One of the most interesting relationships which can be seen in The Glass Menagerie is that of Tom and his sister Laura. One will find that he has a lot of love and respect for Laura and that despite this, his perception of his sister is somehow problematic. Because, as the narrator of the play and also for the reason that he is recollecting it, it is possible that most of his memories of Laura are distorted (Leverich, 6). The play shows that Tom, in spite of his hiding his feelings behind an often cruel demeanor, has a lot of love for his sister and this is seen especially where, after his mother insists that he help Laura get a suitor, he invites his friend Jim home as a potential suitor. Moreover, despite the fact that he is fed up with his family and has for a while had the desire to escape them, Tom seems to stay for the purpose of ensuring that he supports his mother in taking care of Laura. Laura is also seen to have a positive view of her brother because despite his being younger than her, she is more often than not considerate towards him and does not say or do anything that could potentially hurt him. One will see that it the relationship between these two characters is a normal sibling one where there is great love between the two of them even though there are instances where there is potential conflict. Laura’s deformity is one of the underlying themes of the play and this is because of the fact that although she has a lot of potential in living a normal life, she chooses to live a secluded one and she does this with the open support of her brother, who considers it the best thing for her.
The way in which Tom treats Laura can make the audience speculate that it is not a matter of his cruel towards her but that he has an incestuous obsession with her. It is possible that Tom is secretly in love with his sister and that because of the shame that he has towards these unnatural feelings, he chooses to treat her cruelly in order to hide or overcome them. In addition, these feelings can be seen to manifest themselves in several instances, especially where he wholly supports Laura’s decision to leave high school and live at home in complete seclusion from the rest of society. It seems that Tom supports his sister’s decision not for any purpose of protecting her from society, but because of his need to keep her to himself so that she might not catch the eye of another man. As a consequence of his not wanting his sister to get involved with anyone, and despite the fact that he at first resists his mother’s attempts to make him help his sister meet potential suitors, Tom finally agrees to do so by bringing Jim home for dinner. Jim is an old friend of both of these siblings from high school and in fact, Laura had been secretly interested in him for a long time (Crowther). However, one detail which arises later is that Jim is engaged to be married and therefore cannot be a suitor for Laura; a situation which might make one suspect that Tom had brought him home on purpose. One of his most likely reasons is that he might have wanted to hurt his sister to the extent that she lost all hope of getting married and remained alone for the rest of her life; most likely a result of his incestuous feelings towards her. Furthermore, by bringing Jim home as a potential suitor, it is likely that he only did it to please his mother as well as assuage the guilt he might have felt at not doing anything to help his sister.
In spite of his cruelty towards Laura, and his desire to escape from her and their mother, most of the thoughts that dominate Tom revolve around them. His aspiration for higher things in life is often overshadowed by the need to ensure that Laura is well taken care of and the need for his support that his mother must have in order to make this come true (Saddik, 25). Tom seems to be a man of contradictions because even though he might not show it, it is his deep love for Laura which keeps him home with his family. It is possible that it Laura did not have her condition or that if he had lived alone with his mother, Tom would most likely have left home sooner than he did. However, because he insists that Laura is hopelessly peculiar and that she cannot be able to survive in the real world, it is possible that he wants to protect her from the society which will most likely than not attempt to make Laura’s life miserable. This protective nature is in contrast to the attitude taken by his mother and Jim, who believe that her peculiar nature is a positive thing which makes her a unique individual in the society. Despite these positive statements concerning Laura, it seems that Tom does not relent on his desire to see his sister live a sheltered life and this creates a situation where there is obviously an increase of his cruel treatment of her as seen when he eventually destroys her beloved collection of glass figurines. Tom has a low opinion of Laura and believes that she is not capable of living in the real world; a belief which his mother, Amanda, doe not share. It is because of Tom’s opinion of Laura that he is constantly nagged by his mother to open his eyes and seen Laura for who she really is; a unique individual whose uniqueness can play a positive role in making her life better.
Laura, on the other hand is an individual who is deeply broken both physically and emotionally with the latter being as a result of the negative attitude towards her that her brother develops. She is an extremely compassionate individual who, despite her disability, does not feel sorry for herself and instead shows a lot of empathy towards her brother, even though his attitude towards her often borders on absolute cruelty. This empathy can be seen in the scene described by her mother where she cries for the unhappiness which her brother is undergoing in life and this can be contrasted to the selfishness which her brother displays towards her (“The Collected Stories of Tennessee Williams”, 110). Laura has been the ever loyal sister who, despite her brother’s cruelty and treatment of her, does no do anything bad or in revenge towards him. Instead of developing a hatred towards Tom, as it is often the case under normal circumstances, Laura seems to hold no grudges against her brother and continues to love his despite all the cruelty that she receives from him. Unlike her brother, who only grudgingly accepts his life the way it is, Laura is a woman who accepts her life and makes the choice to live as best as she can under the circumstances. This attitude towards life can be attested to through her having the fewest lines throughout the play, which also works towards showing that she is utterly selfless, unlike her brother who has a lot of lines dedicated to complaining about his lot in life and his desire to escape into a better one. Unlike Tom, whose selfish character is depicted through his speeches, Laura’s character is symbolized by the things which surround her such as the glass menagerie, which works towards showing that she is a delicate and unusual individual. This is in contrast to the way that her brother views her; a woman who is incapable to taking on the real world because of her deformity.
One will find a massive contrast in the manner that these siblings relate throughout the play and this is mainly because of the fact that while one is completely selfish, the other is so selfless to the extent that she even cries for the unhappiness that her brother is suffering. This creates a situation where it is extremely difficult to decipher the reasons why these two individuals feel the way they do towards one another. As has been discussed above, Tom has a lot of love and respect for Laura and that despite this, his perception of his sister is somehow problematic. Moreover, there has been some suggestion that the way in which Tom treats Laura can make the audience speculate that it is not a matter of his cruel towards her but that he has an incestuous obsession with her. In addition, it has been found that in spite of his cruelty towards Laura, and his desire to escape from her and their mother, most of the thoughts that dominate Tom revolve around them. Finally, throughout her lines in the play, Laura is depicted as an extremely compassionate individual who, despite her disability, does not feel sorry for herself and instead shows a lot of empathy towards her brother.
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