Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie was a good read, I could relate to some of the character's in the story as well as some of the events described in the story. I think it is eerie how his sister's spirit haunts Tom after he leaves his Mother and Sister behind in the apartment. It makes you wonder if his Father feels any remorse from abandoning his family. I doubt Tom will find the relief he seeks out to find, and only sense of adventure he will experience will be from writing about how he didn't do right by his Mother and find his Sister a husband. Without Tom's help Laura is sure to remain unmarried and lonesome for the rest of her life. In a way Tom follows after his Father's foot steps, which is in my opinion exactly what he should of inspired not to do. How could he have been so selfish? "Overcome selfishness! Self, self, self, is all that you ever think of!" Tom could of been a success had he over come this characteristic which defined him to his Mother. Their Family was having so much trouble getting through the troubled times they were experiencing, with his departure as well as his Father's there would be no one to provide for the family. Laura was terribly shy and his mother was reaching an elderly age where work would not be readily available and offered to her, especially at a time were the economy was suffering. With that said this play is a tragedy, and in that sense it greatly succeeds. An attempt to find Laura a male suitor was a complete failure, and can be summarized best with the dialogue of Amanda when she says, "That's right, now that you've had us make such fools of ourselves. The effort, the preparations, all the expense!...All for what? To entertain some other girl's fiance! Go to the movies, go! Don't think about us, a mother deserted, an unmarried sister who's crippled and has no job! Don't let anything interfere with your selfish pleasure! Just go, go, go--to the movies!" (95). I think the use of "the movies" was used to be comedic and I found there to be some comedy throughout the play. The movies are Tom's escape from his life at home which can sometimes be seen as a prison or as Tom puts it a nailed coffin. Tom finally got tired of looking at people live their lives on the movie screen, and decided he had to do some living of his own. Tom's adventure was his escape from his coffin however, like Houdini. Tom does not live to enjoy the triumphs of his escape however, wallows in the light of his remorse, (like the glass unicorn) Tom is crippled.