Families in Three Plays: Romeo and Juliet, The Glass Menagerie and The Little Foxes

In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, and Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, we see that the families involved are of the latter type described above. The parents in all three of these dramas exhibit negative environmental influences toward their children. However, while this negative influence creates tragedy for Romeo and Juliet and Laura, for Tom and Alexandra the influence has the opposite impact, pushing them toward their dreams instead of thwarting them as is the case with Romeo, Juliet, and Laura. This analysis will use relevant examples from all three plays to show that negative environmental influence by parents can sometimes lead to tragedy in children, but at other times children are able to thrive despite such negative influences.

The parents in Romeo and Juliet, The Glass Menager

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oul weather or something, Laura shows she understands there is no hope for her, "It's not a flood, it's not a tornado, Mother. I'm just not popular like you were in Blue Mountain" (Williams, 1976, p. 404). Ultimately, Amanda will insist that Tom bring home a coworker, whose revelation that he is engaged breaks what's left of Laura's fragile sense of self or hope. Amanda has destroyed Laura's self-esteem by pushing and pushing her, first to develop a career and second to find a gentleman caller. The painfully shy Laura is a failure at both things. Nonetheless, because she knows he is single, has no skills, and is poor; Amanda tries to influence Laura in these directions anyway. As Amanda says, "I know so well what becomes of unmarried women who aren't prepared to occupy a position" (Williams, 1976, p. 408). Amanda wants Laura to wear "gay deceivers" to help her land a beau. She nags Tom incessantly to help. When he does, it ends in disaster when his coworker announces he's engaged. This makes Amanda badger Tom even more. Unlike Laura, however, Tom has the strength to confront his mother and calls her a witch before he abandons the family. Even so, he feels some guilt and remorse in doing so for Laura's sake, "O
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Approximate Word count = 2259
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)