Abdul Hassan
Drama
Analytical Essay
The Glass Menagerie, written by Tennessee Williams, is a play that is full of various types of themes. Not only are these themes shown in the characters of the play but they also become instilled in the reader. In this essay there will be three specific themes that will be referred to. The themes will consist of: the difficulty of accepting reality or otherwise known as realism, the impossibility of true escape, and the power of using memory in the play.
The first theme that will be discussed is realism. Each member of the Wingfield family is unable to overcome this difficulty, and each, as a result, withdraws into a private fantasy world where he or she finds the comfort and meaning that the real world does not seem to offer. The private world in which Laura lives in is populated by glass animals, such as the Unicorn. Unlike his sister, Tom is capable of functioning in the real world, as we see in his having a job, taking care of his family, and having friends. But, in the end, he has no more motivation than Laura does to pursue a career, get married, or even ordinary friendships, and he prefers to retreat into the fantasies provided by books and especially movies. Amanda's connection to reality is the most complicated in the play. Unlike her children, she’s into real world values and wishes her and her children financial success. Yet she cannot accept that she is or should be anything other than the pampered girl she was brought up to be, and that she herself might be in some ways responsible for the griefs and mistakes of her children.