Dysfunctional Family In Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie

In the Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams presents a dysfunctional family whose members find refuge in separate, illusory worlds in order to escape from the reality of their lives. By the end of the play Tom leaves on an uncertain path and is haunted by the regret of his family. It is Williams belief that one cannot move forwards on an unknown path because there is nothing that can be done; you must follow the path that was intended for you. Even if that means to give up your needs.

Amanda is the mother of the family and come from a rich life in the blue mountains. Throughout the play we see her reminisce about her time there. She had the pleasure of money and many house workers. It is clear that she is unhappy about the way that her life

Amanda is hiding from her worst fear that they will be "eating the crust of humility all their lives." Amanda tries to help their situation by bringing in more money through her magazine sales, pushing Laura toward business school and then toward marriage, but she is ill equipped to cope with their situation. Amanda was raised to be a woman of privilege. She did not expect to be a deserted single mother. It is this stress between her real life and what she expected her life to be that causes her to retreat into the stories of her past .But the reality of life is that we get one chance to live it. The only thing that we can change is the present moment. We are not able to go back and live what has already happened. She need to embrace what she has, stop living in the past, and allow life to take her and her family on their own

She has magnified this limp until it has affected her entire personality. Laura's over sensitive nature makes her think that everyone notices her limp; it becomes for her a huge stumbling block to normal living. She cannot get over it and into the real world. Her inability to overcome this defect causes her to withdraw into her world of illusion. The limp then becomes symbolic of Laura's inner nature. As Tom says, it's not just Laura's being crippled that makes her different, but she is just different. So she lives in a world of old phonograph records and glass animals.And then the gentleman caller arrives. For the first time we see Laura's inner charm. The charm that she had all the time but hid away because she was trying so hard to hide who she was. She was scared and unsure of what was to come of the future. It was not until Jim arrived that we could she that that whp she was and the path she was to take only needed her to be herself. She didn't plan to act any different it was what was natural that took her further than anytime