"Gosh! Everybody excels in some one thing. Some in many! . . . All you've got to do is discover in what!" (The Glass Menagerie, 1280).
Maybe it's a little cliche, but it's worth noting.
Arguably, the themes we discussed at the beginning of this unit -- realism, family relationships, and memory -- are the most important within the play. However, I really latched on to this little speech that Jim gave Laura about her inferiority complex. Literally, Laura didn't say a word in the entire play after she gave Jim the broken glass unicorn, so I can't be absolutely certain that she received his message; nonetheless, it's a valid and relevant one.
All three Wingfields are somehow trapped. Amanda is stuck in the past, Laura is restricted by her extraordinary shyness, and Tom lacks the adventure he desires. As an audience, we know that Tom moved on when he left St. Louis. Amanda probably didn't move on -- she couldn't get over the fact that Jim was engaged. Laura may or may not have received the message.
The message is this: if we fail to determine and dedicate ourselves to the areas in which we excel, we become trapped and, if you will, fragile, like glass. Jim delivered this speech with a special focus on Laura who he says has an "inferiority complex" (and that seems like a reasonable judgment). If Laura doesn't gain some confidence and offer herself to the world, she'll continue to be trapped at home with her glass menagerie. But the message, as I said before, applies to all three trapped Wingfields. My eloquence is waning and doesn't compare to Jim's, so I'm going to stop now.
Showing posts with label Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Williams. Show all posts
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Let's talk about Tom!
"But I'm not patient. I don't want to wait till then. I'm tired of the movies and I am about to move!" (The Glass Menagerie, 1268).
No, not that Tom.
Surprisingly, not that Tom, either. However, this may be a good opportunity to expose this secret thought of mine that I've had for the past two years -- am I the only one who thinks that Thomas Jefferson looks like Mrs. Bohn? Either I'm crazy or she should seriously look at her ancestry.
One of the questions in the book asks, "What qualities possessed by Tom, and by him alone, make him the proper narrator of the play?"
Tom seems to be the most round character in the play -- temperamental, poetic, friendly, trapped -- so I think he has the most interesting perspective. Only he could have delivered the final few lines of the play because he was the one who felt bounded by St. Louis and needed to find adventure.
An obvious answer the question is that Tom is a poet. He barely focuses on his day job and instead writes poetry; Jim calls him "Shakespeare." The ideal narrator of a play should have the poetic eloquence that Tom has.
Finally, the character list says that Tom is "not remorseless, but to escape from a trap he has to act without pity" (1234567 -- sorry, I got carried away -- 1234). Perhaps Williams wanted to have a narrator who connects with the others characters the least, and Tom fits that description well. That way, we see the characters from a relatively impartial lens instead of, say, Amanda's lens that would be very protective of Laura and critical of Tom.
No, not that Tom.
Surprisingly, not that Tom, either. However, this may be a good opportunity to expose this secret thought of mine that I've had for the past two years -- am I the only one who thinks that Thomas Jefferson looks like Mrs. Bohn? Either I'm crazy or she should seriously look at her ancestry.
One of the questions in the book asks, "What qualities possessed by Tom, and by him alone, make him the proper narrator of the play?"
Tom seems to be the most round character in the play -- temperamental, poetic, friendly, trapped -- so I think he has the most interesting perspective. Only he could have delivered the final few lines of the play because he was the one who felt bounded by St. Louis and needed to find adventure.
An obvious answer the question is that Tom is a poet. He barely focuses on his day job and instead writes poetry; Jim calls him "Shakespeare." The ideal narrator of a play should have the poetic eloquence that Tom has.
Finally, the character list says that Tom is "not remorseless, but to escape from a trap he has to act without pity" (1234567 -- sorry, I got carried away -- 1234). Perhaps Williams wanted to have a narrator who connects with the others characters the least, and Tom fits that description well. That way, we see the characters from a relatively impartial lens instead of, say, Amanda's lens that would be very protective of Laura and critical of Tom.
Realism, Family Relationships, and Memory
"The scene is memory and is therefore nonrealistic. Memory takes a lot of poetic license. It omits some details; others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart" (The Glass Menagerie, 1235).
In my first blog entry for this play, I'll comment on realism versus nonrealism, complex family relationships, and memories -- I came up with these three themes on my own, of course.
The quote above explicitly declares that this play -- or at least the first scene -- is memory, so it's also nonrealistic. I agree that there are many nonrealistic aspects of the play that derive from the fact that the audience is essentially viewing Tom's memory as if it's a video camera.
I noticed quite a few cues for music during the play, which is nonrealistic and very effective. "The Glass Menagerie" plays first when Laura doubts she will receive gentlemen callers, again when Tom hurls his coat at Laura's glass collection, and yet again when Tom and Amanda discuss Laura's future. It becomes a sort of theme song for Laura that connects events that revolve around her and the problems she faces as an extremely shy girl. Also, "Ave Maria" plays when Amanda is giving Tom the silent treatment, which is weird. Maybe it's supposed to parallel Tom's belated apology to her, but the fact remains that Williams didn't specify which "Ave Maria" he wanted to be played. If I were in charge, I would obviously pick Schubert's "Ave Maria."
Moving right along, I would say that this play is actually mostly realistic. A lot of the realism derives from human conditions, including complex family relationships. Amanda and Tom quarrel after Amanda interrupts his "creative labor" (1246). Tom goes to the movies because his own life lacks "adventure" (1252). Tom acts like his father throughout the play, to his mother's dismay -- genetics is realism, right? This kind of stuff occurs in normal, day-to-day life.
In my first blog entry for this play, I'll comment on realism versus nonrealism, complex family relationships, and memories -- I came up with these three themes on my own, of course.
The quote above explicitly declares that this play -- or at least the first scene -- is memory, so it's also nonrealistic. I agree that there are many nonrealistic aspects of the play that derive from the fact that the audience is essentially viewing Tom's memory as if it's a video camera.
I noticed quite a few cues for music during the play, which is nonrealistic and very effective. "The Glass Menagerie" plays first when Laura doubts she will receive gentlemen callers, again when Tom hurls his coat at Laura's glass collection, and yet again when Tom and Amanda discuss Laura's future. It becomes a sort of theme song for Laura that connects events that revolve around her and the problems she faces as an extremely shy girl. Also, "Ave Maria" plays when Amanda is giving Tom the silent treatment, which is weird. Maybe it's supposed to parallel Tom's belated apology to her, but the fact remains that Williams didn't specify which "Ave Maria" he wanted to be played. If I were in charge, I would obviously pick Schubert's "Ave Maria."
Moving right along, I would say that this play is actually mostly realistic. A lot of the realism derives from human conditions, including complex family relationships. Amanda and Tom quarrel after Amanda interrupts his "creative labor" (1246). Tom goes to the movies because his own life lacks "adventure" (1252). Tom acts like his father throughout the play, to his mother's dismay -- genetics is realism, right? This kind of stuff occurs in normal, day-to-day life.
Monday, September 5, 2011
My first-ever sad poems! Hooray!
"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" ("I felt a Funeral, in my Brain," 1).
Emily Dickinson "felt a Funeral in [her] Brain" (1), which I think reveals a lot about the imagery in the poem. She felt the numbness of her mind (8) and the "Boots of Lead" (11), and she heard the beating of Drums (6) and the lifting and creaking of a box "across [her] Soul" (9-10). She felt and heard, but she did not see, so her imagery was confined mostly to those two senses. The images still conveyed the somberness and pain of a funeral, but it was fresh to me because I (presumably like most people) associate events with what we see. Dickinson gave me the perspective of feeling and hearing the event.
Now, I'm going to defend my belief about what happens to the speaker in the final stanza -- she dies. She imagines the feeling of a funeral in her brain for the duration of the poem, and that picture in her mind becomes real when she herself dies at the conclusion. She "dropped down, and down" (18), and death is often associated with descent. She "hit a World" (19) because it was new to her -- she was unfamiliar with death, so it hit her when she died. She "Finished knowing" (20) because she lost consciousness, something that seems to happen when people die.
I'm skipping "The Widow's Lament" in my blog posts, but I have a theory I wish to express. The poem is extremely depressing, which is obvious, but I think that the reason the poem is extremely depressing is that the poet himself had an extremely depressing life because his name is "William Williams."
Emily Dickinson "felt a Funeral in [her] Brain" (1), which I think reveals a lot about the imagery in the poem. She felt the numbness of her mind (8) and the "Boots of Lead" (11), and she heard the beating of Drums (6) and the lifting and creaking of a box "across [her] Soul" (9-10). She felt and heard, but she did not see, so her imagery was confined mostly to those two senses. The images still conveyed the somberness and pain of a funeral, but it was fresh to me because I (presumably like most people) associate events with what we see. Dickinson gave me the perspective of feeling and hearing the event.
Now, I'm going to defend my belief about what happens to the speaker in the final stanza -- she dies. She imagines the feeling of a funeral in her brain for the duration of the poem, and that picture in her mind becomes real when she herself dies at the conclusion. She "dropped down, and down" (18), and death is often associated with descent. She "hit a World" (19) because it was new to her -- she was unfamiliar with death, so it hit her when she died. She "Finished knowing" (20) because she lost consciousness, something that seems to happen when people die.
I'm skipping "The Widow's Lament" in my blog posts, but I have a theory I wish to express. The poem is extremely depressing, which is obvious, but I think that the reason the poem is extremely depressing is that the poet himself had an extremely depressing life because his name is "William Williams."
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