the glass menagerie

THEME: TRUE ESCAPE IS IMPOSSIBLE
1. ILLUSION AS A FORM OF ESCAPE
  1. not taking steps to change reality, but offer reprise from the suffering
    1. TOM
      1. SYMBOL: Fire Escape
        He starts off at the fire escape, foreshadowing his ultimate escape from the family. (Pg 4)
        Laura slips on the fire escape, in Scene Four (Pg 29)
        Doesn't escape in the end, stuck in poverty and crushed in reality
        symbolises Illusion of (cos he truly escape in the end) Escape/Freedom
        (evidence) Pg 3 - Name is a touch of accidental poetic truth
        physical separation from the rest of the house
        Steps away from Amanda's chastising (Pg 39/59)
        escape from Amanda
        TOM LEAVES THE FAMILY THROUGH THE FIRE ESCAPE
      2. SEEKS FREEDOM
        REALITY: Familial responsibilities tie Tom down
        SYMBOL: COFFIN (Pg 27)
        job and responsibilities
        Suffocating, slowly killing him while he struggles for room to breath and be free
        "But who in hell ever got himself out of one without removing one nail" (Pg 27)
        Must struggle to leave the coffin
        "But the wonderfullest trick of all was the coffin trick." (Pg 27)
        He marvelled at the man who could leave his coffin without struggling
        "You think I want to spend fifty-five years down there in that - celotext interior!" (Pg 23)
        The lights will go because he paid for Merchant Marines membership fees (the household depends on him) (Pg 62)
        Seeks adventure in the form of illusion
        Poetry, Movies
        Went to the movies after fighting with Amanda, who represents and reminds him of his responsibilities (Pg 24)
        ILLUSION CANNOT SATISFY HIS URGES FOR FREEDOM
        so went to Merchant Marines, ILLUSION: thinking being physically free would do the trick. (Pg 62)
        REALITY: He cannot escape the reality of abandoning Laura and his guilt towards her.
        Last scene stage directions, did she smile or was it Tom hoping she is okay? (Pg 96)
        He is constantly reminded of her (Pg 97)
        Did he see Laura, or did his guilt drive him to have an imagined memory as a way of seeking forgiveness? (Pg 97)
        Asks Laura to blow out her candles, a sense of completion and letting go (Pg 97)
        SYMBOLIC OF LETTING GO
        of the past
        ALL BECAUSE
        HE CANNOT ESCAPE FROM FAMILIAL TIES
    2. AMANDA
      1. Blue Mountain
        "I know what's coming." (Pg 7)
        Amanda constantly reminiscences about Blue Mountain.
        Blue Mountain was her idealised past, where she was sought after and rich.
        Constantly talks about the gentlemen callers that have died and what they have left their widows (Pg 9)
        contrast: While Mr Wingfield did leave the family (abandonment, not death), he did not leave them any wealth
        essentially - I could have chosen someone else, and even if they left (tho, through death), I would still be financially secure
        Constant harping about the gentlemen callers she could have picked - -> regretted her choice of marrying a man who tossed her into poverty and financial struggles
        Amanda's form of escapism.
        She reminisces about the past, to distract herself from her situation
        whilst she does make plans to move on with her life by getting her children to succeed
        She indulges herself by reminiscing of a time where she could choose, and choose right
        which is fantasy.
      2. Escape from being poor and abandoned
      3. Seeks security
      4. PLANNED FOR LAURA TO HEAD TO BUSINESS SCHOOL, but that failed so GENTLEMAN CALLER
        ILLUSION (AMANDA): Laura will be have happiness because all will be well and Jim will marry her as long as I make the right preperations
        IRONY: By perpetuating this misconception, it breaks the illusion (that Laura could be happy)
        Jim's announcement of Betty (Pg 93) was only a result of Amanda pushing Jim and Laura together
        Destruction of illusion
        ILLUSION (AMANDA): as long as Amanda does everything according to plan, life will be good and Laura will be happy
        REALITY: Amanda can't gurantee her daughter's happiness
        Her daughter is ABNORMAL
    3. LAURA
      1. Escape from being Abnormal
        ILLUSION: She played with the possibility of being able to lead a normal life with Jim
        She let herself fall in love with Jim, and bought into Amanda's fantasy
        /Laura is abashed beyond speech/ (Pg 87)
        /Laura nods shyly, looking away/ (Pg 87)
        "Somebody - ought to - kiss you, Laura!" (Pg 88)
        and he did
        REALITY: But ultimately, the fantasy of being normal that she has taken to be her illusion couldn't change the reality that Jim was going to marry someone else
      2. SYMBOL: GLASS MENAGERIE
        represents the fragility of illusions
        once broken, unable to believe in the illusion again, because now you have truth
        ILLUSIONS REQUIRE IGNORANCE OF REALITY
        Glass shatters (Pg 86) to foreshadow how Jim would bring truth to Laura (Pg 89)
        Illusions are shattered by being aware of reality
        She gave the broken unicorn to Jim (Pg 90), giving away the illusion to reality and truth
  2. crux is still unchanged, and it is this essence that will continue to haunt
    1. while Tom may try to reconcile his guilt by altering his memories
      1. The lack of true reconciliation with the players involved doesn't alter the reality that he abandoned his family
        He might try to convince himself that Laura is okay, but in doing so, in the need to convince himself, he is aware that there is a high likelihood that she isn't
        Hence the need for convincing
        Hence, it haunts him, because every time he reassures himself by altering his interpretation of reality, he is reminded OF reality
    2. Memory play is unrealistic, because memories can be manipulated and altered as a form of escape
      1. METHODS
        "Being a memory play, it is sentimental, not realistic." (Pg 5)
        Emotions and experience shape memory
        Third paragraph, Pg 3
        "In keeping with the atmosphere of memory, the stage is dim." (Pg xxi)
        Mirrors the hazy effect of memory
        "I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion." (Pg 4)
        TRUTH: His emotions, his guilt
        we understand this from HIS ILLUSION: how he has altered memory, the exaggerations, the treatment of the characters.
      2. BUT
RELATIONSHIP OF TOM VS AMANDA
1. Their motivations are at a complete opposite
  1. Security - Amanda (need roots)
  2. Freedom - Tom (Don't want roots)
    1. Tom will never be happy serving Amanda's desire for security because it is against his motivations to do so

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	Created by tristanraelyon over 8 years ago