The Glass Menagerie 9

American Literature-2020
‘The Glass Menagerie’
By Marchelle Nicholson

   
‘The Glass Menagerie’

  In The Glass Menagerie, it is very clear that there is a major struggle between all of the
characters and reality. Amanda, Laura, and Tom are the three main characters that struggled.
    First, Amanda clearly struggles with the thought of facing reality for a couple of reasons.
Amanda seemed like she was always living in the past. She always referred back to her days at
“Blue Mountain.” That was her little fantasy world. It was her escape from reality. She always told
the story of her seventeen gentlemen callers, dragging her children into her fantasy world. She also
tried to blind everyone from the fact that her children were not perfect, especially the fact that her
daughter was cripple. For example, the word crippled was not allowed in the house. Those are really
the two ways that Amanda escaped from reality.

    As for Laura she was an odd character the author even expresses her as being different. For
example, Jim O’Connor calling her “blue roses.” Another example is the glass unicorn. Those are
both very symbolic of Laura’s peculiar manner. It’s clear that blue roses or unicorns are not
something that you see every day. Laura knew she was different because of her disability. She
didn’t feel like she fit in with everyone else. An example of this is the fact that she dropped out of
college after only a day. She didn’t have any self-confidence and was far too shy to meet any
friends. That is why she seemed to lose herself in her glass collection. The private little world that
she lived in was surrounded by glass animals. She even brought up her glass collection when she
was nervous with Jim. Her mind was really the only thing keeping her out of the real world, and
from meeting people, as well as her not going to school. In the end, her mind was her only
disability.
    Tom’s escape from reality revolved around...