Williams’s clearest way of defying
reader expectations of what a play should be is by making it a ‘memory play’.
He does this by having one of the characters, Tom, being the narrator of the
play. Tom’s version of the story line is all based off of his memory. For
example, in the italicized scene description, prior to line 38, it states:
The dress is colored
and designed by memory.
Tom will speak to the audience and a
moment later is an actor in the play. I think Williams made this choice because
memories are unrealistic. There is no definitive way of knowing that memories
are truth. This is illustrated on line 144 in dialogue from Jim:
Isn’t it funny what
tricks your memory plays
The character Tom is able to live in his
past (through his recollection) while also living in the present. I think one
of the points of this play is to get the reader to assess their past and how it
has affected their own future. I think one of the main themes of the play is
the focus on the future and trying to escape the reality that one is left with,
which leads to fantasy based illusions of life. One’s memory of events
ultimately determines how they are interpreted and how one feels about their
life. Memory cannot truly be forever forgotten, and due to this we must learn
to interpret past events so that they strengthen us as opposed to defining
ourselves and our future. In fact Tom’s mother, Amanda, makes a point of the
past, present and future beginning on line 174:
You are the only young
man that I know of who
Ignores the fact that
the future becomes the present, the
Present the past, and
the past turns into everlasting regret if you don’t plan for it!
She is speaking to Tom. I think that
Williams is trying to show that one should not resonate on the past or future
too much through having Tom live in the past and present and the dialogue. He
succeeds in this goal because Tom is too focused on his past while Amanda
focuses too often on the future. This resonation leads to their unhappiness.
We are introduced to the character Jim
because he is from Laura and Tom’s past, and has now come into their lives once
again. He had a great high school career but went on to work in the warehouse
and taking night classes. When talking to Laura he basically says that he has
not accomplished everything he had once hoped, but he is not giving up. He still
has a life to live and everyone has traits that they should be confident of. He
is the character who is able to realize that bad and good events happen in
everyone’s lives but they cannot dictate our lives. In this, he is ultimately
successful while Amanda focuses so much on the work and schooling her children partakes
in because she thinks that will bring them success.
I would expect that a play may have a
narrator; however, a narrator is usually telling the play as if it was written
by another for them to read off. Yet Tom is narrating the story as a memory
that he is recollecting to the audience. I think visually this adds a new
element to the play by having the audience see the narrator as an actor in the
play as well. I think this also adds new possibilities for the reader of
interpreting why Tom may recall some events as he does based on what is going
on in the present.
Additionally, there is the use of a
legend on a screen in between dialogues to give a description of the events that
are about to come. This seems to be a form of foreshadowing, except that it
gives the reader a blatant description of the upcoming events. Once the event
happens to meet the description, the reader can look back on what is written on
the legend and it all becomes cohesive. This allows for a deeper processing of
the story line and helps the reader to categorize each of the main story points
that have occurred.
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