The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie is a book and movie that’s narrated by Tom Wingfield which takes place in Wingfield’s apartment in St. Louis, 1937. Tom is part of the play as Amanda's son. Like most mothers, Amanda, worries about her daughter Laura, who wears a brace because she has a bad leg. The other reason why Amanda worries about Laura is the fact that she's not attracting any men because of her shyness.Tom provides for the household since he's the only one working. He works at a shoe warehouse and to escape his routine, he goes to the movies and drinks alcohol. He always have an urge to leave the family so his mother made a deal with him. If he can find Laura a husband then he can be free of his responsibilities. He brings a friend called Jim O’Connor, to dinner. Laura actually had a crush on Jim in high school. Jim and Laura have a conversation in the living room. Laura was nervous and shy at first. However, she started opening up and mentions how she liked him in high school. She also reminds him of a nickname he called her -blue roses. Then she shows him her collection of glass figures and her favorite glass animal, a unicorn. They started dancing in the living room and Jim accidentally knocks over the unicorn, breaking off its horn. As a souvenir, she gave him the broken unicorn. He kisses her and he admits he has a fiancée and can’t contact Laura anymore. Amanda turns to Tom and accuses him for not knowing Jim was engaged. Not long after Jim’s visit, Tom leaves Amanda and Laura for good just like his father, who abandoned them at a young age. On his last monologue, he mentioned how guilty he felt to leave Laura in that situation. Tom should have comprehended, that guilt will always haunt him down no matter where he goes before deciding to leave them. 

The Yellow Wallpaper

           

      They yellow wallpaper is a very strange and unusual story we read in class. Her husband, John, is the narrator’s physician and as a couple they don’t have a good relationship. She appears to be depressed. She was restricted to bed rest in a yellow wallpaper room. She hallucinates and sees images and a lady trapped inside the wallpaper. She stared at the yellow wallpaper for long hours. Thus, she felt anxious and more depressed. She was also restricted from working and writing which led to her having a secret journal. On her journal, she described the yellow wallpaper in the bedroom as it spins around her. She also mentions details of the wallpaper and the room in general. She sees a figure behind the wallpaper. The figure was described as a woman who stoops down and creeps around, shaking the bars at night, and creeps during the day. The narrator, John’s wife, also mentions that she creeps around sometimes. This statement made it clear for me that theirs a connection and also that she resembles the woman in the yellow wallpaper. She felt like John and Jennie (his sister and her nanny) kind of had an idea about the wallpaper therefore she peels it off.  However, in her head she felt like she freed the woman who was trapped in the yellow wallpaper. Once she destroys the paper, she felt like she herself come out of the trap. John faints when he catch a glimpse of what she has done to the wall. The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, left the ending open. Personally, I think she killed him but we can’t tell from the story. 

The chrysanthemums

   The setting for this story says it all. It’s winter in Salinas’s valley in California -1938. Elisa Allen, an intelligent creative woman forced into unhappy existence on husband’s ranch. Henry Allen, sells cattle to meat companies. She worked on the ranch gardening and planting flowers. The story is more descriptive of how she takes care of her chrysanthemums. The flowers symbolized Elisa and how strong, beautiful, and thriving she is. Therefore, while planting her flowers she felt really protective and happy but aside from her flowers she felt insecure and trapped. A tinker approached her on the ranch while she was working on her flowers. He’s a gypsy (looks for jobs while traveling) fixes pots, pans, and so on. She felt the most free when the tinker appreciated her flowers. Elisa believed for once someone was interested in her life. She felt change from masculine to feminine so she starts removing her hat and gloves. Elisa wishes she had his life but more of his freedom. As he speaks to her, she felt feminine and after he leaves with the flowers she gave to him, she strips down, bathes, put on makeup, and a dress. But while she was on the car ride with her husband, she notices a dark spot on the side of the road. She takes her coat and covers her face and teary eyes. Seeing the flowers she gave to the tinker on the side of the road, made her feel insecure, not free, used and thrown away. The story was kind of interesting, not too bad.