Tom Wingfield

Throughout the play, I found Tom to be a very interesting character. He was miserable throughout the entire play and for this reason, he went to the "movies" until 5 am every day. His reasoning for this odd behavior was that he did not get enough adventure at his job so he liked to experience that adventure at the movies. I found this to be peculiar because going to the movies and getting highs off of things that other people are doing seems to be very weird. Instead of going out and experiencing things on his own and creating his own adventure, he feeds off of other peoples. He seems to be a very unreliable son and brother as he constantly complains about having to support them, goes out drinking every night, and eventually turns out just like his father. Throughout the entire play, Amanda is trying her hardest to raise her children (although she is a bit naggy at times). At the end, it turns out that everything she was hoping for and striving for for her son turns out to be a complete failure. He leaves the family to support themselves and ends up just as his father did.

Dramatic Suspense

While this play does not contain much dramatic suspense, I found some in the scene with Laura and Jim O'Connor. I thought suspense was created when Laura is finally speaking to Jim and beginning to open up to him. Finally, when Jim leans in to kiss Laura, the suspense reaches its peak. As a reader, I was believing that Laura had finally found someone who accepts her and will eventually marry her. If this was a fairytale, this probably would have happened. Instead, the suspense is built even more when the audience is informed that Jim is engaged and will never be speaking to Laura again. In some ways, this leads to a tragedy for Laura, but as a reader, I believe that this encounter with Jim has helped Laura to come out of her shell. Jim taught Laura to open up and to accept herself for who she is. Whether she took this lesson and applied it is unknown, but I like to think that she did.

Realistic vs. Nonrealistic

From the beginning of The Glass Menagerie, Tom allows it to be known to the audience that this play is nonrealistic. He tells the audience that he is "the narrator of the play, and also a character in it." This aspect is one of the nonrealistic aspects of the play. It is impossible for a person to be the narrator and a character at the same time. Also, he tells the audience that "the play is memory." This also sets up for a nonrealistic play because memory is often different from real life. It looks at these from a convenient perspective and only sees one person's point of view. Also, the many music cues which conveniently appear throughout the play are nonrealistic. These cues serve to reflect the feelings of characters and what is going on. Also, the scene where the father's photo conveniently lights up when the son is speaking of him is nonrealistic. This is a figment of the son's imagination because this is how he remembers this encounter with his sister taking place. One of the realistic aspects of the play is the dialogue between the characters. They fight how people normally would and apologize as well. They also relate and have dynamics like a normal family has.