The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams is a story about three family members’ struggle to overcome hopelessness. Throughout the play, Tom is berated by his overbearing mother. She consistently nags him about smoking, drinking, as well as work. He has a fear of working in a dead-end job, which causes him to work hard to create poetry and less hard at the shoe factory. He tries to escape his situation by constantly going out to drink or see movies. The main conflict in The Glass Menagerie is Tom’s hatred for his situation.
Amanda, Tom’s mother, always annoys him. She is disappointed in her fading glory; it motivates her to push her children. She is in constant search of a male suitor for her daughter, Laura, and pushes Tom to work harder. Although she may mean well for her children, the constant nagging and criticism causes more damage then help to Tom. Amanda causes the majority of stress that Tom has to deal with. She nags him about everything, even the way he eats food. “Honey, don’t push with your fingers.” He can only escape these condescending remarks by going to the movies or even to work.
Tom’s job at the shoe factory does not help in his aspiration to make more of his life. He continues to work at his dead end job just to support his mother and sister. He often feels like his is stuck, like his father, and the only way out, is to leave. “Look! I’ve got nothing, no single thing, in my life that I can call my own! Everything is-“ He feels like this is it, he will accomplish nothing else, as long as he lives in the two bedroom apartment with his mother and sister. Tom tries to find escape and refuge in his poetry and the movies he goes to, as well as his drinking.
Tom goes out every night to see a movie as to suppress his craving for adventure. “I go to the movies because I like adventure, Adventure is something I don’t have much at work, so I go to the movies.” He tries to escape his life by drinking it away and watching lots of movies. His crave for adventure softens the movies and drinking until, even that, is not enough. Tom wants to join the Merchant Marines, but he is torn between supporting his family and leaving.
Even from the beginning of the story Tom has already made his decision. He knows what he has to do yet he finds a hard time deciding when to do it. His mother and sister, although they do need him in some ways, can do without him. He is conflicted with his life and the only way to solve it is to leave, just as his father did. In the end Tom has to leave, or else he would never be happy. To succeed in the future, sometimes a person must leave the life he knows behind.