Matthew Arnold suggests that, “The pursuit of perfection, is the pursuit of sweetness and light.” In many ways, this is exactly what the characters of The Glass Menagerie are looking for in the play- perfection. They look for it in their future, as they search for a way to find security and hope. They find […]
Tag Archives: Tennessee Williams
In the memory play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the main character Tom Wingfield struggles with choosing between his own personal dreams versus accepting the reality of his families situation. Tom and his family live in an alley apartment and survive mainly on Tom’s salary from a shoe factory. Tom often seems uninterested in […]
Tom Wingfield’s character in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie is eager to break away from from his mundane and dismal life. He has dreams of becoming a poet and seeks adventure. The fire escape, the movies, and the coffin “trick” are all references to the escape that Tom longs for. The fire escape is literally […]
Illuminated Darkness Tennessee Williams purposefully addresses Blanche DuBois’s internal disorder by utilizing the motif of light and darkness in order to reveal a deeper level of justification in Blanche’s actions. The motif of light and dark works to represent enlightenment and ignorance;it also represents innocence and sin. Darkness is portrayed as a response to light […]