The Glass Menagerie - Essay Example
Kyla Decker
English 104
Abstract #3 Assignment
26 April 2012
The article I read was called ‘Through the Soundproof Glass’: The Prison of Self Conciousness in “The Glass Menagerie.” By the title alone, I had an idea that this was going to be an article trying to prove that because of Amanda, a selfish woman who desperately exploited that motherhood to her was a means of reliving “the legend of her youth,” (1) had a direct impact on the self conscious minds of her children. She often talked about her popularity in the past, and how “she was visited one Sunday in Blue Mountain by seventeen gentleman callers.” Figuratively, she trapped her two children, Tom and Laura in the mirror of her own judgement. Their father abandoned the family and was never heard from again. In this article, Levy points out how Amanda was constantly making comments about how her son, Tom would end up just like his father, she “insists that his desire to leave home is simply a manifestation of selfishness, and further proof that he will end up as faithless and irresponsible as his father.” The irony of that remark is that she still had the photograph of their father hanging on the wall in the living room, and she still wore her wedding band dispite her obvious hatred toward her him. Amanda never thought that maybe she was the reason that Tom never wanted to be around. Tom even explains to his mother, “It seems unimportant to you, what I’m doing—what I want to do.” (3). He tried to explain to his mother that the things that were important to him would not matter to her.. Laura, Amandas daughter was very shy. She considered herself “crippled,” due to a slight inequality in the length of her legs. Her mother almost enabled her to feel crippled because she made her feel even more self-conscious about herself, and never spoke on positive notes. One day, Amanda instructed Laura to stand in front of a mirror after helping groom and dress her. “Now look at yourself, young lady. This is the
English 104
Abstract #3 Assignment
26 April 2012
The article I read was called ‘Through the Soundproof Glass’: The Prison of Self Conciousness in “The Glass Menagerie.” By the title alone, I had an idea that this was going to be an article trying to prove that because of Amanda, a selfish woman who desperately exploited that motherhood to her was a means of reliving “the legend of her youth,” (1) had a direct impact on the self conscious minds of her children. She often talked about her popularity in the past, and how “she was visited one Sunday in Blue Mountain by seventeen gentleman callers.” Figuratively, she trapped her two children, Tom and Laura in the mirror of her own judgement. Their father abandoned the family and was never heard from again. In this article, Levy points out how Amanda was constantly making comments about how her son, Tom would end up just like his father, she “insists that his desire to leave home is simply a manifestation of selfishness, and further proof that he will end up as faithless and irresponsible as his father.” The irony of that remark is that she still had the photograph of their father hanging on the wall in the living room, and she still wore her wedding band dispite her obvious hatred toward her him. Amanda never thought that maybe she was the reason that Tom never wanted to be around. Tom even explains to his mother, “It seems unimportant to you, what I’m doing—what I want to do.” (3). He tried to explain to his mother that the things that were important to him would not matter to her.. Laura, Amandas daughter was very shy. She considered herself “crippled,” due to a slight inequality in the length of her legs. Her mother almost enabled her to feel crippled because she made her feel even more self-conscious about herself, and never spoke on positive notes. One day, Amanda instructed Laura to stand in front of a mirror after helping groom and dress her. “Now look at yourself, young lady. This is the