The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a play based on illusion. Williams uses the devices of illusion and metaphor to illustrate truth, which he sometimes reveals using irony. In the production notes that preface the play, Williams writes that "expressionism and all other unconventional techniques" in a play "should attempt to find a closer approach, a more penetrating and more vivid expression of such things as they are” and that “truth, life, or reality, is an organic thing that the poetic imagination can represent or suggest. »Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay The role of Tom, the poet, is that of a maker or conveyor of illusions: Tom functions as the narrator of the play and “as a convention of the play” (Sc. 1). He states in his introductory monologue: “Yes, I have aces up my sleeve, I have things up my sleeve. But I'm the opposite of a stage magician. It gives you an illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you the truth under the pleasant disguise of illusion” (Sc. 1). His statement removes any doubt that he is the main illusionist in the play, controlling his family's memories like puppets attached to strings for the audience to witness. Critic Joven indicates that the Wingfields' isolation and "untenability" with the modern world necessitates their movement toward something more illusory: "The Wingfields cannot coexist with the real world around them because they cannot live as they wish , is to deny existence. of the [outside] world.” Furthermore, she points out that the entire family has been victims of worlds of their own creation: “Amanda's dreams deny the passage of time. Laura’s life completely denies the outside world” (54). Tom, as messenger of memory (“This scene is a memory and is therefore unrealistic”) and bearer of poetic devices, is accused by his frustrated mother of precisely what he has already admitted (Sc. 1). Amanda, after her efforts to find a match for Laura are frustrated, blames Tom: “You're living in a dream; you are creating illusions! (Sc. 7). Amanda's accusation is both appropriate and ironic. The reader of the play has already been informed that this is Tom's function, but his mother fails to see the truth behind the illusions – perhaps because she is in the play and therefore part of the past and of Tom's memory. Joven notes that “[i]t is Tom the poet who associates Laura with pieces of colored glass and familiar musical phrases. It is the poet's mind that perceives the ironic contrast between Amanda and Laura's hopes and the harsh reality of Paradise Dance Hall” (60). Likewise, Amanda's accusation is ironic; it completely misses the point. She is, on the one hand, a practical woman, an event planner, and it may not be within her reach to understand the underlying truths that Tom is trying to project. But on the other hand, part of the irony is that she is creating her own illusions and accusing Tom of something she is also guilty of. Presley supports this idea, noting: "Ironically, what the playwright reveals is a group of characters caught in illusions of their own making." All…have built their lives on meaningless premises of deception” (34). Their deception is intentional self-deception created out of necessity and self-preservation. But what is the truth that Tom intends to convey? The answer can be multiple. One aspect may be social commentary. Williams says, 1990.