The importance of dreams in th
The importance of dreams in thEvery day, all over the world people hope and dream. Sadly, many of
these dreams go unanswered, and their hopes unfulfilled. The Glass
Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams is a prime example of this phenomenon.
Most of the characters in this play have unfulfilled dreams and hopes. Tom,
who is stuck in a dead-end job at a shoe factory, wishes to leave and lead a
life of adventure. Amanda hopes for the success and happiness of her two
children. Laura, who has wanted to try and be normal all her life, has lost
contact with reality, and has become like a piece of her own glass collection,
too fragile to move from the shelf.
Tom; although the youngest child is the one faced with the most
responsibility. He is the one forced to work all day in a shoe factory. He
has to give up most of his money to pay the rent for their apartment, and to
pay for all of their bills. This is not the life that Tom envisioned for himself. "Listen! You think I'm crazy about the warehouse?. . . You think I want to spend fifty-five years down there in that-celotex interior! with- fluorescent-tubes! Look! I'd rather somebody picked up a crowbar and battered out by brains- than go back mornings. . . For sixty-five dollars a month I give up all that I dream of doing and being ever!” This statement itself proves that Tom believes all of his dreams are lost because of his situation. Tom wishes for nothing more than to quite his job, and live a life of adventure. “I go to the movies because I like adventure. Adventure is something I don’t have much of at work, so I go to the movies.” Tom does eventually leave home at the end of the play to join the Merchant Marines.
To further the point that this is a play of broken dreams, we can look
at Amanda, the mother of Tom and Laura. Amanda grew up in the South,
on a large plantation...
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