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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page essay that contrasts and compares Tennessee Williams' play The Glass Menagerie and James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." The writer argues that both works feature characters that prefer a rich fantasy life to the real world. Furthermore, in both cases, their characters use fantasy as a mental defense against the banality and frustration of their lives. No additional sources cited.
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5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khadvfan.rtf
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a rich fantasy life to the real world. Furthermore, in both cases, their characters use fantasy as a mental defense against the banality and frustration of their lives. Amanda Wingfield
in Williams The Glass Menagerie has had a hard life, in which nothing has turned out as she expected. Therefore, she retreats into fantasy by concentrating on the past.
But while Amandas story is tragic, Thurber uses the same human tendency for comedic effect. Everyone tends to have daydreams in which they are famous or rich or
any other characteristic that they long to possess. Thurbers story simply takes this to an extreme. His character, Walter Mitty, is a middle-aged man whose masculinity is constantly undermined
by a nagging, shrewish wife who treats him as if he were a large, not-too-bright child. To live with this situation, Mitty retreats into fantasy. In this fantasy life,
he is admired, competent, and virile. An examination of both works shows that each author addresses the same characteristic, but in very different ways. From the beginning of his
play, Williams makes it clear that his play is about memory. Tom, Amandas son, comes on stage and explains to the audience that the play will be from his
memory of past events. He explains that he will not be a narrator, "I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of
truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion" (Williams 23). Toms journey into memory concerns his mother, Amanda, and his sister Laura, and why the situation in
his home drove him away from his family. Williams is quick to establish Amandas gentile background as a former Southern belle. Amanda comments, "One Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain
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