The Glass Menagerie, a Play by Tennessee Williams

The Glass Menagerie  play is a melancholy family drama written by Tennessee Williams. It was first performed on Broadway in 1945, meeting with astounding box-office success and a Drama Critics Circle Award. The Characters In the introduction of The Glass Menagerie, the playwright describes the personalities of the drama’s main characters. Amanda Wingfield: Mother of two adult children, Tom and Laura. â€Å"A little woman of great vitality clinging frantically to another time and place...†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Her life is paranoia†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"Her foolishness makes her unwittingly cruel†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"There is tenderness in her slight person†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Laura Wingfield: Six years out of high school. Incredibly shy and introverted. She fixates on her collection of glass figurines. She has â€Å"failed to establish contact with reality†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"A childhood illness has left her crippled, one leg slightly shorter than the other†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"She is like a piece of her own glass collection, too exquisitely fragile†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Tom Wingfield: The poetic, frustrated son who works at a mindless warehouse job, supporting his family after his father left home for good. He also serves as the play’s narrator. â€Å"His nature is not remorseless†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"To escape from a trap (his overbearing mother and crippled sister) he has to act without pity.† Jim O’Connor: The gentleman caller who has dinner with the Wingfields during the second part of the play. He is described as a â€Å"nice, ordinary young man.† Setting The entire play takes place in the Wingfield’s meager apartment, located next to an alley in St. Louis. When Tom begins narrating he draws the audience back to the 1930s. Plot Summary Mrs. Wingfield’s husband abandoned the family â€Å"a long time ago.† He sent a postcard from Mazatlan, Mexico that simply read: â€Å"Hello – and Good-bye!† With the absence of the father, their home has become emotionally and financially stagnant. Amanda clearly loves her children. However, she constantly reprimands her son about his personality, his fledgling job, and even his eating habits. Tom: I haven’t enjoyed one bite of this dinner because of your constant directions on how to eat it. It’s you that makes me rush through meals with your hawk-like attention to every bite I take. Even though Tom’s sister is painfully shy, Amanda expects Laura to be more outgoing. The mother, in contrast, is very sociable and reminisces about her days as a southern belle who once received seventeen gentlemen callers in a single day. Laura has no hopes or ambitions for her future. She quit her typing class because she was too shy to take the speed exam. Laura’s only apparent interest seems to be her old music records and her â€Å"glass menagerie,† a collection of animal figurines. Meanwhile, Tom is itching to leave the household and seek adventure in the wide-open world, instead of being held prisoner by his dependent family and a dead-end job. He often stays out late at night, claiming to go to the movies. (Whether or not he watches the movies or engages in some sort of covert activity is debatable). Amanda wants Tom to find a suitor for Laura. Tom scoffs at the idea at first, but by evening he informs his mother that a gentleman caller will be visiting the following night. Jim O’Connor, the potential suitor, went to high school with both Tom and Laura. During that time, Laura had a crush on the handsome young man. Before Jim visits, Amanda dresses in a beautiful gown, reminding herself of her once-glorious youth. When Jim arrives, Laura is petrified to see him again. She can barely answer the door. When she finally does, Jim shows no trace of remembrance. Out on the fire escape, Jim and Tom discuss their futures. Jim is taking a course on public speaking to become an executive. Tom reveals that he will soon be joining the merchant marines, thereby abandoning his mother and sister. In fact, he purposefully failed to pay the electricity bill in order to join the seaman’s union. During dinner, Laura – faint with shyness and anxiety – spends most of the time on the sofa, away from the others. Amanda, however, is having a wonderful time. The lights suddenly go out, but Tom never confesses the reason! By candlelight, Jim gently approaches the timid Laura. Gradually, she begins to open up to him. He is delighted to learn that they went to school together. He even remembers the nickname he gave to her: â€Å"Blue Roses.† Jim: Now I remember – you always came in late. Laura: Yes, it was so hard for me, getting upstairs. I had that brace on my leg – it clumped so loud! Jim: I never heard any clumping. Laura (wincing at the recollection): To me it sounded like thunder! Jim: Well, well, well. I never even noticed. Jim encourages her to be more self-confident. He even dances with her. Unfortunately, he bumps a table, knocking over a glass unicorn figurine. The horn breaks, making the figurine just like the rest of the horses. Surprisingly, Laura is able to laugh about the situation. She clearly likes Jim. Finally, he declares: Somebody needs to build your confidence up and make you proud instead of shy and turning away and—blushing—Somebody ought to—ought to—kiss you, Laura! They kiss. For a moment, the audience might be lured into thinking that everything will work out happily. For a moment, we can imagine: Jim and Laura falling in love.Amanda’s dreams for Laura’s security coming true.Tom finally escaping the â€Å"trap† of family obligations. Yet, a moment after the kiss, Jim backs away and decides, â€Å"I shouldn’t have done that.† He then reveals that he is engaged to a nice girl named Betty. When he explains that he will not be back to visit again, Laura bravely smiles. She offers him the broken figurine as a souvenir. After Jim leaves, Amanda scolds her son for bringing an already-spoken-for gentleman caller. As they fight, Tom exclaims: Tom: The more you shout about my selfishness to me the quicker I’ll go, and I won’t go to the movies! Then, Tom assumes the role of the narrator as he did in the play’s beginning. He explains to the audience how he soon left his family behind, running away just as his father did. He spent years traveling abroad, yet something still haunted him. He escaped the Wingfield household, but his dear sister Laura was always on his mind. The Final Lines Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be! I reach for a cigarette, I cross the street, I run into the movies or a bar, I buy a drink, I speak to the nearest stranger—anything that can blow your candles out! For nowadays the world is lit by lightning! Blow out your candles, Laura – and so good-bye†¦

How Does Society Define A Good Life Essay - 1228 Words

To have a good life, one must aspire to obtain one. Many people aspire to lead a good life but they nearly never truly obtain one. Life has obstacles, which makes it difficult for a person to lead a good life. Living a good life would be, being able to sustain oneself as well as one’s family members with little to no struggle. Equally important, a person should be happy while leading this so called, â€Å"Good Life.† â€Å"The unexamined life is not worth living.† (Plato.) Knowing what makes you happy and recognizing these aspects will result in obtaining a good life. How does society define a good life? It all is opinion, culture, and class based. If a person lives below the poverty line they would aspire to live above it, doesn’t matter how much above it. If they are stable and could sustain themselves and a family, they’d more than likely be content with their life. No person would aspire to be evicted and have their children live a difficult lif e. Additionally, being evicted is not what a good life entails, a person would consider acquiring money would result in a good life. People who are suffering yet still make are able to make ends meet are the ones who are trying to live a good life. Society is centralized around wealth and craving more than they need. Many people work hard for what they have and are still struggling, while others work hard but are living well above their means. Is it possible for a person who is wealthy, to live a â€Å"good life†? Or is a â€Å"good life†Show MoreRelatedGood And Evil : Lao Tzu Essay1735 Words   |  7 PagesGood and evil exist within every society and every person and with these concepts come the teaching of how to be truly good. 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The Bargaining Power Is Very Crucial In the Negotiation Process

Question: What Is The Bargaining Power Is Very How Crucial In The Negotiation Process? Answer: Introducation: The board was concerned about how they were going to set an agreement with the union on the teachers needs. With the change in the leadership of the board of members, the members wanted to create financial transparency. The interests came from the need to find a solution to cutting expenditures in the budget. Every member of the board was more concerned about saving the school from closure as well as considering the needs of the parents association. In a negotiation process, every party has an interest that makes them have a reason why they want a certain position to the issue in question. However, there is an existence of negotiation interests. This interest helps each party to view their reasons for taking a particular position on the issues. In the negotiation process, reasons behind the partys interests may change the perspectives of the other party. This is likely to arrive at an agreement. (Mannix, 2011). The board's interests, and the interest of the estimated Party: Union inf luenced real decisions in the proposed budget. Interests are significant aspects that relate to human need and could completely influence decisions. The needs aroused by interests represent what the other party could overlook. This happens because all needs are as important to any party. Goals-Priorities The board of members arrived at the goals of the negotiation process through analyzing the process at hand and the issues surfacing the school and the Union. Due to poor financial levels of the school, the main goal of the board was to ensure the transparency of financial information. In the school previously, the head of the board of directors did not portray accountability in finances in the school to the rest of the members. Thus the goal of the board was first to counteract this. In every negotiation process, every party needs to have goals to bring to the table .one of the negotiation strategy is to set goals before the process itself (Salacuse, 2013). These goals help in defining the aim and direction of the negotiation process. Objectives-Priorities In deciding objectives, participants should first analyze the target. In this case, for instance, the board members made goals they hoped to achieve in the negotiation process, starting from the most important ones. Objectives are derived from the issues that need to be settled. These problems give an idea to the parties on what the matters at hand that needs to be resolved. In every negotiation process, there must be set objectives. Objectives help in achieving the goals set. A goal is fully realized if all the objectives or most of them are obtained in the negotiation process. To have a win win situation in negotiation, goals must be met. Bargaining Mix The bargaining power is very crucial in the negotiation process. The bargaining mix involves the issues the parties plan to negotiate. In Newton school dispute, certain issues were included in the negotiation process by the board. The issues in the bargaining mix were decided based on what was causing the disagreement between the Union and the Board. In negotiating the teachers contract, the board felt the need to raise certain issues that could bring understanding between the two parties. The matters in the bargaining power satisfied the interests which the board had. The board hoped to prevent the school from perishing and closure (Lu, 2011). In every negotiation process, the interests of the other parties influence the planning points. Three factors determine the planning points: Open In Newton School Dispute, the most important planning point was the salary. The board felt that the issue of salaries was very delicate. With the current situation in the school, the board felt that it could not increase salaries for the teachers. However, the board gives the union a position to decide if they would forego other things to achieve the salary increment. In this case, the board is willing to make adjustments on their side, if the union has a substantiate reasoning behind their stand. Targe In the case of Newtown negotiation process, the board target was o the benefits to teachers. To achieve the set goals, the board set out to cut the benefits to teachers to save on the school's expenditures. This is led on to the consideration of visibility. Resistance point. In every negotiation process, there must be a resistance point. In the case of this dispute, the companys strategy to use an external consultant to carry out the evaluation of employees performance (Kraay, 2007). The other party was one if those who raised the refusal of using an external consultant. On refusing this, the board was ready to listen to their reasoning and be able to come to a mutual understanding. Concessions In the negotiation process in Newtown School dispute, the board on some concessions based on the good of the school. The board chooses to carry out some strategies despite them not being favorable to the Union but the primary target was on benefiting the school especially on managing the current budget to fit all the needs in question. For instance, the board felt that it could not afford to increase the salaries yet the budget was facing constraints. Concessions are made, especially when the strategy adopted is not in line with the other partys agreement, but it is necessary at the time. Budget issues. The sole reason for this negotiation process is the aspect of the budget. Money is imperative in every negotiation process. It plays a significant role in the issue because it holds the weight of all the other matters. It is the central point of every issue in the negotiation process (Luecke, 2010). BATNA In the case of failure in all the objectives put aside by the board, it can come up with the best alternative way of making a deal in the negotiation process, even if it this alternative does not satisfy the interests of the members. In this instance, the objectives set aside are applicable in arriving at a win-win situation with the teachers union (Lum, 2010). Leveraging the scenario In every negotiation process, both parties come up with their strategies for finding a solution to the problem. Thus, the board will have to hear out the points brought on the table by the Union, before going ahead with their measures. Both parties need to give supporting reasons as to why they think their interests and points are the most suitable ones for the solution. There is need to analyze all the points brought to the table and make an agreement on the dispute that favors both sides. Arriving at a win-win situation involves having an agreed understanding of all the issues at hand for the parties. This agreement should also be favorable in solving the dispute. Leveraging the scenarios simply involves a lot of analysis in both parties points regarding the dispute and weighing options on what is best in arriving at a decision. References Kraay, H. N. (2007). Negotiating identities in modern Latin America. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. Lu, S. (2011). Strategic Communication and Bargaining. Luecke, R. (2010). Best practice workplace negotiations. New York: American Management Association. Lum, G. (2010). Negotiation Fieldbook ( 2nd Edition). New York, USA: McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing. Mannix, E. A. (2011). Negotiation and groups. Bingley, U.K: Emerald. Salacuse, J. (2013, January 01). Negotiation Goals. Transactions and Relationships.

Discrimination against Black and Whites Essay Example For Students

Discrimination against Black and Whites Essay This story, Black Boy is a great book that describes how the author, Richard Wright, suffered in the South of the United States during the time when there was still a lot of discrimination throughout the country. Since the author explained many of his horrible experiences in the past, this book cannot be written in a thin book. This thick book is full of his great experiences that wanted to be read by many people in the world in order to let everybody know the disasters of racism. This racism affected Richard Write a lot and he had to adapt to the environment that he was in, although he didn’t know how he should act in front of white people in the beginning of the story. There are not many examples in the beginning of the story since Richard was a little boy, and he still didn’t know about racism. He did know that something was different between black and whites, but he wasn’t able to understand it since he was too young. He even talks to himself in Pg. 49 that â€Å"I had heard that colored people were killed and beaten, but so far it all had seemed remote. There was, of course, a vague uneasiness about it all, but I would be able to handle that when I came to it. It would be simple. If anybody tried to kill me, then I would kill them first. † After this, he realized the harshness of racism around his society when Uncle Hoskins got shot by a white man when he was at the saloon. And the reason is just because a black man was earning a lot of money and the white man became jealous. Also after this scene, there is an another example in Pg. 172 where he met his classmate, Ned Greenley who had lost his brother since the whites shot him for a specific reason. Ned said, â€Å"Th-they said he was fooling with a white prostitute there in the hotel. † Richard was shocked since he could be in those kinds of situations at any time. Richards starts to think of really going to North soon as possible now. In Chapter nine, there is a scene that is really harsh where Richard sees it, but could do nothing. This scene is at the clothing store for black people where Richard worked. The black employees were treated like slaves in the store; the white owners would push, kick, or slap the blacks. Although Richard saw this scene many times, he never got used to it. Another big thing is the time when Richard sees a black woman getting raped by two white men. This is a part from the book that describes how evil this time of period was. On Pg. 179, it says, â€Å"White people passed and looked on without expression. A white policeman watched from the corner, twirling his night stick; but he made no move. I watched out of the corner of my eyes, but I never slackened the strokes of my chamois upon the brass. After a moment or two I heard shrill screams coming from the rear room of the store; later the woman stumbled out, bleeding, crying, holding her stomach, her clothing torn. When she reached the sidewalk, the policeman met her, grabbed her, accused her of being drunk, called a patrol wagon and carted her away. † When I read this scene, it really hurt my heart. I couldn’t believe that the police didn’t do anything at all and although the policeman knew that the black woman was raped, he accused her of being drunken. .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315 , .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315 .postImageUrl , .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315 , .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315:hover , .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315:visited , .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315:active { border:0!important; } .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315:active , .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315 .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u25a8839c662b31baf1dd7b24edf77315:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: How Does Gatsby Represent The American Dream EssayRichard could have thought of saving the woman, but if he did something to the whites, he could be killed. Therefore, Richard wasn’t able to do anything. All he could do was to feel sorry for the lady. This doesn’t mean that Richard didn’t worry about the woman, it was the way how he had to act in the South. After Richard realizes the social cycle between the whites and the blacks at his work place, he sacrifices his morals to save more money. He begins to bootleg liquor to sell to white prostitutes in the hotel that he worked at. After that, he involves in a ring for scamming tickets. Then, he quickly amasses enough money to move out to the North. Although Richard was working earnest, he quits it because it was very hard to collect money if he had worked earnestly. Since Richard Write had an experience that he does not want to experience anymore, he was able to write this book, which would tell all the readers that discrimination or racism is not a good thing to do. He explained how he had to act as a black man; if he didn’t act like a black man, he might have not gotten the chance of writing this book. Richard Write had explained how blacks should act as a black, and although many horrible things were occurring around him, he wasn’t able to change it since he was just a black man. I feel that Richard really wanted to resist against the white men but if he did, he knew that he was going to be dead. Although in the beginning of the story, he said that, â€Å"If anybody tried to kill me, then I would kill them first†, as a result he wasn’t able to disobey the whites because he was scared of death. Since he was able to adapt to the society that he was in, he was able to earn money and was able to go to the North to have a better life.