The Glass Menagerie: Struggle To Fit Into Society

Term Paper Title	The Glass Menagerie: Struggle To Fit Into Society
# of Words	1016
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.06

The Glass Menagerie: Struggle to Fit Into Society

Rich Spadaccini          Fifth Period                March 31, 1996

     "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams shows the struggle of two
people to fit into society, Tom and Laura, and how society wouldn't accept them.
They were the dreamers that were unjustly kept out and you may even go as far as
to say persecuted into staying out and aloof like the other dreamers which are
forced to become outcasts and not contribute to the actions of all.
     Tom and Laura, the two dreamers, were pushed by their mom, Amanda, to her
frame of mind and the thoughts of a hard working society. They both stumbled on
the fire escape which served as a gateway, physically and mentally. Tom had the
problem of fitting in at the warehouse were he worked, because is the warehouse
really a place for someone like him and his mind rebelled. Lastly you can see
how society forced them to change and Laura to lose her status in order to fit
in with Jim and that's shown by the horn breaking. Tom then realizes that and
leaves which causes him to change too. Tennessee Williams artfully depicted this.

     The fire escape. A downtrodden red thing off the sides of buildings showing
societies ineffectual escape from itself. In this case it served as a passageway
between the real world and the dream one that Laura and Tom were living in at
home. Both somehow stumbled both physically and mentally. When Laura said “I'm
all right. I slipped but I'm all right”(47). She was trying to pass to the real
world to do a real job and couldn't because of societies “inability” to accept
her and her ways. She wasn't strong enough to make the trip by herself, but
needed the moral support of the other dreamer in the area, which was Tom who
came running out. Tom is the one who stumbles mentally in his inability to look
at the escape, which would be his way out of the place. He was always losing his
strength while out there smoking and looking out into the world. Recognizing the
sounds and trying to connect but unable to. He was forced away and unable to
bring up the strength inside himself to go out and leave and to stay strong as a
dreamer. Forced by society to use it as a gateway instead of just keeping it the
same and just a mode of transportation to go down.
     Every night you hear Tom say, "I'm going to the movies" (42). He uses that
as an escape of the imagination which is what made him a dreamer. As long as he
went to the movies and stayed away from seeing and experiencing he could still
dream. He wants to see them in person and adventure out but that would be what
society wants him to do. Tom is probably content or made to seem content with
the movies and sees his impending doom in being a dreamer so he becomes obsessed
with trying to escape it. With “Yes, Movies! Look..... I'm tired of movies and
I'm about to move”(79). Tom ...

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