The Glass Menagerie and American Dream - Essay Example

AR The Glass Menagerie And American Dream 4/27 The Glass Menagerie and American Dream The Glass Menagerie is a play written by Tennessee Williams which revolves around the aspects of reality and illusion in an individual’s life. The play gives an insight into how life is perceived by individuals in this life and how some individuals try to run away from reality into illusion. The play is marked as a hallmark in cinematography which helped to change the whole course of literature. The play can be related to every day events that one faces in his/her life and how he handles those events with respect to his surroundings. Reality portrayed in the play is such that the play can be related to a common household in this world. Our general way of living as per the American Dream can also be viewed in the play. It has shown as how one rejects the realities of life and tries to settle down with the dreams that he has regarding life. Every character in the story is trying to build up upon his/her American Dream. But all of them are rendered unsuccessful in the conclusion of the story. This research essay would further relate the concepts of the American Dream with the views that Tennessee has himself put into the play Glass Menagerie and would further present as to how the characters were being deviated because of their utopia. (Gwynn 2009 20-30). American Dream has been included in the Declaration of Independence which clearly states that every man has been endowed with rights when he is born into this world. By this it is meant that all inequalities and injustice is undesirable in the society and every individual should be provided with rights through which he can become successful and lead a life which everyone would have perceived. The view presented by American Dream clearly places education as the foremost factor which can influence the people to lead a life which they have perceived. The phenomenon of the survival of the fittest should be removed from the society and all the individuals should be provided with equal rights. But according to the American Dream the ones with gifted capabilities should be given an opportunity regardless of which class they belong to. The subject of all individuals regardless of their capabilities is not seen in the American Dream. Over the time it is seen that many citizens are enjoying the American Dream as it was perceived but many citizens are also devoid of their rights to enjoy the American Dream. This can clearly be seen in the discrimination which is being practiced in the country against many races and ethnicities. Individuals who are of a greater potential are benefitting more in the society than the ones who possess less of this potential. As in the article J.Beach clearly states that “His notions of agrarian democracy were based on the plantocracy’s exploitation of slave labor and indentured servitude, but his educational vision was only for propertied, white males” (151). He is referring to Jefferson here whose own policy was not in line with the principles of equality. At another instant he also states that Greene (1988) has shown how, in practice, Jefferson’s lofty vision, compounded by the contradictions within the nation (and within Jefferson’s own mind), advanced a counter-ideal, which competed with the more radical ideal found in the Declaration of Independence. Again he is telling about Jefferson’s views which seem to prefer white males over everyone (Beach, 151). American Dream nowadays is being followed by individuals as a form of materialism in which everyone is striving for success and money whereas the foundations of American Dream have been forgotten. Over these years it has been noticed that individuals are following a principle of success which in their opinion is because of excellence. (Beach 2007 150-152 ; Shibley 1998, 81-83). The Glass Menagerie is a work by Tennessee Williams which revolves around the aspects of reality and illusion. Tom is the protagonist of the play who is trying to run away from differing and harsh realities of life, Amanda is Tom’s mother who relishes her memories of the past and is not able to grab the realities of life as they are and Laura is Tom’s sister who is crippled and shy to face the whole world. An interesting character of the play is Jim who is Tom’s friend. It can be clearly witnessed in the play that Jim is a character who is a highly skilled worked who wants to bring change in this world. As Tom states in the play that Jim is "an emissary from a world of reality.” (Tennessee Williams, 2008.). All the characters in the story are trying to pursue American Dream in their own way. Jim is trying to become successful through his skills but even then is not able to achieve his dream. His American dream is to become successful and achieve all that he wants. But even though Jim is skilled he is not able to avail the benefits of a job which suit his skills. He rather works as a lowly paid clerk in a warehouse. (Tennessee Williams 2008). Similarly Amanda is the mother of Tom and she also has dreams but those dreams are different from those of Jim. Amanda wants her family to live in conditions which are as perfect as they were while she was a young girl. Everything that Amanda wishes for is relating her family and thus her American Dream is to have a family which is living in peace and happiness The character of Amanda can be explained in the following words “A fading southern belle abandoned by her husband, a telephone man "who fell in love with long distances," Amanda clings to the past and memories of her genteel girlhood in Blue Mountain. Yet she also exhibits a fierce determination to overcome her grim circumstances, and often badgers her children about family responsibilities and planning for the future” (Tennessee Williams 2008). On the other hand Tom has different dreams than everyone. He considers his house as a jail and wants to get out of this life to become something. He wants to become a writer and as he is stuffed with his responsibilities from home, he wants to escape from his home. The American Dream of Tom is to become something and not to become rich or become stable to earn materialistic things. And lastly Laura the sister of Tom has the dream of getting rid of her problems related to shyness so that she becomes compatible with the world. It can be clearly witnessed in the play that every individual has his/her own view of analyzing the American Dream and everyone has different American Dreams. Some people want to become rich and successful whereas some want to have a perfect life with their family without any thought of materialism. But American Dream can be interfered with utopia when an individual has the urge to live in an ideal society. By this it is meant that the individual would live by the rules of the society and not even the best of individuals would be able to excel than everyone. Utopia is considered by many as a society which is beautiful and is exactly the society which people require. As Shibley tells about Urbanism in his article “The New Urbanists promise to deliver small town America in accordance with complex array of consumer preferences” (Shibley, 2008. 81). These new urbanists are delivering exactly what the people need; i.e. Suburbs and small towns which are preferred by a large group of population in America. As Shibley mentions in his article “When Gallup polled the public in 1989 regarding what kind of place they wanted to live, the return was similar to the results cited above. Thirty four percent chose a small town, twenty four percent opted for suburbs, twenty two percent selected a farm and the remaining nineteen percent preferred a city” (Shibley, 2008 82). Such is the urge for a Utopian society that even the best of individuals can lay down for it. Many individuals want a Utopian society of peace and harmony because of which they let go off their American Dream as it does not fulfill the realms of an ideal society. The irregularity of American Dream in the society is not only seen in the play but is also seen from the life of Tennessee Williams. The play Glass Menagerie was influenced by William’s own way of leading life and the problems that he faced in life. In the play Amanda who is actually the mother of the protagonist is inspired by the character of the William’s own mother who was very possessive when it came to her children. Similarly Laura is inspired by William’s own real sister who was suffering from the problem of schizophrenia and could not face the world. Because of this problem Laura was not even provided with the rights as declared in the American Dream. The problems that his family faced in real life were cited in the play in which many of the dreams of the characters were not fulfilled. And as many of the dreams were not fulfilled it was seen that the protagonist resorted to his own world of illusion. As it is stated by Corrigan about the theme of the play which shows that “the only defense against the relentlessness and cruelty of life in time is the ultimately unsatisfactory retreat into a world of illusion” (Corrigan 155). Similarly in other works of Williams similar art of reality can be seen which is defecting from the real state of the American Dream. In “A Streetcar Named Desire” it is seen that Blanche DuBois is raped by her brother in law because she is helpless and cannot do anything in return. Here it can be seen that Williams is trying to portray the reality of power in this world. He is showing that individuals who don’t have power are not allowed to live in peace in this world. Thus the points given by the American Dream are once again denied in this play by Williams. Many other plays by Tennessee show differing views of reality and how people are being affected by the factors of reality. He showed that many of the individuals are able to cope up with reality and many are not. Like in the play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” it can be seen that the main character is trying to get rid of the guilt that he is facing after the death of his lover (Tennessee Wiliams 2008). Throughout changing times it is seen that Tennessee presented the literary world with many plays. These play had different moods and aspects which were written according to the times. He gave information of two types of individuals in this world i.e. One who reject the society as it is and defy into illusion and one who accept the society as it is and live in it by doing good or bad. In Glass Menagerie it is seen that all the characters are defying reality and everyone is trying to settle in with their dreams and illusions. These dreams are related to the American Dream but in the play every character has his own American Dream. However later on in his plays it was seen that individuals were accepting reality as it was and were doing things to live in the reality rather than illusion (Corrigan, 1976. 155-159). If the American Dream is not fulfilling the realms of Utopia then it is necessary that the person defies it and looks for another option through which he can achieve the society which he wants to live in. American Dream nowadays is not fulfilling many of the dreams of individuals and is rather about achievement and success and thus it does not portray an ideal society which everyone would require. Utopian society does not have to change from person to person whereas the American Dream is changing from the different perspectives of individuals. And thus it can be concluded that to achieve a society which is better for everyone it is necessary that the individuals defy American Dream (i.e. if it is not applying to the principles of a Utopian society) and seek a Utopian society (Beach 2007, 149-154). Works Cited Beach, J. M. "The Ideology of the American Dream: Two Competing Philosophies in Education, 1776-2006." Educational Studies: Journal of the American Educational Studies Association 41.2 (2007): 148-164. ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. [http://www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131940701312488]. Shibley, Robert G. "The complete New Urbanism and the partial practices of placemaking." Utopian Studies 9.1 (1998): 80+. Academic OneFile. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. "Tennessee Williams." Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. Corrigan, M. A. "Memory, Dream, and Myth in the Plays of Tennessee Williams." Renascence (Spring 1976): 155-167. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 11. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. Williams, Tennessee The Glass Menagerie Literature: A Pocket Anthology. Ed. R. S. Gwynn. 4th ed. New York: Longman 2009. 1077-1137. Print. Read More