The Glass Menagerie Research Paper

The colonization of America was a rude awakening to the early settlers coming from across the world. Starting a new life and getting away from England sounded beneficial to many. In 1607 the first colony, Jamestown was founded. No one was properly prepared for the first year. Expectations were not met and many disappointments were brought upon them. Men, women, and children made a very long journey across the world to America expecting new and great opportunities and riches for themselves as well as their families. Unfortunately after one year in Jamestown, there were only 34 survivors, which means that seventy percent of the population passed away. Not only was the weather unfit for planting crops due the extremely harsh winters and the hot and humid summers, but there was also no qualified land for farming on account of the marshes. This caused starvation and malnourishment by reason of no vigorous food supply accessible to anyone. They were unprepared for the harsh climate conditions, which caused many deaths due to incurable diseases and health issues. At this day in age, medicine was unavailable and diseases were incurable. Another significant disappointment for the new settlers was the lack of riches that were held at a high expectation for coming to America. In conclusion, the colonization of Jamestown brought a greater amount of issues than benefits including starvation, death and disease, conflicts with native Americans, and no profit.

OXFORD, Oct. 25 – “At 5 months old my daughter was diagnosed with cancer in both of her eyes” said Ellen Flannery, the Founder and Executive Director of CancerFree KIDS. Cancer is the number two leading cause of death among children between the ages of 5-14. By the time you finish reading this paragraph, two more people have passed away from a form of cancer across the United States.

In the Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, Tom Wingfield is living the disadvantageous life of the 1930s. At this time, the Great Depression has begun and WWII is on the way.

The glass menagerie symbolizes Amanda Wingfield's overwhelming need to cling to her past and her fulfilled fear of being alone.  Amanda resents the poverty-stricken neighborhood in which she lives so

Thesis: Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie demonstrates human struggles with accepting the hard truths of reality, creating tendencies to retract to disappointing illusions.

Thomas Lanier Williams, born in Columbus, Mississippi to Edwina Dakin and Cornelius Coffin Williams, became one of the nations greatest playwrights. He was born on March 26, 1911 in his grandfather, Reverend Walter E. Dakin's, Episcopal Church. William's mother, Edwina, was a lively and colorful woman. She married a man whom contradicted her lifestyle. That man was Cornelius Williams, a gruff, pistol dueler with a violent temper. He was a lieutenant in the Spanish American War and a descendent from frontiersmen. Cornelius and Edwina married and continued to live in Mississippi. Cornelius had a job as a traveling salesman. Thomas became sick with diphtheria at age five which is how his love for literature bloomed. He lived in Mississippi until

Glass is an everyday object that serves a different purpose in each particular person's life. Its uses range from decorations to something as common as a household mirror. Others use glass to see more than just themselves; they use it to see the world. Additionally in the play, glass itself is an everyday object with a deeper meaning; the glass animals themselves are symbols of the uniqueness of individual people and Laura relies on them (like one would glasses) to cope with the world around her. Spectacles take something nonsensical, and turn it into a clear picture; much like how spectacles in the play, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, clarifies the theme of realism.

During the 1930s, the US went through a rough period in their history. Due to a major stock market crash, the US fell into the Great Depression. Many people were forced to live with little or no money. The play, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams is set in St. Louis, Missouri during this period of time. Amanda, the mother of the family, lives in an apartment in the city with her two children, Tom and Laura. Tom's job at the warehouse and the small pay from Amanda's telemarketer job help to provide for the three of them. They did not have much money but were a typical family for the time they were living in. Wearing typical clothes, experiencing difficulties, and living in a common home are all characteristics of the cast in this play.

German writer Gertrud von Le Fort once said, "Symbols are the language of something invisible spoken in the visible world." The Glass Menagerie author, Tennessee Williams, does just that by using symbols to show the main themes in the play. Some of the main themes, represented by symbols, Williams uses are memories, living in the past, hope, feeling trapped, insecurity, and adventure and escape. Writers use symbols to help bring meaning and emotion to the story. Symbolism helps the play or story become more powerful and memorable to the viewer or reader.

Written in 1944, Tennessee Williams wrote a play during World War II when people were barely making ends meet. Centering on the Wingfield family, the story consisted of five characters: Amanda Wingfield (the mother), Laura Wingfield (the daughter), Tom Wingfield (son, narrator, Laura’s older brother), Jim Connor (Tom and Laura’s old acquaintance from high school) and Mr. Wingfield (father to Tom and Laura, and Amanda’s husband)- who abandoned the family long before the start of the play. The title, “The Glass Menagerie”, represented a collection of glass animals on display in the Wingfields’ home. At one point or another, these animals then represented each character when they couldn’t accept reality. The theme of this play were about the

Have you ever watched a play and been amazed to how real the play appears? Refer to this as realism. Realism tries to create an illusion that makes a certain situation look like that action is actually happening. Realism can also refer to certain social issues. Something that provides to realism is the spectacle. The spectacle is what the audience sees and hears during the play. In the play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, there are several different examples of spectacle. These example gives the audience an entertaining value and sets the tone for the plot. During the play, the spectacles that contribute to the realism would be the screen and the music.

This is Laura talking about her unicorn. She keeps the age of it, and takes very good care of it. It shows how much her collection means to her and how she thinks of them as real people. The glass menagerie provides Laura an outlet from the real world. By collecting and playing with her glass menagerie, Laura escapes the real

***The characters within The Glass Menagerie are almost all a part of the same family creating a family dynamic that effects the way the characters are developed. A majority of Amanda's part within the play of The Glass Menagerie consists of her providing a recollection of her past and enforcing her perceptions of those experiences onto her children. Most of her speech within the play is monologues of her reflecting upon her past. The Glass Menagerie is considered to be a memory play making a connection to Amanda's constant reflection on her past to the fact that this is a memory play one can observe that Amanda is the personification of the memory within the memory play. Amanda's constant recollection of the past effects the character development of Laura, tom, and of course herself.

Throughout life, people subconsciously unveil attributes about themselves by way of symbols. A symbol indicates a greater meaning than the literal implication and represents ideas, emotions, or states of mind of a person. Symbolism in the theatre can be accomplished through costumes, color, props, characters and movements. In Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie, symbolism is uniquely used. The fire escape in the house and the glass menagerie are two vital figures in the play that reveal qualities about the characters and connect to the idea of escape.

But various parts of the world still do not have built up forensic anthropologists as a component of the medicolegal system. Unfortunately, in many systems, a few pathologists acquainted with osteological techniques make their own anthropological analysis of an obscure skeleton. In recent years, physicians trained in forensic anthropology have been taking an interest in both research and practice [20].