Comparison of Glass Menagerie, The Yellow Wallpaper and A Rose for Emily
LiteratureIntroductionLiterature is full of characters who go through mental torture at the hands of an individual or at the hands of the society. As a result, they become "neurotic." Some of these characters are those that have stood by the test of time and are remembered even today by readers who are "normal." This essay would explore the reasons - both personal and societal - that lead to the creation of such characters. It would do so by meaning the neurotic protagonists of The Glass Menagerie, The Yellow Wallpaper and A Rose for Emily.
The Glass MenagerieThe story is about Amanda Wingfield who is a middle-aged woman and an incurable romantic. Abandoned by her spouse and obligated to live in lifeless lower-middle-class environment, she runs away from reality into the fantasy world of her youth. Amanda is the neurotic mother incapable of letting go of the genteel courting ways of her Southern upbringing. She loves her children intensely, however, by her continuous nagging, her never-ending retelling of romantic stories of her youth, and her failure to face the realities of life she stifles her daughter, Laura, and drive off her son, Tom. (McGlinn 511)In the very first scene, she annoys Tom by constantly telling him how to eat who says: "I haven 't enjoyed one bite of this dinner because of your constant directions on how to eat it." (Williams 4) On the very dinner table she goes on to tell her children the stories of her girlhood which the readers are told have been told by her a number of time already. "My callers were gentlemen - all! Among my callers were some of the most prominent young planters of the Mississippi Delta - planters and sons of planters!" (Williams 5-6)The Glass Menagerie is said to be an autobiographical work by Tennessee Williams. According to the author, it is a "memory play." In the story are delineated many personal and societal problems, for instance, the difficulties faced by single mothers and the intricacies a disability might create
The Glass MenagerieThe story is about Amanda Wingfield who is a middle-aged woman and an incurable romantic. Abandoned by her spouse and obligated to live in lifeless lower-middle-class environment, she runs away from reality into the fantasy world of her youth. Amanda is the neurotic mother incapable of letting go of the genteel courting ways of her Southern upbringing. She loves her children intensely, however, by her continuous nagging, her never-ending retelling of romantic stories of her youth, and her failure to face the realities of life she stifles her daughter, Laura, and drive off her son, Tom. (McGlinn 511)In the very first scene, she annoys Tom by constantly telling him how to eat who says: "I haven 't enjoyed one bite of this dinner because of your constant directions on how to eat it." (Williams 4) On the very dinner table she goes on to tell her children the stories of her girlhood which the readers are told have been told by her a number of time already. "My callers were gentlemen - all! Among my callers were some of the most prominent young planters of the Mississippi Delta - planters and sons of planters!" (Williams 5-6)The Glass Menagerie is said to be an autobiographical work by Tennessee Williams. According to the author, it is a "memory play." In the story are delineated many personal and societal problems, for instance, the difficulties faced by single mothers and the intricacies a disability might create
Cited: illiams, Tennessee; Blakesley, Maureen. The Glass Menagerie. Heinemann, 1996. McGlinn, Jeanne M. Tennessee Williams Women: Illusion and Reality, sexuality and Love." Tennessee Williams: A Tribute. Ed. Jac Tharpe. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1977. 510-24. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. Orchises Press, 1990. Benstock, Shari. Feminist issues in literary scholarship. Indiana University Press, 1987. Goodman, Lizbeth. Literature and gender. Routledge, 1996. Faulkner, William; Robinette, Joseph. A Rose for Emily. Dramatic Publishing, 1983. Dilworth, Thomas. A Romance to Kill for: Homicidal Complicity in Faulkner 's 'A Rose for Emily. ' Studies in Short Fiction, Summer99, Vol. 36 Issue 3