The Glass Menagerie Post #2: Maybe it's not all Amanda's fault

             Scenes 5-7 of The Glass Menagerie emphasize the ways in which Amanda's treatment of Laura has the potential to actually benefit her. Although Amanda focuses all of her energy on convincing herself that Laura is beautiful and perfect like she wants her to be, her efforts to ensure that a gentleman caller visits Laura ultimately force Laura to reach a level of understanding and contentment that she otherwise would not have known.  Without Amanda's constant nagging and returning her to reality, Laura would completely lose sight of her identity.  Laura would escape into her own world, and never confront her problems.  It is because Amanda never gives up and never loses hope in the idea that Laura could potentially marry that Laura is able to connect with Jim on an emotional level and face her biggest fears.  In other words, Amanda's persistant and controlling tendencies are both the source of and the solution to her fears.

            Amanda's worst trait with regards to parenting remains that she brags about herself and how she acted at Laura's age, and creates a model of behavior that Laura could never achieve.  However, she still shows sympathy and a desire to help Laura in the form of patience and persistence in her efforts to find Laura a caller.  Amanda begs Tom to help find Laura a male caller, and even though she partially is acting on her own selfish motives to leave Laura, she still is working towards a better future for Laura to help mend the wounds that she herself has created.  During Laura's encounter with Jim, there are many specific instances in which Laura tries to leave Jim, but Amanda forces her to return to him.  Right as Jim arrives, Amanda asks Laura to open the door and Laura blatantly refuses.  Laura begs for Amanda to act for her and relieve her of her fears.  Rather than giving in, Amanda refuses and orders Laura, "Laura Wingfield, you march right to that door!"(57).  In this way, Amanda forces Laura to confront her fears rather than run from them, even after enabling Laura to escape reality for so much of her life.  As the night goes on, Laura repeatedly avoids Jim by moving to a different room and calling herself ill.  When Jim offers to help Amanda, Amanda asks Jim to visit with Laura in the other room.  She suggests to Jim, "And how about coaxing sister to drink a little wine?  I think it would be good for her!"(10) in order to help Laura gain the confidence to speak with and compose herself next to Jim.  When Jim obeys Amanda's requests and privately speaks with Laura in the candlelight, he is able to provide Laura with advice regarding what she should do in order to be less shy and insecure.  In my opinion, this helps Laura and benefits her because she is not only forced to practice socializing with another man, but the man she socializes with brings her constructive criticism that she can apply in the future.  Jim also comforts Laura by telling her, "...every has problems, not just you, but practically everybody has got some problems....look around you and you will see lots of people as disappointed as you are"(76).  Therefore, Amanda's persistant efforts to bring Jim closer to Laura allow Laura to gain knowledge, happiness, and contentment.  Consequently, Laura benefits from Amanda's actions.

           I personally can relate to the idea that sometimes it takes other people to rope you into doing things that you don't want to do in order to be happy.  I think there are a lot of risks that people wouldn't take on their own.  Often friendships are formed when one person introduces another person to someone they would not normally talk to, and the friendships formed during these times are stronger than expected and probably otherwise would not have been formed. Altogether, I think that in daily life, it's really important to have someone there to influence your actions because you would miss out on a lot of things if you only ever did what was comfortable for you. 

The Glass Menagerie Blog Post #1: Amanda and Laura's Relationship

           Throughout scenes one through four of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, Amanda places too much pressure on Laura, and consequently strips Laura of the ability to make her own decisions and lead her own life. Not only does Amanda's control keep Laura from pursuing her own interests, but it also hinders her ability to be productive and fit into society, because she knows that she must succeed or else her mother will consider her an immense failure.  When Amanda pays to put Laura through business college, Laura is overwhelmed by nerves because she is finally placed in a position where what she does could make or break her relationship with her mother as well as her entire future.  She becomes so overwhelmed that according to her teacher her "hands shook so she couldn't hit the right keys!  The first time we gave a speed test she broke down completely"(2.16).  Rather than facing her own problems, she retreats into her own imagination and leads a life completely different than her mother anticipates.  She is so terrified of admitting to her mother that she has stopped attending school that she spends countless days walking around, visiting the zoo and walking around the parks in order to avoid her priorities while convincing Amanda that she is still in school.  From the beginning, Amanda does not simply want Laura to find a job so that she can be happy and lead the best life possible, but rather so that she can provide for her family and secure a financially stable future.  There is no actual feeling of love or concern motivating Amanda's decision to force Laura to find a job or find a husband.  Amanda does not realize that she is to blame for Laura's nerves, and instead places the blame on Laura.  Upon discovering Laura's dishonesty, Amanda scolds Laura, "So what are we going to do for the rest of our lives?  Stay home and watch the parades go by?  Amuse ourselves with the Glass Menagerie, Darling? ... We won't have a business career-- We've given that up because it gave us nervous indigestion!"(2.34)  This constant source of pressure and dissatisfaction does nothing to aid Laura in overcoming her shyness, and in fact serves as a catalyst.  Amanda convinces Laura that she is a failure by exposing the child-like qualities of her actions rather than encouraging her to improve her life.  Laura finds so much pleasure in her glass distractions that when they shatter, she finds it difficult to hide her disappointment.  When Tom's jacket shatters Laura's glass, she "cries out as if wounded"(3.18) and "covers her face and turns away"(3.18).  Since Laura has invested so much in her glass, and become so familiar with using it as her escape from reality, she is unable to function without it and is physically and emotionally hurt by the loss of such sentimental items.  This proves that Amanda's constant pressure that she places on Laura does not help her, because she in turn becomes too invested in distractions such as glass which could shatter and break at any moment.
            In my own life I know what it's like to be pressured into doing something to the point where it becomes terrifying to do.  Not only wanting to please others, but wanting to prove to myself that I am capable of doing something is enough to trigger nerves that could hinder my ability to think clearly and perform properly.  Sometimes no matter how focused you are I think that external forces and pressures can be a distraction.  For example, when basketball players are shooting free throws, they often miss shots that they could easily make as a result of the pressure and the amount of people watching them and wanting them to succeed.

Blog Post 3: Wartime Mentality

         Throughout book three, Hemingway highlights the ways in which there is little room for morality in war by returning to a similar writing style as book one with detached thoughts and a focus on concrete details.  Every soldier is forced to think practically rather than ethically, which takes a significant toll on their productivity as well as their morale. When Rinaldi explains his time spent at the front without Frederic, he states, "I am very depressed by it...I work all the time... No, by god, I dont think; I operate"(165).  This robotic lifestyle reflects Rinaldi's lack of morality and lack of emotional attachment as a result of his numbing and mentally disturbing wartime environment.  There is also no room for soldiers to be emotionally disturbed by death- even when it takes their most beloved friends. After Aymo's death, none of the soldiers discuss their feelings about what has happened.  Frederic silently observes, "Aymo lay in the mud with the angle of embankment...his cap over his face...he looked very dead"(185) in matter-of-fact, concrete manner.  Rather than dwelling on the emotional damage Aymo's death has inflicted, Frederic obsesses over who killed him and why because it is more practical and important for Frederic's immediate survival.  This is reflective of the circumstances of war-- there is no time to worry about things that are not immediately deciding whether or not you survive.  As a result, emotional trauma is tucked away and forgotten until it eventually destroys an individual in the way that it destroys Frederic and causes him to run away from the war.  As Frederic begins to distract himself with thoughts of Catherine, and less practical thoughts in general, he is less successful as an officer. He also realizes that morally, he has no obligation to the Italian army after being mistreated.  Frederic contemplates, "If they shot floorwalkers after a fire in the department store because they spoke with an accent they had always had, then certainly the floorwalkers would not be expected to return when the store opened again for business"(200) after understanding that he would have been shot simply for his accent as a result of the doubt that was spreading through the Italian army.  In other words, once Frederic realizes the unjust and immoral treatment of soldiers taking place, he no longer wishes to partake in the war and runs away.  Therefore, the idea that in a time of war, it is necessary to forget about morals and only consider concrete details and occurences is reinforced.
           In my own daily life I am reminded of how important it is to be morally and emotionally attached to things in order to remain mentally stable.  Also, I experience the desire to disobey people who mistreat me in a similar manner to Frederic. Often in today's world when soldiers return from a time of war they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the violent and immoral occurrences they have experienced and have not yet fully considered the virtue of.  I think this supports the idea that war relies on the ability to think practically and realistically rather than idealistically and emotionally.

Blog Post #2: The Significance of Milan

Moving forward with the theme of detachment, throughout book two Hemingway begins to relay the idea that not only is war morally perplexing to soldiers, but it also serves as a disturbance from the beautiful lives that could be enjoyed in the absence of war.  Henry in particular questions why he is partaking in this gruesome, dangerous war that almost cost him his life.  However, part of what makes this question so unsettling for him is his augmented fascination with his love interest—Miss Barkley.  As he grows closer to her, the idea of serving in the war becomes more and more disturbing and confusing.  While Henry recaps his time in Milan, he stresses that, “The west front did not sound so good.  It looked as though the war were going on for a long time”(88).  Therefore, because Henry spent more time with someone he loved and enjoyed a happier lifestyle, the war sounded worse than before. 

Also, Hemingway emphasizes Henry’s views of Milan from his hospital bed as well as the beautiful weather in order to reestablish the idea that Milan, the place in which he is trapped in a hospital, is still a place where good things can happen.  Henry asks Mrs. Gage to open the window and discloses that, “I looked out on a balcony and beyond …over the tiled roofs and saw white clouds and the sky very blue”(86).  The bright blue sky symbolizes happiness, and is different than the sky Henry would observe if he was fighting a war, or risking his life.  During his time in Milan, Henry also takes a greater interest in observing the civilization surrounding him.  Henry observes specific details such as, “rich green farms with their irrigation ditches”(118), and “big overgrown gardens and ditches with water flowing and green vegetable gardens”(118), suggesting that he finds comfort in his surroundings and the simplicity and innocence of a lifestyle that is not directly experiencing the adverse affects of the war.  He would not be noticing these things and describing them so elegantly if he did not feel emotionally connected to them. 

I can personally relate to Henry’s experiences of observing his surroundings and finding beauty in the mountains and farmlands of Italy and Austria.  While on the Europe Trip with the school, I drove through the same mountains and farmlands.  I noticed how bright and blue the sky was in comparison to the bright green grass, and I can personally report that the stunning scenery of these countries has the ability to change anyone’s mood and outlook.  Just from looking out the windows of the bus, I was transfixed by the picturesque qualities of the farmlands, the classic European architecture, and the landscape.  It actually does emit the idea that anything is possible and life is well worth living- a drastic change from any individual’s outlook while serving in a seemingly pointless and never-ending war.

Blog Post #1

            Throughout the first book of A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, the most interesting theme remains that war is viewed by soldiers and those directly experiencing it as unnecessary, and out of their control.  At times it felt like the soldiers, drivers, and other men involved in the war did not fully understand all of the objectives of the war in which they were fighting.  Not only do the soldiers lose sight of what they are fighting for, but they also harbor doubts about whether or not the fighting will end.  When the priest visits the narrator in the hospital, the narrator asks, "And the ones who would not make war? Can they stop it?"(71), to which the priest replies, "I do not know"(71).  In this way the uncertain and unpredictable nature of war ultimately serves to confuse and frustrate those wishing for its end throughout the novel, eventually leaving them hopeless. I think this is significant because it impacts the motives behind each soldier to continue on and serve their country, and influences how well they will behave in times of need.
           It also is interesting to me how disconnected the ambulance drivers and mechanics feel to those with political power in their country.  Passini asserts that, "There is a class that controls a country that is stupid and does not realize anything and never can. That is why we have war"(51) as if to suggest that war will always be a threat to the world, and there will always be a significant gap between the opinions of those with political power and the average citizen.  Also, Passini implies that the fate of the country is completely out of the population's control, and the war is a consequence of living in a nation with wealthy individuals as decision-makers for the entire country. Lastly, when discussing a permanent peace, the priest contends, "It is never hopeless.  But sometimes I cannot hope. I try always to hope but sometimes I cannot"(71).  Therefore, even the priest, who is meant to provide soldiers with hope and faith, is doubtful that there will be an end to the war and is unable to remain optimistic and hopeful.  In essence, the idea that war is never-ending and a constant threat to countries in the future is upheld even from the perspective of the priest.
           The lack of control that individuals such as Passini feel during this time is reflective of the lack of political power certain individuals feel in the world today. Countries without democracies such as North Korea and China hold similar requests for control as individuals living under the fascist dictatorship of Mussolini during World War II.  In other words, average citizens feeling unjustly represented by government is not something that only took place during WWII, but it is still taking place today, and therefore is extremely relevant.  Also, In today's world many people are still doubtful that a permanent peace and a world without wars will ever be achieved.