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   troutmiller Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   Although it is a short play with only a few characters, Tom is the protagonist of the play.  In the beginning of the play, it is Tom who steps onstage to narrate the story as if it occurred in his past.  His life is frustrating because he is the man in the family because his father abandoned them.  Although he is the man in the family, he is not allowed to be the father figure.  His mother Amanda treats him as a child.  She does this throughout the play, but the most obvious one is in the first scene when she criticizes his eating habits as if he's still a child.  Amanda imposes a sense of obligation on Tom, even though she is the mother, and her daughter could easily take classes to care for herself in her adulthood.  Tom is faced with a sense of duty that he really doesn't deserve.  Tom is torn between his past and his future throughout the play because of this sense of duty to help his family and his desire to be independent.

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   http://www.enotes.com/glass-menagerie/characters

   http://www.enotes.com/glass-menagerie/summary

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   Posted by troutmiller on Friday January 2, 2009 at 8:23 AM