Family in The Glass Menagerie

            There are many factors to becoming a family, a family consists of a group of people being supportive, caring, loving etc. towards each other, this is basically what immediately comes to mind when we think of a family, in Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie, The Wingfield's find that many of the family factors become obstacles that they struggle to overcome. Abandoned by her husband, Amanda is left to care for her two children alone (Tom and Laura) because she's the only parent; Tom is left with the position of the father figure in the family, Tom not only pays the bills but he cares for Amanda and Laura. They all have their individual roles in their household, Laura on the other hand sits by quietly, and she's considered the timid peacemaker of the house. In the Wingfield residence, their family struggle of accepting the present, due to how difficult things come to be, they fantasize of adventures, a better future, reflecting on their past and are forced to escape their present both physically and mentally. Each family member has their own view of the future and a different form of escape from each other; this is due to the suffocating feeling they have living in the same home together.
             The Glass Menagerie, is based on Tom Wingfield, who recalls the events from a first person narration, Tom is the son of Amanda, brother to Laura, an aspiring poet and a shoe warehouse employee, who was also designated to the father position when his actual father abandoned them. From that point forward Tom found himself with much responsibility to his family and becomes annoyed with the way he's living his life. Tom begins to think that the only way to be free from his family is to abandon them "The dinner's disastrous outcome leaves Tom certain that unless he abandons Laura and Amanda and makes his own way in the world, their neediness will devour him. Still, he knows that he will be haunted ever after by the memory of the helpless sister he loves" (csun.