Personal-
This play showed a feeling that many people have experienced, even if they don't know it. Tom feels obligated to care for his sister and mother, even though he has dreams of traveling the world. Most people have a family member or friend who they feel they can not let down, and so they put their needs before their own. In real life, the results of this are usually very different from what happened in the play. Tom does eventually leave his family behind in search of himself. Most people spend their time taking care of this other person until they fade from their lives, at which point they have put their own wants off for so long, they no longer see a point in pursuing them. I also feel that if more people did as Tom, the world would be chaos. We all depend on people and we all have people who depend on us. It is a fact of life.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Glass Menagerie 2
Question #3-
I believe the protagonist in this story to be Tom, and the antagonist to be Amanda. Laura is simply there to serve as something they can disagree and fret over. Jim, a minor character, plays the most important part, as Tom mentions in the beginning of the play. He helps to move not only the play along, but the characters as well. He is the one who breaks the glass shell that Laura has kept herself holed up in, and he is the one who eventually causes Tom's departure through a chain of events. Had he turned down the dinner invitation, perhaps Laura would have not found herself able to move on from her glass animals and victrola. Tom may have never grown the guts to tell his mother what he really thought, and would have spent an unknown amount of time working in the warehouse, pushing his dreams aside. Although he is only there for one night, he drastically changes the rest of the characters' lives.
I believe the protagonist in this story to be Tom, and the antagonist to be Amanda. Laura is simply there to serve as something they can disagree and fret over. Jim, a minor character, plays the most important part, as Tom mentions in the beginning of the play. He helps to move not only the play along, but the characters as well. He is the one who breaks the glass shell that Laura has kept herself holed up in, and he is the one who eventually causes Tom's departure through a chain of events. Had he turned down the dinner invitation, perhaps Laura would have not found herself able to move on from her glass animals and victrola. Tom may have never grown the guts to tell his mother what he really thought, and would have spent an unknown amount of time working in the warehouse, pushing his dreams aside. Although he is only there for one night, he drastically changes the rest of the characters' lives.
The Glass Menagerie 1
Question #1-
This play uses nonrealistic conventions. The fact that Tom is the narrator and an actor in the play makes it very interesting, but at the same time very out of touch with reality. At the beginning of the play, it mentions that Laura and Amanda are eating without the use of utensils or food, only mimicking the action. However, Tom also mentions that the entire play is a memory and when people recollect in real life, the food in the background was not as important as the fact that the people were eating. While the props and narrator may not be realistic, the ideas behind the story are. It shows the struggle between families- certain family members feeling depended on by the others, bitter hate for being trapped in a house and unable to go out. Tom's narration gives the story a realistic sense of his inner thoughts. When people remember in real life, often times our own selves narrate the story. That is what Tom is doing, and the audience can connect.
This play uses nonrealistic conventions. The fact that Tom is the narrator and an actor in the play makes it very interesting, but at the same time very out of touch with reality. At the beginning of the play, it mentions that Laura and Amanda are eating without the use of utensils or food, only mimicking the action. However, Tom also mentions that the entire play is a memory and when people recollect in real life, the food in the background was not as important as the fact that the people were eating. While the props and narrator may not be realistic, the ideas behind the story are. It shows the struggle between families- certain family members feeling depended on by the others, bitter hate for being trapped in a house and unable to go out. Tom's narration gives the story a realistic sense of his inner thoughts. When people remember in real life, often times our own selves narrate the story. That is what Tom is doing, and the audience can connect.
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