Reality In The Glass Menagerie

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Who has the most trouble understanding reality in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams? The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a play about a poor family that has a hard time with comprehending the reality in which they are all in. Throughout the play, we are shown the complexity of each family member through their actions and interactions between each other and outside of the home. Understanding which character is most troubled with facing reality is key to truly understanding the magnitude of the hardships the family carries. In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the daughter, Laura, has the most trouble with coming to terms with reality because she tends to isolate herself from others and escape to her own world. Whenever …show more content…

The instances that Laura shows she is challenged by reality all show ways in which Laura tends to escape reality. First, Laura pretended to go to college, but threw up during a speed test for typing and has been going to the zoo instead of school since, then she did not make any attempt at talking with others at the Young People's League her mother took her to, and now all she spends most of her time playing with her glass menagerie and listening to old records. Laura's repetition of not being able to function in the and opting out of interaction with the outside world shows that she is struggling greatly with facing reality because she cannot connect herself to what is really happening outside of her own …show more content…

However, this is wrong because Laura would not have trouble getting a gentleman caller if she was able to face reality and connect herself with the world and express herself. In another conversation between Tom and Amanda he shows why Laura has no gentleman callers as a result of her detachment from reality. For example, "Not quite all-in the eyes of others-strangers-she's terribly shy and lives in a world of her own and those things make her seem a little peculiar to people outside the house"(Pg. 48). Tom is saying that Laura has no gentleman callers as a result of her isolation to her own world. Laura's estrangement from reality is the reason that she does not have any gentlemen callers because it makes her seem shy and closed off to them, and if she had not been so separated from reality, her mother would not be so hooked on trying to help her get a gentleman caller because she would have