Conduct some brief research on Tennessee Williams, the author of The Glass Menagerie, and consider how the character of Tom may be influenced by Williams’ own life. Your response should be at least three sentences long.
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The character of Tom may be influenced by Williams’ own life, specifically his childhood. His parent’s marriage ultimately give him inspiration for the family in The Glass Menagerie. He was predominantly by his mother while his father, on the other hand, is a demanding salesman who preferred work instead of parenting.
The character of Tom may be influenced by Williams’ childhood. He was mainly raised by his mother. He was withdrawn from college by his father and his father suggested him work as a sales clerk at a shoe company. He did not like the job but still worked there. Williams has an older sister who diagnosed with schizophrenia, a mental illness. He provided care for his sister.
The character of Tom may be influenced by Williams’ own life because William’s mother was the one who took care of him. Also, like Tom’s family in the story, William’s father did not play the role of a responsible father and husband in the family. In addition, Williams’ life changed when he moved to St. Louis while the setting of The Glass Menagerie was in St. Louis as well. Also, both Tom and William didn’t like their job despite working there.
The character of Tom reflect in some way Tennessee Williams own life. Both William’s and Tom’s family situation was not the best example of a successful marriage. While Tom’s father was irresponsible and a drinker, William’s father was a salesman who preferred work over parenting. Both William and Tom was predominantly raised by their mothers and had a negative impressions of their fathers. Lastly, both were placed at a job that they hated, but had not choice.
The character of Tom may be influenced by Tennessee William’s own life because Tom was like the younger version of himself during his childhood. Both families included a mother that wasn’t happy in the marriage/family situation and a sister that suffered from an illness. Tom and Willam have similarities between each other, showing that maybe Tom was basically William. They both went to St. Louis and had their father pulled them out of school to work at a place they didn’t like.
I made a small research whether the story was truly based on author’s real life. From what I understood, play is based on his life memories and autobiography. Moreover, both he and his character Tom were raised by their mothers and didn’t have positive impression of their fathers as well as had similar life, where both of them were unhappy with their lives and current jobs they had.
Laura in the play of The Glass Menagerie represents Tennessee Williams himself. He’s shy, awkward and got bullied by his classmate. Williams died alone in a hotel room, he was a depressed alcoholic with writer’s block. They both struggle in their unhappy family life. As a man, they are expected to care for the family. Tom, in this case, is influenced by his family because of the situation their in. In both ends they are stuck.
The character Tom is influenced by the author’s own life in several ways. First, the name of the character, Tom is from the author’s name Thomas Lanier Williams III. Tom’s personality is also influenced. Tom is adventurous and hated the warehouse job, just like William who thought his life is boring and began literacy adventure. Tom loves her crippled sister, Laura. Similarly, William also has a sister, Rose, who is mentally ill and visited her frequently. Tom is a mirror image of William’s early to middle-age life.
I think Tennessee Williams created the character of Tom because of his own childhood memories and what he had experienced. There are lots of similarities between both of them. For example, in the story Tom’s father left them and never even showed up in the story and in Williams’s childhood, his father was a salesman who preferred work instead of being a good parent. Also, another similarity was that they both like to write poems and stories to express their feelings.
I think Tennessee Williams created the character of Tom to rememorate his difficult Childhood. Specifically how he was in a family with an absentee father and a mom who always pressure him to do better. furthermore, there are a lot of similarities between the author and the character: both of them had aclcoholic father and both were raise by their mom. Maybe it is also a way to remind him where he come from when he read back this play. Just like playing honor to himself.
“The Glass Menagerie” is a way for Tennessee Williams to show his audience the childhood that he had. Williams recreates his life as the character Tom, with many similar parallels to his life. William’s family can also be seen the play as well. William’s father is a travelling salesman who was a heavy drinker isn’t seen in the play. When he is mentioned, Tom’s mother tells him that his father loved to drink, just like William’s father. William’s sister and mother are shown through Amanda and Rose. The two characters and there counterparts have a struggle or a flaw that keeps them in the past and unable to move forwards in the modern world.
In “The Glass Menagerie” the character of Tom could be influenced by Tennessee William’s own life, such as they both like to write poems and stories to express their feelings, and they both mostly raised by their mothers and had a negative impressions of their fathers.