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Critical Lens Essay
Britanee Gugel

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly", was once said by Antoine De Saint-Exupery. This is an accurate quote to live by and refer to daily since following your instincts is usually the best decision for yourself. It leads you to do exactly what you want to do, instead of anyone getting to your mindset. This quote can also be shown in literature-characters go through hardships within there own minds. But when a third party expresses their own opinion of the problem then the character becomes confused and eventually withdrawled from what they really want. Accordingly, two works of literature that best show how following your heart(mind) is the better decision would be Tennesse Williams play The Glass Minagerie and Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. However, Tom and John Proctor are both faced with making a decision-good or bad, with help or not, a decision must be made. Along with problems in real life these two characters had to go with their "gut" instinct, and in the end-it was the best decision possible. During the 1930's a small apartment in St. Louis housed three people- Tom, Amanda, and Laura. They were deserted by their father/husband figure, this single mother was left to fend for herself. Tom worked at a local warehouse, which didn't pay much. He was the only income in this family, so the pressure was all on him. Tom was also pushed into finding Laura a "gentleman caller", but she was so dazed in her own glass minagerie. Meanwhile, Amanda is living through Laura trying to make her into someone shes not. While this was all taking place, Tom had a massive amount of stress building up inside. His mother was pressuring him in everyway possible and he also had to take on the responsibilty of finding Laura a gentleman caller, which would be hard considering she is different from most of the girls of this time. Tom also smoked and went to the "movies" to escape his reality. Amanda did not accept this behavior

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