Term Paper on "Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams' Play"

Term Paper 7 pages (2231 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Instead of trying to accept their position and work in order to improve it, characters believe that it would be more effective for them to live an illusion. Tom expects to find adventure through watching movies and through joining the merchant navy. However, both of these activities end badly for him and he once again realizes that he needs to accept life for what it is. The fact that he is the protagonist actually presents him as a more mature character -- one that eventually become able to acknowledge his difficult background and that also enables him to look forward in a more realistic way.

Jim is probably the only character who seems to actually experience progress, considering that he seems to have higher (and more realistic) aspirations than other characters in the play. However, when considering his character and the struggles he goes through in order to improve his life it becomes clear that he too lives an illusion. He fails to be successful and thus projects his plans onto the future in hope and his determination is going to pay off some day. The fact that the Second World War was approaching rapidly further contributes to emphasizing the degree to which a person can fail as a result of his or her illusions.

The presence of the term 'nigger' in the novel is certainly intriguing, as it is difficult to determine why Williams chose to use it. To a certain degree, it is likely that he took on this attitude in an attempt to further underline the idea of a delusion within Tom's family. The post-War South was a place where people had trouble accepting the situation they were in and were thus still inclined to relate to their servants as 'niggers'.

One can find a series of parallels between Gene Roddenberry's writing "The Menagerie" and Williams' play. The technologically-advanced world in Star Trek provides the perfect environment for a person to live in an imaginary world. The possibility of an illusion being even more than what it was in Williams' play is actually what enables Vina and captain Pike to want to ignore their actual conditions. In this situation the idea of an illusion actually seems to play a positive role in these people's lives. They are initially well-acquainted with the state they are in and the fact that they know the limitations coming along with their physical appearance influences them to want something else from life.

Thinking about Laura and her being present in the same world as Vina and captain Pike is certainly thought-provoking. This character's suffering and the fact that it was unlikely for her to succeed in a society where people are obsessed with material values certainly makes her a viable candidate for being provided with an actual illusion by the Talosians.

All things considered, thinking about a world where people prefer to be more attached to their illusions than to reality is not as confusing as it might seem. Many individuals today have trouble accepting the position they are in and thus resort to lying to themselves and individuals around them in an attempt to improve their self-esteem. While this works in some cases and for a limited amount of time, it can certainly be harmful for the person. The moment when Laura's glass unicorn gets broken stands as the perfect example for this, as she realizes that it became "just like all the other horses." (Williams 135) Even though this event is not enough to get Laura out of her imaginary world, it is nonetheless important in helping audiences gain a more complex understanding of this character and of the idea of illusion.

Works cited:

Bloom, Harold, "Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie," (Infobase Publishing, 2007)

Brentley, Ben, "Wounded by Broken Memories," Retrieved December 15, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/theater/reviews/the-glass-menagerie-stars-cherry-jones-and-zachary-quinto.html?_r=0

Ehrenhaft, George, & Williams, Tennessee, "Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie & A Streetcar Named Desire," (Barron's Educational Series, 1985)

Singh, Jayshree, "Bondage and Liberation: A Study in the Selected Plays of Tennessee Williams," (Dorrance Publishing, 4 Aug 2009)

Williams, Tennessee, "The Glass Menagerie," (New Directions… READ MORE

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