Relationships in The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams.
Throughout the Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams concentrates a lot on family relationships. There are the Wingfields at the start of the play and they experience different interactions with each other: Tom and Amanda (son and mother), Amanda and Laura (mother and sister) and Laura and Tom (sister and brother). At the sixth scene of the play appears Jim and we see him interacting mostly with Laura. I will try to show how Tennessee Williams develops these relationships throughout the play.
Starting with Tom and Amanda, already at the first scene we see Amanda, Tom and Laura sitting at the dinner table, and Amanda is constantly annoying Tom with her nagging. She tells him off for the way he chews, the way he 'plays' with his fingers and basically for anything she finds 'weird'. At first we see that Tom is respectful towards her, remaining silent and standing her comments. At a certain point he just can't stand it anymore, and he tells her "I haven't enjoyed one bite of this dinner because of your constant directions on how to eat it."
A few pages after that, Amanda is starting to bring up her past and the way she picked her gentleman callers as a young woman. Though apart from the memories she is bringing up, she is sending Tom a message in disguise ("...never anything coarse or common or vulgar!"), telling him her hopes are that he will come back down to earth, discouraging his dreams and encouraging work (=reality).
Even though all through this dinner Amanda exasperates Tom, he is still living in that house with her, and as we see in the beginning of the play (when he tells us)- he has returned.
In SCENE 3 the plot thickens, and we understand more what each character wants and what his/hers dreams are, in contrast to their reality.
"...obsession...image...gentleman caller...haunted..."
This is Tom's impression of Amanda's obsession over getting Laura a gentleman caller. 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. She tries to force him to stop reading this sort of books, and this just makes Tom even angrier: now his mother is interfering in his personal life. Amanda sees Tom's creative labor as a waste of the present, where he sees it as a work for the future.
"It seems unimportant to you, what I'm doing, what I want to do."
Tom tells his mother he has dreams, hopes and expectations of escape, but Amanda just doesn't want to accept them, she sees them as something wrong.
A few pages later Tom is so mad at her, he just can't hold his mouth shut anymore, and calls her "...ugly-babbling old-witch...". Tom is just fuelled by frustration and anger and he hurts his mother and speaks very disrespectfully to her. SCENE 3 ends with Tom going to the movies (escaping reality) and leaving Amanda and Laura alone at home, after a whole scene of arguments and quarrels.
In SCENE 4 the spirits have calmed down, and even though Amanda remains too proud to actually talk to Tom, he realizes the mistake he has made out of his uncontrollable anger and he apologizes [gently]. This means he realizes Amanda's nervous and fragile character, and due to the respect he has for her he treats her in the right way. Amanda reacts with [child like tears] and this just makes it look melodramatic in an extreme, over the top way.
Then we have Amanda giving out a speech. This is a moving and honest speech from her side, which lets us see her in a more positive light.
AMANDA: "...I'm not criticizing...I understand your ambitions don't lie in the warehouse...you've had to make sacrifices...there's so many things in my heart I cannot describe to you! I've never told you but I- loved your father."
TOM [gently]: "I know that, Mother."
She gives him a touching notes, sympathizes and understands. This whole moment is very rare between the mother and the son. We see that on one hand Amanda loves her son truly, she tries to understand him and not to get into argument with him, and that she understand he has dreams and ambitions to escape the reality he is in now. She even confesses to him emotionally, about something that haunts her- his father! Tom also seems to appreciate this, and speaks affectionately to her.
But this moment is ironic too on the other hand- they soon start arguing again!
"As soon as Laura has somebody...then you'll be free"
Amanda tries to demonstrate to Tom that she isn't thinking about her benefit, about her life, but on Laura's life and her sake. She is also trying to tell Tom to start facing responsibility.
"I don't say me..."
Again, Amanda tries to prove to Tom everything she is doing is for Laura's sake, that this is her main concern. Apart from that, she is also setting up an emotional trap for her son, knowing this is like his weak point. She is fishing for sympathy and assurance from him, and manipulating him at the same time. We can see therefore that she is proactive. She knows this will trap Tom- and right she is. He gives in, all for the sake of a quiet life.
In SCENE 5 Tom tells his mother that her request has been fulfilled as she asked him- he asked a young man to come home for dinner.
They both talk about dreams and hopes
Amanda says hers' are "success and happiness for my precious children", Tom thinks that it is actually "a gentleman caller!". Amanda's dreams reflect her past, Tom's dreams reflect his past and present (he wants them to be his future). This shows us that both of their characters undermine the other.
"...the future becomes the present, the present the past, and the past turns into everlasting regret..."
Amanda tells Tom she is like this because she is scared that things will turn out the bad way, and they will ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
They both talk about dreams and hopes
Amanda says hers' are "success and happiness for my precious children", Tom thinks that it is actually "a gentleman caller!". Amanda's dreams reflect her past, Tom's dreams reflect his past and present (he wants them to be his future). This shows us that both of their characters undermine the other.
"...the future becomes the present, the present the past, and the past turns into everlasting regret..."
Amanda tells Tom she is like this because she is scared that things will turn out the bad way, and they will all regret it for the rest of their lives. Then a few lines down Tom says: "then how did you happen to make such a tragic mistake!"
Tom makes an ironic statement- if Amanda is so concerned about "plans and provisions", then why did she "make a tragic mistake"?!? Again, one undermines the dream of the other.
TOM: "...she's ours and we love her. We don't ever notice she is crippled anymore."
AMANDA: "Don't say crippled! You know I never allow that word to be used!"
Here we have Tom talking about Laura the way she really is (crippled), bringing up reality.
Though his mother makes a typical expected reaction and completely rejects it and denies it.
"I'm going to the movies"
Tom is escaping, can't stand the arguments and the exasperations of his mother that he has to run away again.
From these examples above we can clearly see that Tom is really fed up with Amanda interfering in his life and telling him off all the time, criticizing him. She also pressures him emotionally many times and basically traps him. Amanda from her side is trying to protect her son's morality, and her greatest fear is that he will turn out like his father. Her "mission" is to make sure this doesn't happen. She needs Tom's support- financially and also as a male image in the house. And above all these, there is of course the motherly love she feels towards her own son.
Their relationship is very ironic- essentially they both have the same goals, dreams and escapist characters. Amanda (not really noticing that) is basically encouraging the very thing she was trying to suppress- his imagination and creativity.
The next relationship I'm going to talk about is Amanda and Laura.
AMANDA: "Resume your seat, little sister- I want you to stay fresh and pretty- for gentlemen callers!"
LAURA: "I'm not expecting any gentlemen callers."
AMANDA: "Sometimes they come when they are least expected! Why I remember one Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain-"
TOM: "I know what's coming!"
LAURA: "Yes. But let her tell it."
TOM: "Again?"
LAURA: "She loves to tell it"
AMANDA: "One Sunday afternoon in blue Mountain- your mother received- seventeen!- gentlemen callers!"
Here we see Amanda living still in the past, remembering her youth, how her life used to be. But she is also living for the future- by finding her daughter Laura a gentleman caller. She is living out her own life in her daughter- mostly because she is scared Laura will make the same mistakes as she did (she wants to protect her). All of what she says here is for providing a good future for Laura- hoping she will have a settled married life.
We also see that when Tom makes cynical comments on his mom's words, Laura asks him to let her tell the story. She knows her mother loves telling it over and over again, its like her source of pride and her happy memory. Laura therefore tolerates her mother, humors her. She wants her to feel good.
AMANDA: "...Not one gentleman caller? It can't be true! There must be a flood, there must have been a tornado!"
LAURA: "It isn't a flood, it's not a tornado, Mother. I'm just not popular like you were in Blue Mountain..."
Amanda is extremely non realistic here, we can even say she is senile. She is totally living in a different world, as if on purpose she is trying to deny the truth by putting up a whole new reality. She knows her daughter has problems, and she knows she has never brought one gentleman caller home- then what makes her think that Laura will all of a sudden get many gentlemen callers?
There is also a very ironic contrast here- Amanda declares she has received "seventeen" gentlemen callers- Laura received "not one" gentleman caller.
This causes tension between the two, it seems like Laura is living in the shadow of Amanda.
In SCENE 2 Amanda finds out that Laura has been lying to her for a very long time, and while she thought she was studying in Rubicam's Business College, Laura was actually absent all the time- she dropped out of school. Amanda is really mad at Laura and disappointed by her actions.
"I thought that you were an adult; it seems that I was mistaken."
Amanda is justified in her criticism of Laura. She has the rights to be mad at her, and she talks to her this way because she wants to show her that she is old enough and needs to start being more responsible. On the other hand, we can say that its also Amanda's fault. She doesn't knowledge Laura's problems- mentally, physically and emotionally.
"...my hopes and ambitions for you..."
This shows us that Amanda controls her daughter, and she is way too much 'into' Laura. She is living her own life, making up for her own mistakes, all this and more- through Laura. But on the other hand, it shows that she cares a lot about Laura, she wants to set up opportunities for her, she is (unlike Laura) responsible and she is her conductor.
"So what are we going to do with out lives?"
This shows Amanda's real fear. She is dedicating her life and all her efforts into her children's sake, hoping that something good will come out of them. As soon as she sees that things aren't working her way she freaks out and doesn't know what to do. She loves her children a ton, and wants the best for them.
In SCENE 4 we have Laura leaving the house in the morning to go to the grocery store, she is putting in a coat. The script says that [the coat is one of Amanda's, inaccurately made-over, the sleeves too short for Laura]. This shows us again one of the main symbols of their relation: Laura trying to fit into her mother's shoes, though she isn't really able to do so. She is living in her mother's shadow.
In SCENE 6 we have the mother and the daughter preparing for the gentleman caller who is supposed to be coming in for dinner the same evening. While Amanda is 'fixing' Laura's outlook, she says:
"...to be painfully honest, your chest is flat."
This is extremely ironic from Amanda's side, especially because this is a matter concerning Laura and a defect she has. All through the play (example- page 50: "Don't say crippled!") Amanda denies the truth, tries to hide it. All of a sudden she shatters Laura's self esteem when before she was trying to protect it.
"I'm going to make a spectacular appearance."
This is again, very ironic from Amanda's side. Though the gentleman caller is supposed to be coming in for Laura, she is trying to steal her limelight. She is spending so much time reliving her past (by making all this fuss on the gentleman caller) as much as planning and providing Laura's future.
Laura feels awkward and scared from the coming up event. She doesn't want to meet Jim (he is her high school love") and she feels bad.
LAURA: "...you will have to excuse me, I won't come to the table."
AMANDA: "What sort of nonsense is this?"
Amanda, as she does so often, dismisses Laura's lack of confidence, doesn't face the fact that she has a problem, she is denying the truth again! She is not facing the issue of the present.
Laura is having a lot of trouble explaining her mother the fact that she is not able to come to the dinner table when the gentleman caller will be present. Amanda's reaction is:
"Fuss, fuss-silliness! Over a gentleman caller!"
This is probably the most ironic statement Amanda has ever made to Laura. All the fuss that Amanda herself is making- the preparations, the talking etc. - where are they gone all of a sudden?
Amanda's and Laura's relationship is basically dominated by Amanda. She is the one that leads it, most probably because she is the mother and Laura has certain disabilities. Laura loves her mother, and therefore she hardly ever argues with her, and lets her say whatever she wants on any subject what so ever, even though she might have heard it thousand times before. She know this does well to her mother and she wants to see her happy, therefore she remains quiet and respects her. Amanda also loves Laura, this is why she is "controlling" her so much and leading her life. She is extremely scared that Laura will make the same mistake as she did with her husband, and she is practically capable of doing anything do avoid it. Though Amanda sometimes takes this "role" too far- she is living in a world which is not her or Laura's reality, and she is taking too far at times. She always talks about her own experience and her past, and it makes Laura feel very awkward- especially because her life is not so perfect, and she feels as if she cannot be as good as her mother is. Also, we have Amanda trying to live her life through Laura, trying to fix the mistakes she made before, and this makes us think: as she really into providing a good future for Laura, or more for living her own past through Laura?
But I think that it's clear enough that Amanda has an outstanding love for Laura, and she is just trying to give her the best life she could possibly have.
Tom's and Laura's relationship is very unique and might have different aspects and views with different people. To start with, we know that Laura is very important for Tom, and that she is probably the main reason he has returned home (as he tells us in the beginning of the play). He hasn't always been there for her, and he wants to "correct" his mistake perhaps, so he is back now to help her.
Tom and Laura don't really interact throughout the play, therefore we have to try and conclude the features of this relation mostly from Tom's speeches to the audience, since he is the narrator.
The only time Tom and Laura really interact is at the beginning on scene 4, when Tom is back from the movies late at night, drunk.
Laura obviously finds Tom's words very entertaining, and he seems to like talking to her and telling her about his adventures from the movies. He also gives her a scarf he has gotten from the magician. Knowing that the movies are one of tom's main escapes, the scarf might have some important significance for him, yet he still gives it to Laura. Taking this a bit further, we can also say the way he is talking to her and the way she replies is kind of flirtatious.
Laura obviously cares for Tom, and we can see that by the way she helps him to get inside the house and eventually go to bed.
In scene 5 Amanda and Tom are talking and Tom lets her know that he is brining a man over for dinner tomorrow night. Amanda is very excited about this and she obviously thinks this is the guy Laura is going to marry. Tom is being more realistic and he tells his mom that "lots of fellows meet girls who they don't marry."
Again, we can look at this from both sides: could be that Tom is protective for Laura, and out of brotherly love he doesn't want her to get hurt, but also he might be jealous that someone will marry Laura eventually and he tries to 'knock down' that possibility. Then later on he says:
"...she's ours and we love her. We don't even notice she's crippled anymore."
Here we have Tom acting very protective towards Laura, very scared that she will get hurt, and this shows the side where the love he feels for her is only brotherly love.
"She lives in a world of her own, a world of little glass oruments"
This can be analyzed differently: perhaps Tom likes the fact that Laura is living in this kind of world, sheltered and into herself, and not meeting any one (especially no gentleman callers coming in) so that he 'has her' for himself.
In scene 6, when Jim is already present, his presence causes stress to Laura and she is not able to upfront him. There fore she "escapes" to her room, leaving her mom and Tom with him. When tom approaches the table he says:
"Laura is not feeling to well and she says that she thinks she'd better not come to the table."
Tom here is acting protective towards his sister, doesn't want to force her into anything and make her feel uncomfortable. We can also see it as that he doesn't want her to face Jim, and make him feel as if she doesn't want to see him or talk to him, since he is jealous that they might like each other.
Though we can only clearly see that something might be different with Tom's brotherly like feelings for Laura at his speech at the end of the play:
"Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be!"
This is really the only time (text-wise) that tom expresses his feelings for Laura. In the other quotes I have mentioned about we can only assume that this is true and there might be more then just brother-sister relation here. He confesses that even though he has escaped from the stifling effect of the family home, he cannot forget Laura. So many things remind him of her, and he is tormented by the memory. What he says here suggests a strong emotional connection between the brother and sister, and probably a feeling of guilt on the part of Tom for having deserted her. And the word he uses, "faithful," seems an unusual one for a brother to use about a sister. The idea of being faithful is more usually applied to relationships between lovers or spouses rather than siblings. However, this passage is not in itself an indicator of an incestuous or even "quasi-incestuous" love.
To sum things up, the text itself does not seem to have presented the relationship between Tom and Laura as "quasi-incestuous" in any consistent, obvious manner. However, it is possible to suggest such a relationship, especially through the way it is performed on stage.
The last relationship I'm going to discuss is Jim's and Laura's. Jim, throughout the whole play almost, was known to us as Laura's high school crush and as the gentleman caller, especially according to Amanda. As for Jim himself, he never gave "that weird girl from high school" Laura any important significance, never stopped to think too much about her, and he is acting in a rather irresponsible way when they are together, not making very clear his intentions and his feeling for Laura. Already in SCENE 2 we can see Laura's feelings and memories of him:
"He used to call me- Blue Roses!"
Jim already here is making Laura live in illusions, even though he is not even a part of her life right now (which shows what a great effect he has upon her).
We see that Jim has been Laura's only crush in high school, and even now, after so many years has passed by and they both grew up, she still holds onto that memory.
In SCENE 5, after Laura is being told by her mother that the "gentleman caller's" name is Jim, Laura realizes that this might be "her" Jim from high school, and she is very scared to upfront him. This is the negative effect Jim has upon Laura: the fear, the nervousness. She tells her mother that she won't be able to come to the table or be present at all when he is there, but Amanda just gets mad and says:
"What sort of nonsense is this?"
This shows Laura's lack of confidence when it comes to Jim, and how Amanda, being so obsessed with this gentleman caller, is ignoring the problem.
In scene 6 Jim is about to come home with Tom, and Laura is still horribly nervous. Her mom notices it too (which means that it had to be pretty obviously bad, because Amanda is just so obsessed with the gentleman caller to figure out anything!) and she asks her:
"Why are you trembling?"
Again, right now Jim's effect on Laura is very negative, bad.
In the script later on Laura is described to us sitting down:
[sits stiffly...knotting her fingers together]
Laura is so nervous from meeting Jim; she acts exactly like the way she acted back then when she escaped her typing test. His effect so far has been absolutely negative.
Laura is too afraid to sit for dinner with her family and Jim, therefore she runs away, leaving Amanda and Tom with him. Amanda is acting as if she is the girl who the gentleman caller is here for, and this whole situation is a total farce since she is taking the place of her daughter.
SCENE 7 (the last scene of the play) basically "belongs" to Jim and Laura. After Amanda sends him in to go keep Laura company, they are both together in a dark room, lighted by candles (already suggesting a romantic scenario).
When Jim walks into the room, the text gives us a description of Laura:
[sits up nervously...nervous]
Jim is still having a negative effect on her!
But, all of a sudden, this slightly changes:
[Jim's warmth overcomes her paralyzing shyness]
This shows that apart from the negative effects Jim had on her, he has a miraculous effect on her too, he is "healing her". It's very ironic because Jim is not aware of the significance of his presence, he has no idea she worshipped him from far away in high school. It's more like he is the "light" in the "dark, since the Wingfields' home is the dark.
"I can hardly see you sitting way over there"
Again, this symbolizes that Jim is the light; he is the light for Laura. She is the dark lightened by Jim.
"...old fashioned type of girl...pretty good type to be..."
Jim is complimenting Laura. He likes the way she is. Does he like her because of that?
"I remember what a beautiful voice you had!"
Laura is still fascinated by Jim, still adores him and gives him attention, like a fan. He loves the attention she gives him, it makes him feel important and popular, and the way he was in high school (and no longer is now).
"You shouldn't have been self conscious"
"Everybody has got some problems"
All this time Laura has been feeling inferior, she felt different and less equal to others because she was crippled and shy. Jim, on the other hand, is encouraging her, he is including her into his world, he is being inclusive.
Laura has still kept the program of the school's play from their senior year, and she tells Jim she really wanted him to sign it for her. Jim tells her to give it to him because "it's better now then never". The script says he signs it [with a flourish]. Jim totally loves the attention Laura is giving him, she is his best fan and he is so happy because of this high school glory that is coming back to him after it has been gone.
"How is Emily Meisenbach getting along?"
Laura makes a huge step here, where she is asking Jim about his love life. Even thought it is embarrassingly direct (because she is lacking social skills) it stills shows what confidence the presence of Jim is giving Laura. she doesn't even get to this state with Tom or Amanda which is ironic since they are her family and supposed to be the people who are the closest to her. from Jim's side, he should be picking by now that there is a very high chance Laura is or was in love with him, but whatever- she is feeling different kinds of feelings towards him, affection. It's impossible to say whether he is just playing a stupid idiot, or perhaps he likes the act as if he doesn't know what's really happening, but being responsible he should tell her he is engaged, and he chooses not to.
Later on this scene Jim is asking Laura to dance with him. He is playing along and he is encouraging Laura's romanticized world. Again we can argue he is acting irresponsible. Jim's power is making a positive effect upon Laura- it boasts her confidence, values her, and she totally forgets about her defect and even her glass menagerie.
When her a piece of her collection breaks she seems to think its not that big of a deal and she says: "it doesn't matter, maybe it's a blessing in disguise"
This is showing how positive and optimistic Laura has become, a lot thanks to Jim. Comparing how she reacted when a piece of her glass was broken earlier in the play we can see that Jim is having a good effect on her.
"...ought to-kiss you, Laura!"
Jim kisses Laura. He is being extremely irresponsible here and not thinking of the consequences of his actions at all! This is both Laura's and Jim's escape (as for Laura from the world she always lived at, and for Jim is his responsibilities). We can also say that this is Jim's cure for Laura- since he thinks she is different then others and she has a "problem".
After this very romantic and dramatic situation, Jim confesses to Laura that he "has been going steady". It very tactless of him and the situation is rather awkward for both him and Laura, but now he is revealing the truth to her.
But its obvious that even after all this Jim's effect in general was very good. Instead of running away and not dealing with the problem, Laura faces it a struggles with it, even though it's very miserable and painful for her. She gives Jim a souvenir, as a memory of what has happened between them, and she basically 'closes the chapter'.
As for this relationship, we know for sure that Laura likes Jim, and that has been happening for a long time, but we cannot know or figure out what Jim is feeling for Laura. He loves the attention she gives him, and she is a way to escape his reality, so therefore we can say he might be just playing with her. We can also assume that maybe Jim does kind of like Laura and this is the way he shows it, knowing nothing will come out of it.
The relationships in the Glass Menagerie reflect some of the things that happened to Tennessee Williams during his life. The most important thing here is the relation between Tom and Laura, which is very similar to the one Williams had with his sister Rose. He felt very bad for leaving her alone and later he returned, finding out that she wasn't well and it's too late to help her (that is why he is sending Tom back to Laura). We can see that Williams felt very responsible for his sister too, the way Tom does for Laura. Also, Tom and Jim are quiet similar. They both worked at a warehouse, both have dreams to escape their world (Williams wanted to write, so does Tom). Both their fathers weren't present at their childhood (Tom's father left, Williams' wasn't really present at home) and in the Wingfields home the picture of the father lays hanging on the wall, symbolizes a warning rather then a memory- don't come out like him!
