The character that is the most responsible for the poverty that the family in the film, The Glass Menagerie, faces is Tom the son. He is a young …show more content…
He is always dragging himself out of bed and hating his mother for waking him up every morning. He even hates the expression that his mother says while waking her children up, “Rise and Shine” (Williams) and always response with the phrase, “I will rise but I will not shine” (Williams). Tom lacks ambition and nothing seems to motivate him to do something in life or at least something to help the family’s situation. Instead, Tom starts to plan about quitting his job. At one point in the film he doesn’t pays the light bill and the lights get cut off due to his irresponsibility. The only thing that inspires Tom a little is the movies. Every time he has problems at home with his mother, he leaves off to the movies or whenever he arrives late to the house, his excuse is that he was at the movies. His sister is crippled and has an inferior psychological problem but Tom only demonstrates love towards her. He never tries to set an example or even inspire her to do something out of her life. As a brother he should stimulate her to not be so self-unconfident and to lose the shock of shyness she encounters while trying to communicate with other people than her family. Tom’s friend states that if Laura was his sister he would encourage her to