Modern Stages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Modern Stages - Essay Example The Glass Menagerie also represents a multitude of themes, although it predates the ‘kitchen sink’ concept and does not share the same number of social themes that are represented in A Taste of Honey. In The Glass Menagerie, the mother, Amanda, is developed through the memory of Tom and represents his point of view on her character. He saw his mother as a smothering influence, a woman who allowed self-deceit to rule the decisions that she made about her children. In A Taste of Honey, Helen is a woman who neglects her daughter, her actions ruled by her own desires over the welfare of her child. Both women represent a disconnection from both the world and from their children. Amanda remembers her life in her youth and is disconnected to the realities of the life that she and her children are living, while Helen also seeks her youth but does so at the expense of her child. Both mothers end up losing their children through their inability to connect to their role as mother i n regard to nurturing the potential of their children rather than pampering the memories of their own youth. In creating mothers that were disconnected from their children, the dynamic of crossing into independence, for better or worse, and adulthood was explored within each play. The Glass Menagerie The story of The Glass Menagerie (1944), written by Tennessee Williams, is a story that supports a complexity of themes that are supported by the ideas of family. Family is the core of the play, the work discussing the dynamics that both plague and connect individuals. The play has only four characters. Tom is the protagonist with his memory of the events defining the perspective from which they are related. Therefore, it must be remembered that each character is defined by his memory of them, rather than by their own motivations. His mother is characterized in the way in which he perceived her, just as his sister is defined by his memory. Therefore, his mother’s abrasiveness mig ht be relevant to his experience of her rather than encompassing the whole truth of her existence. Just as he remembers her sister as singularly focused on the glass animals, this may have been her experience with his sister, not understanding other aspects of her life. The story revolves around an event where he brings home a man to visit his sister, Laura. The hope of his mother, Amanda, is that the man will be attracted to Laura, thus giving her a future. Laura has a bad foot, which can be seen as a symbol of her vulnerability. The way in which her character is presented suggests a mental vulnerability as well. As the play progresses, it is revealed that Jim, the man Tom has brought home, is actually engaged to another woman and while he is kind to Laura, he is not in a position to engage in a relationship. The argument between Amanda and Tom over the event seems to be the last catalyst to Tom leaving his sister and his mother to their own devices. This is a haunting memory, one that reflects regret, relief, and is laced with a sense of both hope and hopelessness (Williams 1999). A Taste of Honey A Taste of Honey (1958) was written by an eighteen year old girl who was expressing a very sophisticated collection of themes within her work. Shelagh Delaney writes a story of that also reflects the dynamics of family and the central theme of the play revolves around the differences between reality and the dream of reality. Themes of race, gender, sexual orientation, familial devotion, and class are all explored within the framework of the