Illusion vs. Reality in The Glass Menagerie Essay

Illusion vs. Reality in The Glass Menagerie In The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams uses the roles of the members of the Wingfield family to highlight the controlling theme of illusion versus reality. The family as a whole is enveloped in mirage; the lives of the characters do not exist outside of their apartment and they have basically isolated themselves from the rest of the world. Even their apartment is a direct reflection of the past as stories are often recalled from the mothers teenage years at Blue Mountain, and a portrait of the man that previously left the family still hangs on the wall as if his existence is proven by the presence of the image. The most unusual factor of their world is that it appears as†¦show more content†¦This results in her dangling from the present, just as she does from the past. She is attempting to hold two worlds together and realizes that both are crumbling beneath her fingers (Nelson 361). In her attempts to gain a grasp on both worlds and make her dreams happen Amanda fails t o acknowledge that Laura is rather unusual. She refuses to refer to Laura as crippled; she merely refers to Lauras handicap as a minor defect. That defect is not the only difference of her daughter that Amanda refuses to acknowledge: Lauras lack of normal hobbies, along with her shyness, are not referred to as differences, but as advantages over other girls. Amanda also places refusal of acknowledgement as she puts standards behind the books Tom reads, and even puts a damper on his creative thinking as he expresses himself in poetry. Amanda is simply unable to accept Tom and Laura as they are (Griffen 63). She even goes as far as to pressure Tom into bringing a young man home from the warehouse where he works in hopes that it can be Lauras first gentleman caller. Tom invites a man by the name of Jim OConnor, and as soon as Amanda hears the news of the coming of the gentleman caller, she wastes absolutely no time in making plans and setting things up. She goes into a frenzy as she ma kes a huge ordeal over Jims soon expected arrival, and makes Laura terribly nervous in the process.Show MoreRelatedIllusion Vs. Reality In The Glass Menagerie By Tennessee Williams1022 Words   |  5 PagesIllusion versus reality is a theme that illustrates the conflict people have when they have difficulties in their lives. They want to deny or ignore the difficulty, so they force themselves to think in a different way and believe something that is not true, thus, making an imaginary world for themselves. They have a desire to live in a different world and fool themselves to thinking that they are, but in reality, they are not. 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