The Glass Menagerie (Blog 4)
By: Tennessee Williams

Williams successfully evoked sympathy for Laura Wingfield.  Throughout the play's entirety, I felt bad for Laura.  She was painfully shy and often times awkward.  An example of this was described when Laura told her mother that she stopped going to school because she got sick during a typing test.  "'Her hands shook so that she couldn't hit the right keys!  The first time we gave a speed-test, she broke down completely- was sick at the stomach and almost had to be carried into the wash-room'" (1242).  In addition, Laura had no self-confidence.  She was especially self-conscious about her physical disability.  Overall, Laura basically put herself down and made herself lonely.  In Scene 7, I thought she and Jim were heading in a good direction with their newly rekindled relationship.  Jim was motivating Laura to have confidence in herself, and she was actually opening up to someone.  After Jim kissed her, it was obvious that Laura really liked him.  Right after this, though, Jim decided to tell Laura that he was engaged and would be married in June!  "'Laura, I've- been going steady!  I go out all the time with a girl named Betty'" (1284).  This shocked me, and I felt so bad for Laura.  The little bit of confidence that she had finally built up was crushed in a matter of seconds.