The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams
As discussed previously, the family has had some major fights. Beyond that, the family is purely dysfunctional. For example, Amanda is doomed to live in the past. She can never shake how she had crashed and burned when she pick the absentee father from all her other gentleman callers. This crippling mistake led her to a life of constant worrying for her children, so that they don't make similar mistakes that she did. Tom only wants to rebel against his father BECAUSE she's such a nag, which causes him to walk out on the family just as the father did. Who knows if it turned out to make Tom successful in life, but it definitely didn't help the remaining family members. Lastly there's Laura, who by herself was fairly content with life. Though she didn't stray far from the house, she liked her life the way it was despite her low self esteem. On the other hand, her mother and brother were always concerned with her well-being. They loved her, but even Tom concedes that "we don't even notice she's crippled anymore" (Williams 1260). Their worry transforms into anger which then morphs into desperation for Laura to become "normal" even though she is fine with the way she is. A family that can't even have similar mindsets is doomed, and that's exactly what the Wigfields turned out to be.
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