The Glass Menagerie scene 6 - dramatic irony

Scene six of The Glass Menagerie begins the second part of the play when the gentleman caller arrives. Oh the illusions continue! Amanda makes Laura wear "gay deceivers" because her chest is flat. Amanda just wants to create this illusion of Laura. Dramatic irony is created when Laura learns the gentleman caller's name. Tom had said before the scene started that he went to high school with Jim, and Laura asks Amanda whether Tom went to school with Jim. This is dramatic irony because the reader knows that this is the same Jim, but Amanda and Laura are unsure. Being the reclusive girl that Laura is, she refuses to go to dinner in fear of her world of illusion clashing with the realistic world. Jim immediately brings a realistic feel to the play. Jim dreams of becoming an executive and studying radio engineering. Jim wants to be successful like most everybody else. However, Tom dreams of leaving his family like their father did saying, "I'm like my father. The bastard son of a bastard!" Pardon my french, well actually Williams' french. I'm pretty sure no one dreams of becoming the bastard son of a bastard, so I think its fair to say Tom's dream is unrealistic.

The Glass Menagerie scene 5

During scene five of The Glass Menagerie,  the illusion of the play is made evident. Amanda's illusion of Laura is reinforced when Amanda yells at Tom, "Don't say crippled! You know that I never allow that word to be used!" Amanda clearly does not know her daughter's actual situation. I feel like if Laura had to wear a brace that Amanda may need to accept that Laura is at least a little crippled. Amanda even has illusions of Tom. She continues to say that she doesn't believe that Tom goes to the movies every night. Aside from getting drunk, Tom probably goes to the movies too since there is a part where Tom stumbles to get his key out and a bunch of movie ticket stubs fall out. Aside from illusions, when Tom loses his key, Tom loses his connection to the his mother and sister. As the story progresses from that moment, Tom becomes increasingly restless. Surprisingly, Amanda has no illusions of Tom's planning to leave them behind. To my disappointment, Tom follows through on that plan, but let's get back to illusions. Laura lives in her own world of illusion with her glass ornaments. Laura just withdraws to her glass menagerie when she fails to fit into the real world.

The Glass Menagerie scenes 3 and 4 - soliloquy

The middle portion of part 1 of The Glass Menagerie contains a soliloquy in which Tom speaks from the fire-escape landing. Tom's speaking from the fire escape creates this feel that Tom is, in a sense, detached from the what is occurring in the play. This soliloquy verifies that the play is of Tom's memory. However, the character of Tom as the narrator is different from the character of Tom in the play. The narrator Tom seems  more calm and slightly removed from what is occurring. For example, Tom says during the soliloquy: "Mother was a woman of action as well as words. She began to take logical steps in the planned direction." In contrast, the character Tom cannot stand his mother, and anytime Amanda scathingly criticizes him Tom heads for the fire escape which acts as his escape in more than one sense throughout the story. At some times, the fire escape is where Tom goes for a smoke in order to relieve himself of Amanda's worrying. It seems that most nights the fire escape also acts as his escape to the outside world where he can go to the movies. Strangely, he escapes from this illusionary world of the apartment to the fantasy of movies which are a part of the external realistic world of the story (just a weird thought I had).

The Glass Menagerie scenes 1 and 2 - Foreshadowing

In the introduction to Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, the author gives an insight into each of the characters. Williams reveals that Amanda's live is paranoia...boy is that true(!) but more on that later. I found it interesting that Williams described the other characters in relation to Amanda even though Tom narrates the story. Perhaps, this suggests that the story is truly about Amanda and not Tom. In the opening of the play, it is fairly evident that Amanda puts plenty of pressure on her children. For example, Tom feels the need to escape for a smoke frequently. Also, Laura was pressured to go to business college which obviously did not work out very well. I am going to be completely honest: before I read the play, I thought Laura's crippled leg was rather severe, so when a stage direction said, "She flounces girlishly toward the kitchenette" I was fairly confused. Once I overcame my initial impression of her handicap, the rest of the play had much less confusion. Although I have read further into the play, I did make an initial note of potential foreshadowing in scene two. When Amanda asked if Laura ever liked a boy, I thought that Laura's response of the boy that called her Blue Roses could be a potential gentleman caller. To my enjoyment, I was correct, well sorta, that this man was a caller for Laura.

The Joy of Cooking

Elaine Magarrel is another author who does not have much of an affinity towards her family in her poem The Joy of Cooking. Magarrel must find some pleasure in thinking of cooking her siblings least desirable features. Her sister must be quite a loquacious person if she would want to cook her tongue. Magarrel must have had it with her sister's talking; otherwise, she would not be thinking of cooking her tongue. Magarrel writes, "and economical-it probably will grow back." I believe this statement is saying any time she can get her sister to stop talking, she finds a way to say something. Even more strange than cooking a tongue, Magarrel wants to cook her brother's heart. This is most likely because her brother is not a very loving person. She describes her brother's heart as dry and small because it can barely feed anyone. She also says that his heart should be served with sour sauce, suggesting he is a rather ill-humored person. Nonetheless, I get the sense that she and her siblings do not get along. If one think of cooking parts of his siblings, that might be a dysfunctional family.

Edward

I am sure glad that the author of Edward is listed as anonymous because this guy sure is troubled. My main point to this would be: "The curse of hell from me shall ye bear (978)." I would like to know what led this man to hate his family. Edward killed his father, leaves nothing for his wife and children, and curses his mother to hell. Edward must have had a troubled childhood. I found it interesting that Edward says he killed his hawk and then his steed before admitting to killing his father. The hawk and steed could be symbolic for his father because his father must have provided for him like a hunting hawk, and his father must have worked hard like a horse for his son. Apparently, Edward still did not appreciate his father, and he had some reason to kill his father. Edward must be from a very high class because he owns "towers and halls." He must not enjoy his lifestyle very much because he has no remorse after killing his father. However, the author gives the feeling that Edward gives his mother the worse punishment of cursing her to hell because he wants her to suffer longer. I would guess that Edward hated his mother more than his father.

The Drunkard - antihero

Oh how I am excited about O'Connor's The Drunkard.  I feel almost as if I have a twisted sense of humor for thinking a drunk nine year-old boy is funny. I am sure that the whole opening of Mr. Dooley is significant, but the only significance I can think of is that Mr. Dooley made an impression on Larry, just as Dooley's funeral made an impression on Larry. The quite sneaky Larry steals a drink of beer from Mick creating a ruckus in the bar and inebriating Larry. Although not so significant to the story, my favorite line was: "The intention was good but the performance was exaggerated, because I lurched right into the wall, hurting it badly, as it seemed to me. Being always very polite, I said 'Pardon' before the second bout came on me (348)." It was rather difficult to contain my laughter in the quiet classroom when I read this with my favorite part being how he apologizes to the wall. More importantly, this leads to Mick taking Larry home which prevents Mick from becoming inebriated. I also enjoyed Larry's cursing the women on the street. I believe Larry is in fact an antihero. Larry's mother practically thanks Larry for stealing his father's drink because it prevented him from getting drunk. This shows that the nine year-old boy, who should have just been a bystander to his father's drunkenness, accidentally becomes a hero to his mother for helping out his father. I enjoyed this story because it was humorous all the while it had an interesting ending.