Glass Menagerie Self-Loathing in Gender Roles - 2000 Words

Glass Menagerie: Self-Loathing in Gender Roles In the 1930s males were raised to be the provider for their families, and the head of the households. Females where raised to be housewife and caretaker for the house. In Tennessee Williams â€Å"The Glass Menagerie† gender plays a major role on how societies view females and males. Women in this time period obtained little power while men were the dominant ones. That made Amanda depend on her son Tom the sole provider for his family for their finically stability. Amanda’s high expectations of her son for the family security made it harder for Tom to live up to his dreams. In â€Å"The Glass Menagerie,† Tennessee Williams blatantly makes assumptions about the gender roles in the 1930s by making the†¦show more content†¦Men are generally known for being in charge of a woman, and it became a direct threat to their manhood when he has to depend on his wife. Possibly most men feel inferior and less of a man when they cannot stand up to their responsibilit ies, and that result in family conflict and shame. Since Laura had no job and dropped out of business college, her mother thought that marriage would be the best solution to her problem. Being that Laura is disabled marriage will help her with her disability and will also fulfill her mother’s emptiness of not having a husband around. Some women were more focused on getting married because they needed the stability of a man, just like Amanda which is the reasoning behind her living her life through her children. Tom is looked upon as being the man of the house. In addition it would portray Tom’s character as being too weak as a man if he decides not to take care of his family, because he is the only man in the family. Perhaps, if Laura had a husband or a job it would have been less responsibility for Tom, and he would have had more time to write his poetry. Amanda and Laura’s needs were all depending on Tom. He had to work at the warehouse despite putting his dreams on hold to provide for his family. In scen e three Williams shows the differences in gender role by Tom and Amanda arguing. TOM: House, house who pays rent on it, who