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The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a play that is set in the 1930 s during the Great Depression. There are three main characters in the play: Amanda Wingfield; the overbearing mother who is constantly living in the past; Tom, the frustrated son who feels trapped within the family and Laura, the fragile daughter who is living in a world of her own. It is a memory play. The story of the family is seen through the eyes of Tom, while much of the play revolves around Amanda's own memories of her affluent childhood.
Amanda Wingfield is constantly living in a world that varies between illusion and reality. Her attitudes and beliefs were formed in the late 19 th century in the Southern States of America where life was comfortable and well off and these now dictate her present life. Amanda Wingfield is a daughter of the Old South where, before her marriage, she had a comfortable home with servants, balls and parties to go to and many gentlemen callers. After her marriage and when the Depression hit, life became more difficult. When her husband deserted her, Amanda could not come to terms with her situation and she constantly relives her memories of life back in Blue Mountain when life was wonderful. This unfortunate problem seems to be the root cause for the trouble in the household.
As we look at significant parts of Amanda's past we see that she continues to relive aspects like Blue Mountain, the gentlemen callers in her life, racism, religion and Jonquils. It can be revealed how Amanda's past is responsible for her present day attitudes and beliefs. Amanda simply retreats to her world of the past when life doesnt go her way and her children are not doing what she wants them to do; Toms unhappiness and restlessness, Laura's shyness and deception. At times like this she remembers the times back in Blue Mountain and those seventeen gentleman callers that she had one afternoon. Amanda only wants what is best for her children, however, she fails to interpret them and this is why when reading the play, her character can be seen as egotistic and nagging. By going back to the past she was able to relive that moments that stuck in her mind.
This is the dress in which I led the cotillion, won the cakewalk twice at Sunset Hill, and wore one spring to the governors ball in Jackson! See how I sashayed around the ballroom, Laura? (Pg 55) With such vivid memories constantly taking Amanda back to Blue Mountain and the time when she was eagerly sought after by men who wished to marry her, we can understand the very difficult period she now confronts. Her life is now mundane, boring; she has lost the social standings that she once had. Her wish is to provide the environment for Laura, that she indeed had as a young woman in Blue Mountain. Amanda relives the exciting times of when she received a number of suitors or as described in the piece, Gentlemen Callers. Amanda constantly reminds herself through her memories of how she would like her own daughter Laura, to receive gentlemen of suitable standing.
One Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain your mother received seventeen! Gentlemen callers! Why, sometimes there werent chairs enough to accommodate them all. We had to send the nigger over to bring in folding chairs from the parish house. (Pg. 16) It can be seen how the landed gentry in that period were dependent upon and felt it entirely acceptable to have access to a number of servants.
Well in the south we had so many servants. Gone, gone, gone. All vestige of gracious living! Gone completely!
I wasnt prepared for what the future brought me. All my gentlemen callers were sons of planters as so of course I assumed that I would be married to one and raise my family on a large piece of land with plenty of servants. (Pg. 6 Amanda life was one of entertainment, balls, beautiful dresses and gentlemen callers. It was an easy life growing up for Amanda as everything always fell into place, it was predictable but this was the way that Amanda liked it. Once married she never thought her life would be any different, but the stark reality, when her husband leaves her, is something Amanda has not come to terms with. Amanda is a Christian and there are many things that she believes to be right over what her children say. Man is by instinct!
Dont you quote instinct to me! Instinct is something that people have got away from, it belongs to animals! Christian adults dont want it! (Pg 39) Amanda's attitudes and beliefs are tied in with her Christian upbringing, her narrow mindedness, her ridged ideals and her treatment of blacks or Niger's. The difference between Amanda and Tom can clearly be seen in this scene. Tom is a poet and feels that man should live by instinct and feelings.
Amanda senses this because these were the exact qualities that her husband had before he fell in love with long distances. She worries and doesnt want to see him go the way her husband did. Jonquils were just another way for Amanda to never forget the past by placing certain memories on an object, every time you see that object you would remember. That was the spring that I had an craze for jonquils. Jonquils became an absolute obsession. Mother said, honey there is no more room for jonquils.
And still I kept on bringing in more jonquils. Whenever, wherever I saw them Id say Stop! Stop! I see jonquils (Pg. 55 - 56) for Amanda these memories were Blue Mountain and the joyful times the she spent there when she sees the jonquils. Amanda goes off into one of her storytelling moods why when I was a young girl back in Blue Mountain She does this because by reliving the past she needs not to think about the present and future anymore.
A future without a husband, without money, without social standing and with a crippled daughter who continues to escape into a world of her own and a son who is desperately unhappy wishing to abandon his family situation. When she does come to terms with reality and devotes her life to her children she enforces her attitudes and beliefs upon them and ends up driving her son away from home and her daughter deeper into herself. Although Amanda may seem eccentric, she is really a character with extreme personality. She is unable to live forever in the world of illusion, as the pressures of living with her nonconforming children force her to make decisions that she would rather not. Since she is reliving her own life, she is not able to see how different her children are, and this is what ends up driving her son away from home. Amanda is full of other troubles, as she really wants whats best for her children however, she fails to understand that what she wants for them, and what they most want is quite different.
So Amanda is really a person who chooses to live alternatively in-between the world of illusion and the world of reality. Her old-fashioned beliefs and attitudes of her childhood are her only defense against the drudgery of living.
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Research essay sample on World Of Illusion Gentlemen Callers
