Memory, Illusion And Reality

In this dissertation,I want to explore the construction and function of internal space in the Glass Menagerie. In my dissertation, the conception of internal space is a term to the external space or reality. In this sense, internal space is a term that refers to the personal or private world created by a person to suffer or counter the harsh realities from the outside world.When the pressure from the outside world is too severe to bear, a person usually retreats into his/her private world for emotional protection and survival. The creation of internal space or private world should not be considered to be pure escapism. In fact, it is a method to face harsh realities. It can provide a persion with temporal emotional shelter to enable him/her to survive in this hostile universe. In The Glass Menagerie, this internal space is largely bulit on memory and illusion and I will explore how memory and illusion have enabled Amanda and Laura, the two social misfits, to carry on their lives. I will also discuss how Tom, the character who seems to have got rid of his illusions, has finally become an aimless drifter of despair. The result is that, rather than rejecting Amanda and Laura as social misfits who are preoccupied with memories and illusions, we come to cherish them as beautiful alternatives to the ugly world and we are glad that in their internal space, they have found another wonderful world in which they can be protected and where they can still hold their cherished memories and illusions and survive. Tennessee Williams seems to imply that some people could never be adequately equipped to deal with harsh realities and there is nothing wrong with them. Just aas he puts it in "The Catastrophe of Success":"Then what is good? The obsessive interest in human affairs, plus a certain amount of compassion and moral conviction."...