Drama-Death

During the course of the story I thought maybe the title is just really a metaphor for the death of Willy's psyche. It think it was literal as well as metaphorically. Willy did die in the mind. He became so incapable of normalcy because of his lack of knowledge of what was present and what was not. His flashbacks ruled his mind and showed the readers what he used to be. He was the big man on campus but only for a short time in business as well as with his sons who adored him. Everyone knows that something is going to happen to Willy because of the title but what makes the play dramatic is the way in which we see Willy deteriorate. We watch as little snippets of information of his past resurface explaining why Biff hates him so much. These little informational flashbacks provide clarity on what makes Willy, Willy. We then understand why he is going insane. He hates that is amounted to nothing...in his opinion. In his wife, Linda's opinion, Willy is a god. But the real dramatic flair of the story are the ways in which secrets are revealed about things that was almost talked about in code in the dialogue between the characters when in the present.

Realism

During the course of the play the reader is presented with scenarios of reality and flashbacks. I feel that this is a very realistic play in how there are occurrences where people can fall to madness. But what made it seem almost too unrealistic were the names of the children, Biff and Happy, along with Willy's flashbacks. They seemed so rehearsed in the way that Biff would say "gee, dad we surely did miss you." It almost seemed overdone on purpose. It was like Willy's memory was overdoing the scenes from the past to make them sappy and cheesy. Also the way in which Willy's flashback began to mix with his dialogue with his flashback. I think Willy's delusions of good times from the past along with bad are stemming from occurrences that remind him that are in the present. It makes a very confusing read but when broken down it brings two realities one from the past and one from the present together. Any person would go insane from all the different thoughts that are seemingly uncontrolled and spontaneous on what one will remember!

DO I sense some favortism

So while reading the story I was angered at how the parents really ignored Happy. He was described as as exuding "raw sexuality" and seemed to have a good relationship with his brother, Biff, so i assumed both parents would love them equally. Well I was extremely wrong because the entire story seems to revolve around Willy and Biff's relationship. Yes Willy is the central character and we the readers watch while he falls into delusions but he always talks about Biff. I mean even Linda ignores Happy when he says "I think I'm getting married mom." All LInda does in reply is ok well get some rest!!! I feel like there is a significance in the way Happy is treated but I do not see it. I know he is very selfish and even disowns his own father in public but he almost has a reason to. When Willy was off admiring Biff all happy wants is to be acknowledged on if his father sees he is losing weight. There is the image of perfection that seems to be the main point in the story. The family must appear perfect to the outside world. they must be on top in all that they do. And in the end Happy the child who was clearly not the favorite is the one that wants to be on top in the business world for his father. The very reason his father went insane and Biff is the only one who seems to understand and see that.

My take on the glass menagerie

I really thought that this play was very modern. Even though it was in the 1930's it still possessed timeless problems that every family in every generation can go through or has gone through. The only difference is in the way the drama unfolds. A picture of the deadbeat father would not light up in a moment of dramatic irony when the son would say something that alluded to the father. Things such as that do not happen. But regardless, the play was really about a dysfunctional family trying to keep everything together. The only one who seemed the most able to, in the end, fled from his family. Tom could not take being in the enclosed space. I think the portrait of the father lighting up when Tom talked was a foreshadowing of how Tom would run out on his family jus like his dear old dad. The only thing I was confused about was the symbolism in Laura blowing out the candle at the end.

Glass Menagerie---Glass a metaphor

Through out the play I was trying to piece together the significance of the glass menagerie which is the title of the play. It is also repeated several times throughout the play by characters and also in the stage directions where music called the "Glass Menagerie" is sometimes played. I could not figure it out until in the stage directions there is a description of Laura as being fragile and possessing a different kind of beauty. It really made me see how Laura who takes care of these glass animals is also a fragile girl. Since she is so shy because of being crippled she becomes a very different girl that goes unnoticed and has a gentle temperment. She is always worrying about her glass menagerie breaking when in reality she herself is worrying about herself breaking. Amanda the mother is also on the precipice of the breaking point when she has erractic behaviour about her past and present circumstances. It becomes apparent that this family is on thin ice with their relationship with each other and also in how they deal with the problems they are faced with.

The Glass Menagerie--Reality and Nonrealistic

DUring the course of the glass menagerie the reader is included in the narrations led by Tom, a character in the play. He starts out by distinctly describing the way in which the play will be carried out and then proceeds to describe how his memory is not all realistic. That is what struck me. Since when is memory not realistic? Then it hit me, sometimes when one remembers an event their mind can formulate their own perception of what happened. One can make an event more happy or sad or any other emotion. Tom did not so much say this but alluded to it in his very long, wordy speech. SO memory is what makes the play have a dream like quality and make it non realistic. While some part of it have been remembered correctly so they are in fact real. I think the memory is what gives the play its dramatic effect which makes it able to be on the stage and engage the audience with the dramatic ironies added onto the play.