A Playwright's Glimpse into Himself-The Purpose of Tom in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie

Josh Proctor
English 1102
Dr. Perry
February 23, 2011
A Playwright’s Glimpse into Himself
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a perfect example of the ability of plays to tell a story while also allowing the playwright to insert hundreds of scattered meanings through symbols, metaphors, language, etc. Not only has Williams inserted enough messages into this play to keep readers thinking for decades to come; he has inserted many aspects of his own life into the play, including a character that is based on himself, Tom. There are many reasons that a writer might want to construct a character from their own personal experience, and Williams achieved a great many things by creating links between his early life and Tom’s. By showing Tom’s thoughts and feelings during the play through narration and dialogue, Williams successfully disclosed many ideas that he no doubt had during his earlier years, yet by showing Tom’s failure to find freedom and by making him a tragic character, Williams forces the reader to feel compassionately not only towards Tom the character, but towards Williams as well. Overall, Tom’s purpose in the play is to show readers Williams’ remorse for leaving his family behind and to provide them with an opportunity to forgive him and members of his family in a way that he could never do.
Williams creates many parallels between the Wingfields and his own family. Starting with the setting, the play takes place in St. Louis, Missouri, yet it is clear that the family has moved there from the South. Williams himself was born in Mississippi and moved to St. Louis, yet also had ties to Tennessee, changing his first name to that of the state after an influential visit there (Spoto). Williams seems to use Tom as a symbol for the city, however, especially when dealing with Amanda, who has retained many of the southern values upon which she was raised. Here Williams uses southern dialect to display Amanda’s character. For example, she has retained the use of the words “nigger” and “darky” when she compares herself to a servant, thus showing that her upbringing in the south was reflective of the plantation culture (Scene 1). In contrast, Tom, who works at a factory, chain smokes, and in other ways seems to exemplify urban culture, argues with Amanda in almost every situation. Williams seems to be using Tom and Amanda as foils to show the ideological differences between the North and the South during the beginning of the twentieth century, and the bitter feuding that can result. It is interesting that Williams chose Tom to represent the north, however, because he himself hated St. Louis and enjoyed himself much more in the South, specifically in Tennessee with his grandparents and in New Orleans (Spoto).
However, the argumentative relationship between Tom and Amanda is not only reflective of their difference in regional identity. Amanda is a near perfect description of Williams’ own mother, Edwina. Small details such as Amanda’s obsession with proper eating methods are a direct comparison to Edwina Williams: “Eat food leisurely, son, and really enjoy it…” (Scene 1) Williams’ own brother, Dakin, leaves no doubt by saying that “The events of The Glass Menagerie are a virtually literal rendering of our family life…and Amanda Wingfield is certainly mother” (Spoto). Amanda is very neurotic and controlling, and therefore readers seem to single her out as the “bad guy” of the play. Williams’ own relationship with his mother was just as rocky as it is portrayed in the play, but it is hard to believe that he wants us to look at Amanda with contempt when he describes her by saying “There is much to admire in Amanda” (Character Description). In fact, the play seems to paint her in a tragic hue, while never straying from the perspective that she is the main force that is harming Tom’s life. Therefore, Williams’ true reason for creating Amanda is to forgive his mother through the play. He shows how Amanda hurts Tom, but he also shows how deeply wronged Amanda is as well, and it is under this compassionate light that his true intentions become visible.
Williams’ own sister, Rose, suffered from severe bouts of schizophrenia for most of her life. Her disability became more severe when Williams’ parents insisted upon a lobotomy to “fix” her condition. This condition seems much more severe than the slight physical defect that afflicts Laura in the play, which “need not be more than suggested on stage.” (Character Description). The comparison between Laura and Rose is not based on mental or physical health; Williams provides the most powerful comparison between Laura and his sister with the relationship between Laura and Tom. It is obvious that Tom not only loves Laura, but also cherishes her. This is directly reflective of Williams’ own feelings for his sister, and Tom’s ending remarks suggest his nagging remorse for leaving his sister behind. “Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be” (Scene 7). Williams utilized the emotionally climactic ending to express his own feelings of remorse regarding his sister. His parents’ decision to lobotomize Rose was not something he agreed with, but since he had left home and did not return often, he was not present to provide opposition. Therefore, the procedure was carried out without his knowledge, and afterwards his beloved sister was never the same (Spoto).
Naturally, this tragedy was heart breaking to Williams. However, it became even worse when coupled with guilt. Had he been there at the time, he might have prevented the surgery from happening, or so he thought. The virtual death of his sister by his parents’ hands became as much his fault as theirs. This knowledge makes the comparison between Tom and Williams very apparent, and it is yet another way that Williams attempts to offer forgiveness through the play. However, in this instance, the forgiveness is directed at himself. By describing Tom’s intense grief and remorse, Williams succeeds in presenting his own feelings. By making it obvious that all peace and comfort that would otherwise have occupied Tom’s life after leaving is decimated by thoughts of Laura, Williams shows the audience how his absence from the family hurt both Rose and himself. It is in this raw and tender display of emotion that we find ourselves, as readers, connecting to Williams through Tom, and eventually forgiving him out of overwhelming compassion. We share his sorrow at the pathetic state of his sister and his anger at himself for not being there for her, yet above all, we recognize that in the end, he was helpless to save her, and therefore should not feel responsible for her situation. This is something that Williams could not prove to himself, and so he lets his readers prove it for him.
The most powerful and unusual reference to Williams’ life comes from the fifth character in the play, who “doesn’t appear except in this larger-than-life photograph over the mantel” (Scene 1). Although there are similarities between the father in the play and Williams’ own father, this is not the point that Williams is trying to make. Williams’ father never left the family, although he was a telephone worker who took long trips, gambled, womanized, and enjoyed other such behaviors. The absent father in the play is not a way for Williams to attack his own father, however, but a method of attacking himself. By creating a part of the Wingfield family that is different from his own, he creates an alternate reality in which he sees the pain that abandoning the family brings, and yet still goes through with it. Tom knows how much his father’s absence has scarred the family, and yet he still chooses to follow in his father’s footsteps and leave. This more than echoes Williams’ own remorse for leaving his family behind; it shows us how harshly Williams views himself. The immorality and apparent selfishness of Tom’s actions make it as hard to forgive Tom as it was for Williams to forgive himself. Even so, the intention is still present. Williams does not want us to give up on Tom or he would never have created the opportunity for us to feel bad for him. By creating this comparison between his own decision and the decision of a father to leave his family behind, however, Williams forces us to make a hard decision to forgive him, but in doing so gives us incredible insight into his own feelings. This openness lets us know Williams’ genuine intent, and his longing for simple acceptance, something we can give to him but that he found difficult to give to himself.






Spoto, Donald. The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams. 1st. Canada: Little, Brown & Company Limited, 1985. 0-141. Print.
Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. Random House, 1944. Print