Oedipus complex.

Although written a long time ago, Oedipus the King turned out to be more relevant in my life than I thought. For those of you more recent with a psychology class my discovery I'm about to share might not be a discovery at all. But hopefully, some of you will find it as interesting as I did. While doing some research online I came across a psychological term "Oedipus complex" that has been inspired by the famous tragedy. First used by Freud in his theory of psychoanalysis, it represents a child's(usually a boy) unconscious desire for the exclusive love of the parent of the opposite sex. This desire includes jealousy toward the parent of the same sex and the unconscious wish for that parent's death. This complex tends to manifest itself in children between 3 and 5 and is considered to be a part of normal development. Fascinating! All of a sudden, bizarre behavior of my toddler becomes so understandable, thanks to Oedipus.

Submitted by Aksana Norman

Ladies and Gents… the King has left the building

Drama Oedipus the King is an intriguing story of a man solving a riddle to find out the solution was something he wished he never knew. I thought the story was interesting because Oedipus never knew his “real” parents, only the ones who raised him, and I don’t think he ever imagined his queen would be his mother as well. His fate had already been determined by the gods long before he knew any of this, that why he as originally sent away. Everyone has a path in life that’s already been chosen and ultimately fate determines everything. I couldn’t imagine finding all of that out and being able to deal with it. He could have just lived on searching for the killer, but no he had to be persistent and pushy and need to find out right then and right there. The Glass Menagerie can compare to this because the narrator, Tom, is not so much selfish but he thinks of himself a lot, but come on who can blame him with him having to be in charge of everything, and take care of the house and his sister and his mother. I think I might get a tad selfish to if I were the only provider working so hard and getting no appreciation from anyone. All in all I liked both plays, but Oedipus the King was much better than the glass menagerie.

Submitted by Jennifer Morgan

Baggage

We all have memories; they may be loving, painful or troublesome. Some memories are easy to recall, while others are difficult to remember. How we deal with these memories defines our life. Tom Wingfield from the play, The Glass Menagerie wants to escape his memories. He hopes to master the trick the magician performed with the coffin. He’s desperate to remove himself from his life, without harming his family. The responsibility of being the only worker and caretaker in the family is smothering him; it prevents him from expressing himself. His baggage is heavy and it contains a father who abandoned his family, a domineering mother, and a disable sister. In the end, he checks his baggage and moves forward with his life

I understood Tom’s perception of feeling trapped after reading the play, The Glass Menagerie. The play contains many references of abandonment and the family’s difficulty of accepting the truth. This play could represent any family from any culture. Unfortunately, the family dynamics and problems of the Wingfields seem all to commonplace now a days.

Submitted by Kate Misler

The Glass Menagerie

Tennessee Williams play the Glass Menagerie was interesting to say the least. I did not dislike it,yet it was strange. I found it funny that a women abandoned by her husband,to raise 2 children alone, kept his picture above her mantle. Amanda.."the mother", could drive the patience of a saint. I found myself saying,no wonder her husband left. Tom,her son seemed to get the brunt for the father not being around. Laura,the daughter seemed more like the mother...the apple does not fall far from the tree. My favorite Character was Jim O'connor. He was a very nice man who came for dinner and to meet the family. He went with flow throughout his visit with them. His plans for the evening were not the same as Amanda's for her daughter Laura!

In the end things did not end up the way Amanda wanted,for herself,or her daughter. The Women plans and ideas differed from the men's...Obviously!!!

Submitted by Alyssa Rutherford

The way NOT to Parent

I enjoyed reading the Glass Menagerie, it was a really interesting story and I felt as though I could see a similar scenario happening in real life today. Amanda is an overbearing parent who has made her daughter such a needy young women that although she acts as if she would like to find her a husband, I suspect she likes the fact that Laura is so dependent on her and Tom, her older brother. I believe that deep down Amanda realizes that Tom stays around out of his devotion to Laura, not her, and that if she keeps Laura dependent, she keeps Tom around to support her and Laura. Amanda is really a lazy overbearing mother who does not want to have to support herself and Laura, she wants Tom to support them forever. She plays on Toms sympathies by reminding him how much of a louse his father was, she even keeps a picture of him hanging which is odd, being she constantly reminds Tom she does not want him to become like his dad. I suspect she keeps the picture there to keep Tom feeling guilty enough to stay and continue to support them. Ironically, her actions are what is actually driving Tom away and he feels so guilty about leaving Laura that he cannot even enjoy his life once he breaks free of Amanda.

Amanda is the epitome of what a parent should strive NOT to be, she is self centered and does not put her children above herself. She releys on guilt and trickery to get her children to behave as she wants, and she does not move them toward independence, she actually stifles their independence and keeps them dependent on each other and her. The story was really very sad and interesting but not something you would strive to emulate.

Submitted by Margaret Russo

Movies Are Bad Influences?

At first it was hard for me to get into The Glass Menagerie, and I thought I was not going to like it. But during scene three I did become interested in it, and from then on enjoyed it. The play didn’t really have a special meaning to me, I just liked reading it. I also liked the characters, Tom being my favorite. I feel badly for Laura, being stuck with her Amanda and her crazy ambitions to marry her off. Amanda was off in her own world in the visions she had for her daughter, and she also didn’t seem to have any censor in what she said to Laura. (“This is the prettiest you’ll ever be!” when getting ready for Jim to come over for dinner. [1637]) It seemed strange of Jim to mention Betty so late, not to mention kiss Laura prior to doing so. I know he said ‘somebody ought to kiss you’, but he had just said all the things about Laura having no self confidence, so I’m not sure how he thought kissing her when he has a girlfriend would help her self esteem. I do think that it was a bit wrong of Tom to use the bill money to pay for the Union, but on the other hand I understand his intent and his desire/need to get away. Overall I don’t think he’s a selfish character, he just doesn’t know how to get where he wants to be.

Submitted by Jessica Rais

Oedipus the King!

I'm not sure if anyone is with me on this but I could not stand the play Oedipus the King. I found it extremely difficult to read which made it really hard to understand what was even going on in the play. Every time I started to read it I had to keep putting it down. It was a good story base but the language that was used was making it hard for me. I would love to hear what someone else thought of the play.

Submitted by Lauren Pike