Essay About Tom Wingfield And Jim Oconnor

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The Glass Menagerie is a memory play, and its action is drawn from the memories of the
narrator, Tom Wingfield. Tom is a character in the play, which is set in St. Louis in 1937.
He is an aspiring poet who toils in a shoe warehouse to support his mother, Amanda, and
sister, Laura. Mr. Wingfield, Tom and Lauras father, ran off years ago and, except for one
postcard, has not been heard from since.
Tom Wingfield – Amandas son and Lauras older brother. An aspiring poet, Tom works at a shoe
warehouse to support the family. He is frustrated by the numbing routine of his job and escapes
from it through movies,literature, and alcohol.
Amanda Wingfield – Laura and Toms mother. A proud woman, Amanda clings fervently to memories
of a vanished, genteel past. She is simultaneously admirable, charming, pitiable, and laughable
Mr. Wingfield – Amandas husband and Laura and Toms father. Mr. Wingfield was a handsome man who worked
for a telephone company. He abandoned his family years before the action of the play and never appears onstage.
His picture, however, is prominently displayed in the Wingfields living room.
Jim OConnor – An old acquaintance of Tom and Laura. Jim was a popular athlete in high school and is now a shipping
clerk at the shoe warehouse in which Tom works. He is unwaveringly devoted to goals of professional achievement and ideals
of personal success.
Laura, a very frail and insecure character from the play, lives in a world of illusions. Crippled with one leg shorter than
the other from a childhood illness, she lives her life through her collection of glass animals. They provide Lauras refuge
from reality.
One particular glass animal the fragile and rare unicorn symbolizes