The characters in Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie all have a delusional state of mind, shown by the inner psychology when read with a psychoanalytical approach. The play is written in the style of expressionistic. In the first sentence of the Production Notes it says “it is a memory play.” “Memory play” suggests that it is a play worked out in one’s mental process, rather than a real life representation. Instead of external reality, the idea becomes the primary concern of expressionistic drama.
The mother in the play, Amanda, was abandoned by her husband, leaving her to be caretaker and provider for their children. Doing this frustrations Amanda, which provoke her to escape into the past. In the play, Amanda can best be described as a southern belle. She believes in “gracious living, family tradition, chivalry, coquetry” (Senata 23). Obsessed with the past, she frequently tells her memory as a young girl who received at most seventeen gentleman callers within a Sunday afternoon. Once these memories are remembered, “her eyes …show more content…
Her glass
Animals are her escape mechanism like the movies are Tom’s and the past is Amanda’s. The difference from Tom and Amanda, as Bauer-Briski points out, is that Laura’s withdrawal “fails to establish the contact with reality” (Bauer-Briski 32). She has completely isolated herself from the harsh world. Though they adopt to face reality differently , tom and Laura’s “retreat” are similar . According to Carl Jung, once a man’s instinct is suppressed by the environment, it will not be suddenly eliminated as if it never existed. On the contrary, it will merge into the unconscious part of human mentality (Jung 997). Tom and Laura escaping using the world, be it glass or the movies. Amanda takes to her memories, something no one else can see. This exerts something no one but Amanda can
The mother in the play, Amanda, was abandoned by her husband, leaving her to be caretaker and provider for their children. Doing this frustrations Amanda, which provoke her to escape into the past. In the play, Amanda can best be described as a southern belle. She believes in “gracious living, family tradition, chivalry, coquetry” (Senata 23). Obsessed with the past, she frequently tells her memory as a young girl who received at most seventeen gentleman callers within a Sunday afternoon. Once these memories are remembered, “her eyes …show more content…
Her glass
Animals are her escape mechanism like the movies are Tom’s and the past is Amanda’s. The difference from Tom and Amanda, as Bauer-Briski points out, is that Laura’s withdrawal “fails to establish the contact with reality” (Bauer-Briski 32). She has completely isolated herself from the harsh world. Though they adopt to face reality differently , tom and Laura’s “retreat” are similar . According to Carl Jung, once a man’s instinct is suppressed by the environment, it will not be suddenly eliminated as if it never existed. On the contrary, it will merge into the unconscious part of human mentality (Jung 997). Tom and Laura escaping using the world, be it glass or the movies. Amanda takes to her memories, something no one else can see. This exerts something no one but Amanda can