In "The Glass Menagerie," Tennessee Williams develops the themes of denying one's bleak situation and future inhibiting appropriate changes and parents taking excessive steps for their children's success.
1. **Theme: Denying that one's situation and future is bleak inhibits one from making appropriate changes.**
- Detail: Laura skips going to business classes but pretends she is still enrolled for her mother's benefit.
Explanation: This detail illustrates how Laura denies the reality of her situation by pretending to still be enrolled in business classes. This denial inhibits her from making appropriate changes in her life, such as pursuing a different path that aligns better with her interests and abilities.
2. **Theme: Parents may take excessive steps to ensure that their children have an opportunity for success.**
- Detail: Tom smokes cigarettes out on the fire escape and watches the dancers at the Paradise Dance Hall.
Explanation: Through Tom's actions of smoking on the fire escape and watching dancers, Williams shows how Tom's fatherly responsibilities and his desire for freedom lead him to take excessive steps to escape his reality. This mirrors how parents, like Amanda in the play, may go to extremes to secure opportunities for their children's success, even if it means sacrificing their own desires.
