Question

What is the lesson of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams?

Accepted Answer

Major works of literature such as The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, unlike simple fables or sermons, rarely have singular lessons; in fact, it is precisely their complexity and lack of simplistic moralizing that contributes to their greatness. 
The characters in this play are all deeply flawed, especially in their refusal to see current reality clearly and to react to their actual situations in life. 
Amanda Wingfield is constantly reliving her past as a southern belle, unwilling to face the fact that the manners, conventions, and habits she learned as a child are not useful skills for a more modern world. Although she does attempt to enroll Laura in a business college, Laura too is fragile and unworldly, crippled by her shyness as well as a childhood illness, to complete her course work or find a job. Ultimately, both women still exist within a traditional mythos of femininity where they are fundamentally passive, taught a sort of learned helplessness and reliance on male generosity. Tom shows how this patriarchal dynamic also traps men in a web of obligations. All of the characters are trapped by the history of their families and of the south. 
While some people might take away from this play a belief in the importance of developing career skills to avoid the trap of dependency, others will in a certain way admire the tenacity of Amanda in holding the family together, however tenuously, and see the play as showing how people are cast adrift as the bounds of community fail.

Answer

The moral lesson of The Glass Menagerie is that one can try to escape the past and one's ties to family, but to no avail. The hold one's family and past has on one is tenacious and strong. At the end of the play, Tom Wingfield leaves his mother and sister, Amanda and Laura, respectively, though his mother believes that he will protect and care for them forever. Instead, the pressure they place on him drives him away, as it had driven away his father years before.
Tom believes that he has escaped his sister's memory and her call for help, but wherever he goes, he sees her in his mind and thinks of her. He says at the end of the play, "Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be!" The entire play is Tom's recollection of his sister and mother, as he has never been able to forget about them, and they still have a psychological hold on him.

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

What is the lesson of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams?

Expert Answers info

Unlock This Answer Now

Related Questions

Ask a Question

Popular Questions

Additional Links