Blog3-The Glass Menagerie

In The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, Tom's situation is contradicting and ironic. In scene six, Tom talks to Jim about leaving his mother, Amanda, and moving away. "I am about to move...I'm like my father. The bastard son of a bastard! See how he grins? And he's been absent going on sixteen years,"(Williams,1269)! Tom relates himself to his father which is ironic considering his earlier complaints of having to work to support his family, all because he is the man of the household now after being abandoned by his father. For example, Tom shows his anger by saying, "For sixty-five dollars a month I give up all that I dream of doing and being ever,"(Williams,1247). Tom, frustrated by his commitment to his family, is no longer willing to commit any longer and wants to get away from his mother and sister.Tom believes that the only way out of dealing with his family is to move away from them, and finds this achievable because his father was able to. I don't blame Tom for wanting to get away from an irritating family, but I also somewhat disagree with his decision out of sympathy for how his mother and sister will get along without him. Overall, I guess it can be said: like father, like son.