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