The story of a young Tennessee Williams is poetically depicted through a 1945 Broadway play, The Glass Menagerie. The main character, Tom Wingfield, lives in his family's apartment with his mother, Amanda Wingfield, and his sister, Laura Wingfield. The father has left the family and remains a silent character who appears as a portrait on the wall of the apartment. Over the course of seven scenes, the immaturity of each family member is revealed. Seeking adventure, Tom dreams of becoming a writer and wishes to leave his family and factory work, like his father, to join the Merchant Navy. Laura lets her disability, a braced leg, prevent her from finding a job or a husband, while Amanda continues to deny her children's failure by living in the past with her "gentlemen callers." Tom's main responsibilities, created by Amanda, are to take care of Laura and the family. Amanda and Tom constantly argue over their different opinions on what they want the future to bring. To cope with his problems, every night Tom probably ventures to a bar, gets drunk, and then tells his family he was at the movies ("Plot Summary: The Glass Menagerie"). Williams tries to express a personal struggle of trying to leave his family without feeling guilty (John Lahr) through fictional characters parallel to his family. These struggles are seen as failed responsibilities from an existentialist's perspective. The responsibility of being an existentialist is conveyed through Tennessee Williams' autobiographical character, Tom, and his failed responsibilities, past guilt, and denial of reality in The Glass Menagerie. The play is set during the Great Depression of the 1930s, but America was in World War II when Williams wrote the play. The......middle of paper......ge. "Sartre's philosophy until 1945: phenomenology and ontology". Jean Paul Sartre. Boston: Twayne, 1983. 36-38. Print.Clinton, Craig. “The Glass Menagerie: Tennessee Williams.” The Facts on File Companion to American Drama. Ed. Jackson R. Bryer and Mary C. Hartig. New York: Facts on File, 2004. 178. Print.Crowell, Steven. "Existentialism." The Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Winter 2010. Web. April 26, 2012. "Existentialism: A Philosophy." AllAboutPhilosophy.org. AllAboutPhilosophy.org, 2012. Web. 03 May 2012. The Glass Menagerie. Drama for Students. Ed. David Galens and Lynn Spampinato. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Print.Lahr, John. "Telling It Like It Not Is.," May 6, 2010. Web, May 2, 2012: The Glass Menagerie." DISCovering Authors. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. April 17. 2012.