I think this text is an incredible display of human anguish and desperation - I think it is a brilliant play because of the real and relatable emotions it elicits in its audience. The play itself evoked feelings of sadness, envy, and frustration in me during my reading - I felt bad for the characters in the work, as this family was constantly tortured by the difficulties of living life in America, as well as the difficulty of achieving the American Dream. I particularly identified with the character of Tom, who uses the movies and the fire escape as a means to find temporary escape from his very real problems. In scene 4, Tom says, "You know it don’t take much intelligence to get yourself into a nailed-up coffin, Laura. But who the hell ever got himself out of one without removing one nail?" (Williams). This was a particularly affecting and enlightening line for me; it really sells how trapped Tom and his family feel about their situation. He can't even change his situation without disturbing things greatly or hurting people (removing nails), which prevents him from doing it. In this line, it summed up the entire premise of the play - that obligations and responsibilities brought on by the chase for the American Dream can be incredibly stifling, and that can trap people in places they don't want to be in. I felt that from Tom, particularly in that line, and it reminded me of the common desperation we fell when we carry out our lives.
Works Cited
Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 2nd Edition. Ed. Robert DiYanni. Boston: McGraw/Hill, 2008. 1160-1206. Print.
