How Does The Glass Menagrie Display The 1930’s Essay, Research Paper
As reflected in The Glass Menagerie, the middle class during the 1930?s was poor. Most lived in cramped apartments that the only way to leave was by walking down the fire escape. The men during this time period worked at low paying jobs that they loathed to provide for their families. While the women usually stayed at home until they were old enough to be married off because their families could not afford to provide them with a higher education.
Tom shows us most men were not content to be stuck in the life their parents had raised them. Most wanted to pick up their belongings and head out into the world to see what else it held, but at the same time they had the responsibly of making sure that their family was provided for. Another way out for the men was to join a branch of the service to escape the desolation of their lifestyle.
Laura showed us a similar side but she took the pressure of things differently than her brother. While he wanted to run away, she wanted to hide from everything. She retreated from the reality of the fire escape by playing the vitriolic and polishing her glass collection. She also cannot take the pressure of her mother and brother fighting.
Amanda did not believe that her life had ended up as it had. She went from a girl on the Mississippi Delta with a veranda to a single mother with two children who were complete opposites. Amanda tried to force Laura to be like Amanda was while she was young which showed her how much she missed it.
Jim walked into the picture looking like everyone?s savior, but he had his own problems. He was engaged and he kissed Laura. No one knew about his engagement because he had not announced it at work yet. So, they all end up worse than they had started out.
Laura?s innocent vision of reality is broken by his declaration, and she had to become stronger to overcome it. If Jim had not told Laura about his future, she would have dived deeper into her glass world and Tom would not have been able to leave and go live his own dream.
Lots of young people had to learn that life is not as simple as they believed. They had to help out their parents as much as possible. The world around them was very unstable, so only the strong willed survived. They had to be able to take chances and get up when they fell. Only a few could do that.