda cursing Tom, because her sister will not going to have a married life, causing him to leave The Wingfield Apartment.
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High Fidelity This film is built around different top 5 lists. The protagonist Rob Gordon (John Cusack) lets us into his life and through his depression
first break up. Then eventually as his depression and self-analysis develops, flashbacks are used and we go to the beginning. This is where he begins to show us the start of his top 5 all time break up list. The film soon jumps back to where it left off and as Rob continues to describe his thoughts and feelings as he begins to show us more and more about his life. Frears uses a restrictive narrative so we don't have any more knowledge about the break ups than Rob.
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Of the three main characters in Tennessee Williams's 'The Glass Menagerie' Amanda is set to appear
She only wants what she thinks is best for her children. In the 'Glass Menagerie' this can be a strength and a weakness. Amanda believes that gentlemen callers will be chasing after Laura and she constantly reminds Laura that she should be prepared. She blindly believes that these gentlemen callers will arrive which is a strength because she tries to boost Laura's self confidence. The reality is that there are no gentlemen callers. The weakness of the situation is that Amanda is living in a dream world where she believes that her supposed love life in her youth will be born again through Laura.
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How far is it possible to feel sympathy for Laura and not Hedda?
The play also has allotted naturalistic features such as science and medicine, which are mentioned frequently throughout the play. This helps the audience to sympathise with the characters, in particular with Laura, as they can see parallels with their own lives and circumstances. Part of this naturalism is Laura plays different roles in the play to different people; she is the physical mother to Bertha, wife and emotional mother to the Captain and head of the house. This also helps us feel sympathy for her as many women find themselves in a situation where they find they are playing two different and conflicting roles to one person as Laura does to the Captain.
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To what extent do you share the view that "although he never appears on stage, the Wingfields' absent father is the most important character in the play?"
The size of the photograph described as 'blown-up' here indicates its prominence throughout the play. Since most of the action of the play happens in the living room, it would be difficult for both the characters in the play and the audience to overlook the size of the photograph of a 'very handsome young man in a doughboy's First World War cap.' Williams gives specific details of the photograph, 'gallantly smiling, ineluctably smiling, as if to say "I will be smiling forever"', highlighting its expression as a mocking one. Throughout the play, the photograph reflects the effect of Mr.
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Tom's closing speech in The Glass Menagerie
In recognising this fact, Tom also admits that he abandoned his family just like Mr. Wingfield did. Tom's journey does not seem to bring the escape and excitement that he had always longed for. He says, "The cities swept about me like dead leaves.." This description does not sound as though it comes from a traveller who is ecstatic about visiting different parts of the world. Cities are anything but dead; on the contrary, they are vibrant and full of life, and persons who are artistically inclined tend to be attracted to bustling cities. By categorising all the cities as dead leaves, Tom classifies them as similar entities in which he notices no individuality, uniqueness or excitement.
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The Glass Menagerie - Symbols
Laura used to really admire Jim when they were in school together, but now that she knows that he is engaged her heart has been broken. When the horn from the horse falls off this could also symbolise Rose's prefrontal lobotomy. In every play Tennessee Williams wrote, he dedicated something to her, whether it be a character or a stage prop. The unicorn also has certain uniqueness to it compared with the other horses in the glass menagerie because of its horn, but if you take away its horn, it becomes normal like the other ones.
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The Woman In White, by Wilkie Collins, is a successfulgothic novel of the 19th century. It is a 3-volume novel; each'volume' (epoch) finishing with the reader eagerly waiting to read the nextone, therefore there are many unanswered questions, in or...
Typically gothic novels are set in large and intimidating buildings like a castle, like in this case, Blackwater Park, or they are very isolated, like Limmeridge. Supernatural or inexplicable events may take place, which create an atmosphere of mystery and suspense. The women in the novel are in distress and are normally threatened by a powerful, impulsive and tyrannical male villain. In 'The Woman In White', Laura is a prime example of this stereotypical role, as she needs to be saved by Walter, the hero, from Sir Percival, the villain.
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Relationships in The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams.
This obsession makes him miserable and it irritates him. Also, as the narrator, he lets us the audience see the enormous significant Amanda is giving to this gentleman caller: we get the impression that he is more like a savior, something supernatural, when he actually doesn't even exist yet! Tom is really into poetry and literature as he tells us in the beginning of the play, and as we saw in SCENE 1, Amanda is really against it. She finds out that he is reading D.H. Lawrence books and his shocking reputation causes Amanda's rejection of him and she tells Tom off.
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The Day My Life Stopped
I mean what about my coursework?" "You can keep up can't you?" "No I'll miss so much" Laura said, as she was almost in tears "Well Laura all I can say is it's much better for us out there; we'll have more stability and to be honest we'll be better off financially. Come on just think about it." Laura ran upstairs and phoned Jason. While she was talking to him, she burst into tears. When she finally told him the news, he wasn't happy but he wasn't unhappy with her, he was just upset and a little angry, he
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The Glass Menagerie - How Far Do You Agree That The Father Is The Most Important Character In The Play?
Duncan J. Fitzhugh, mind you! But-I picked your father!' this also shows that Amanda's character is stuck in the past and she regrets choosing the father in the first place because she believes that she could have done better. She also doesn't seem to want to talk about Mr Wingfield much because every reference she does make to him is punctuated by an exclamation mark - 'One thing your father had plenty of - was charm!' - or trails off - 'And then I - (she stops in front of the picture)
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