The
main conflicts that exist in The Glass Menagerie are all in a
sense inner conflicts each character in the Wingfield family hides within. Tom,
who is the narrator begins to describe his family’s life, we soon find out that
Tom’s father left the family a long time ago leaving Amanda, who is the mother
to raise the kids on her own. They like to reminisce about his with a photo
they have in their living room. Amanda is a very sympathetic character, but is
also demanding of her children. This becomes apparent when she instructs Tom ,
who is the breadwinner of the household to chew his food the “right” way. Also
when Laura tried to clean the table, she is told to sit and be the lady while
she does the work. She seems to have too high expectations for Laura to find
gentleman callers, but Laura knows she isn’t as popular as her mom was at her
age, Laura also believes her mother is afraid that she will be an old maid.
The situation gets 10x worse for Laura
when her mom finds out that she is skipping school to take walks, solo trips to
the zoo, and to watch movies. Amanda ponders on what is next for the family now
that Laura’s future in business is over, she then begins to believe that the
only alternative is for her to get married, she wants the best for her kids but
they should also make decisions for themselves and not be forced into doing
something they don’t want to
I agree with your main conflicts that it exists in the each character that they have an inner conflict. I also feel as though the mother more tries to control them to make them feel how she thinks they should feel, and they cannot really have a say in anything.
ReplyDeleteIt also seems that the more Amanda tries to control her children to shape them to how she wants them, the more they resist and rebel as Tom does by staying out late at night.
DeleteSometimes I question whether the dad left because of Amanda's demands as well. The way she controls her kids anyone could only imagine how she treated her ex husband.Just like how Tom wants to leave; it could be in relation of how there dad left. Amanda will continuously break her family apart if she keeps pressuring her kids to be like her. Luckily Tom and Laura both have each other to look after for.
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