Mother Of Laura And Tom example essay topic

English 1020 December 6, 2001 Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie reached the audience from different aspects and characteristics that made each of the characters unique and set apart. Many people barely to notice their attitude but the characters in the play are defined easily by their attitudes. While reading up on the information of family conflicts, the reader assumes that an individual is "an adequate sourced information about his or her experience and behavior in the world" (Vondreal and Corneal 209). Many people have realized how altering the roles and experiences of an individual can change the context of the family.

Amanda, Tom, Laura, and Jim have different imaginations and problems that affect their lives. Amanda is the mother of Laura and Tom; she is a type of mother whom wants her children to be "strong and self-confident adults" (Kendall). Amanda seems to be extremely sorry for all her problems that appeared in her life. She and Tom had a lot of misunderstanding throughout the story.

As Gunner and Collins announced in the book about "interruptions may appear at times of high excitement and creativity and may indicate a high level of flexibility in the family's interactions" (27). Amanda is the type of lady who looks toward the future, and she tries to make the best of life. She wants the best for her children, but her childhood begins to enter into the conversations. A family can be together but Amanda seems that she does not know that "too much togetherness leads to emotional stuck-togetherness, from which a conflict emerges between personal goals and family unity" (Musset o 12). Amanda has a realistic imagination. She has a type of imagination that she sees as becoming a reality.

She does not want her kids to follow in her or their father's footsteps; Amanda only wants the best for them. Amanda is a poor woman who earns a living by selling magazines, so she fantasizes and imagines the way that she wants their lives. Amanda's life feels that her will be affected tremendously if her kids do not become what she imagines them to be. She wants them "to assert themselves and be confident in their own identity" (Family and Identity). Amanda is always talking to basically interfering in Tom and Laura's life, which causes problems with her children. Tom realizes the problems he and his mother are having, he disagrees with her a lot.

Tom has trouble trying to define his individuality and expressing to others. Tom wants to be left alone by his mother because he feels as if she annoys him by trying to tell him how to live his life. He feels as if she wants him to provide for her and his sister. He has an attitude toward his mother, and he is tired of her. Tom feels like Amanda talks too much, and he does not think highly or respectable of her. He is quite honest regardless of the cruelness that he exhibits and the feelings that he has toward his mother.

He says, "I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion" (Williams 656). Tom is a dreamer because he attends the movies regularly. Each night, Tom is about to leave the house Amanda asks, "Where are you about to go?" then he answers "to the movies" (Williams 657-8). He is a fantasy type of person because he would fantasize about traveling and being somewhat similar to some of the people in the movies that he watches.

He has his father's ways, and he is trying not to show them. Tom wanted to say "Let It To Beaver" (American Prosperity). He has pressure on him, and he fantasizes on how his life would be if he were to leave his mother and his sister. Tom wants his own life because he is tired of having the responsibility of his mother and his sister. He has no time for himself, and he really does not have a life because of his family. Tom's life will begin if he follows through with his imagination.

He should try and make his fantasy a reality, but the conflicts with his mother keeps him from the real world. Laura is the daughter of Amanda; she is a beautiful young lady who lives in her own world. She is crippled and she has low self-esteem about herself. Laura is extremely shy, and she does not have any friends. She says, "I-I-never have had much luck at-making friends" (Williams 686). Laura has a wild imagination.

She feels that she is the only person who is cripple or the only person who has a problem. She drops out of school, and she deceives her mother. She lets her mother think that she is attending school. She does not want to see the disappointed look on her mother's face. Laura has a lack of confidence and faith in herself. For these reasons alone, she is destroying her life.

She wishes that she is not cripple and that she could be normal like everyone else. She does not realize that she is normal like everyone else. Amanda wants Laura to be happy and to be something in life. She has paid the tuition to a Business College for Laura to attend college. She thinks that Laura is going to school, but she is wrong. Laura deceives Amanda.

She was skipping school the whole time and then she decided to drop out. She is making things worse for herself than what they really are. She imagines how her life would be if she was not crippled. Her fantasy of being a normal person is already a reality because she is a normal person. She needs to gain some self-confidence about herself. Her imagination of her being cripple is keeping her from living a normal life.

She is love with a boy from high school named Jim. Laura remembers him because he used to call her "Blue Roses" (Williams 661). She held a nice and pleasant conversation with him the night he came over to their house. Jim is a friend of Tom's; they both work at the warehouse together. Jim is a nice, respectable, honest, and considerate person.

In high school, he was once shy and did not have any confidence about himself. He was one of those people who were most likely to succeed. Jim has high self-esteem, great confidence and he very convinced of himself. He takes classes at night school, and his public speaking class is what helped him to overcome his shyness and fear of people. Jim imagines himself being apart of the television business. He fantasizes how his life is going to be in the near future.

He seems to have everything dealing with him and his future mapped out. He is ready to make his fantasy a reality because he is taking steps to make it possible, for he is attending school and taking class that will help him in the future. Also, Jim has the attitude to persuade Tom and Laura to attend school. Jim led Laura on but the positive young man told her about his wife before he went any further. Jim's imagination will affect his life in a positive way because his imagination focuses on positive things. It focuses on the future of his life and what his life has in store for him.

Imagination affects his or her life in one-way or another. Family conflicts tend to make the family have problems and confusions within a household. All the family should have a great attitude towards one another so no problems will occur because it someone changes the family will not be the same. The characters were all unique in the play because they all had different imaginations that formed different aspects on their lives.

Bibliography

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Musette, Andrew P... Dilemmas in Child Custody: Family Conflicts and Their Resolution. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1982.
The Hole in American Prosperity". The American Enterprise. 12 (2001): 10.
Williams, Tennessee. "The Glass Menagerie". Literature and the Writing Process. 6th ed. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1999 654-695.