Glass Menagerie in the Case

¶ … Glass Menagerie

In the case of Amanda and Laura in "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams, gender is an important factor because as Levy maintains, Amanda "exploits her maternal concern about Laura's lack of marital prospects as a means of identifying with her own past" (Levy). Amanda is more capable of this because she is a woman and has a past. She has something from which she can draw and, hence, force upon Laura. She projects herself onto Laura and wishes to live vicariously through her. Levy is correct in stating that Amanda uses others to reflect her own self-image. All she has is her past and her daughter and she wishes to not only live through Laura but also cast her past life onto Laura. With this in consideration, gender is significant because the issue is all about being a woman.

The first thing Amanda tells Laura is to resume her seat because she wants her to be "fresh and pretty - for gentlemen callers!" (Williams 1714). Amanda fully expects Laura to want seventeen gentlemen callers just like she had in her youth. Laura, on the other hand, sees no point in it and thinks it is all a waste. Laura tells her mother, "I'm just not popular like you were in Blue Mountain..." (1716). This statement illustrates how Amanda needs Laura if only to "identify with her own past" (Levy). This is obvious when Amanda asks Laura, "What are we going to do the rest of our lives?" (Williams 1718). Here we see how Amanda has attached herself to Laura eternally. This dynamic would never work without the mother and the daughter forces at work. Amanda also wears down Tom's character. She sees him as the breadwinner of the family and is upset with him that he does not follow her order of things. The image she with which Amanda wishes to identify is locked in his personality and future just as it is with Laura's. Their dynamic, too, is contingent upon gender. Levy is correct in his assessment that Tom and Laura are both prisoners of the mirror and their gender is a major contender as to why they feel this way.

Laura, according to Levy, is a character that fears through her relations with others, she will be "reduced" (Levy) to a "mere reflection" (Levy) that is "trapped in the mirror of the other's judgment" (Levy). This is true but gender is not such an important factor in this dynamic. Laura is frail and needy but is that way with everyone she meets, male or female. Laura attempts to appease Amanda when she can; however, she is fearful of telling her the truth. For example, she lies to Amanda about attending Rubicam's Business College because she does not want her to know that she has stopped attending classes. Laura tells Amanda that she did not want to see that "awful suffering look on your face, like the picture of Jesus' mother in the museum!" (Williams 1718). Laura does not want to disappoint her mother but she does not want to become her puppet, either. Laura's life is a delicate balance between her mother's desires and her own. It is easy to see at times how she is beaten down by Amanda but it is also important to note that even as a handicapped female, she shows strength when she is put to the test. While Laura is a female living in a man's world, her situation is more a reflection of her personality than it is her gender. She is handicapped and shy - anyone living during this time with these conditions would probably experience the same type low self-esteem. Levy is correct when he states that, at the end of the play, Laura is free from her mirror. She is the only character that manages to do so with such abandon.

It is the same situation with Jim when it comes to Laura. For the most part, she is trapped in the mirror of his judgment. After she warms up to him, she almost mimics his actions and movements. However, it is important to notice that it does stay this way throughout the poem. Things change as Laura undergoes a slight but very significant transformation. Their interaction is quite different in that it is more positive than Laura's interaction with Amanda. Jim is a male and while that may factor into Laura's mirror image, it is not significant. In fact, it is safe to say that Laura would have interacted with anyone that opened up to her on this level. It is easy to factor gender into the equation especially because Jim is a prospective husband. However, the connection between Laura and Jim goes deeper than that. Suppose Jim had been a female neighbor living next to the Wingfields. Under basically the same circumstances - the two attending the same high school and the two being able to speak to one another openly - Laura would have grown just as fond of a female. The important aspect of this is that Laura needed someone with whom she could truly communicate. While she may have been oblivious to this fact, she was starved for this type pf interaction with another human being. The fact that Jim was a man is secondary to the fact.

As with the matter of Jim, Levy contends, "his love is reserved for his own self-image" (Levy). Levy argues that Jim is consistently using Laura's shortcoming to magnify his positive attributes. This is debatable only because Jim does more than adore himself. While Jim may be self-confident, he is not overly involved with self. We know this because Jim sincerely believes what he tells Laura. While he does gaze at himself in the mirror, it is a stretch to claim that he is concerned only with himself. He is the first person in who knows how many years that encourages Laura in a positive way. It is important to note that Laura responds to this in an affirmative way. Amanda is simply on a husband-hunt for Laura and Laura's development as an individual is secondary to that goal. With Jim, Laura finds positive reinforcement for all the right reasons. He identifies her problem as an "inferiority complex" (1751) and "lack of confidence" (1751). Jim is encouraging her to pursue something that she likes and be something. While Levy may call Jim narcissistic, it is more accurate to identify him as a motivational person. We could see him becoming his generation's Tony Robbins or Joel Osteen. Regardless, gender has very little, if anything at all, to do with this dynamic. Jim could very well be a positive and self-confident female.