Our Town Essay, Research Paper

When I compared Our Town by Thorton Wilder and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams I noticed a lot of differences and very few similarities. I noticed differences in the roles that the mothers played in each of the stories, and the impact that the father had on the family. Another difference is the setting that each one of these stories takes place. Our town and The Glass Menagerie have a few similarities however it is much easier to point out the differences.

The first difference that I noticed between the two stories was the different roles that the father played. In Our Town the fathers were the head of the family. They seemed to take on the role of disciplinarian and provider. In The Glass Menagerie the father has ran out on his family. Tom and Laura do not seem to have a very good remembrance of their father, which forces Tom to take over the roll of father. Tom?s mother pushes him to help provide for Laura who is disabled. Tom does not seem to be mature enough to take on the role of father figure, which leads him to be miserable most of the time.

There is also a difference in the settings of the two stories. The Glass Menagerie takes place in a large city and the central setting is an apartment. In Our Town the setting is a small town where everyone knows each other. The number of characters also differs greatly. In Our Town there were about fifteen characters from many different families. In The Glass Menagerie there were four characters and the story centered around one family.

The mothers in each of these stories are also very different. The mothers from Our Town are housewives who do not work. They take an active roll in their children?s lives but do not pry into their business. In The Glass Menagerie the mother is very nosy. She is constantly harassing Tom and causing distress within her household.

In conclusion, Our Town and The Glass Menagerie are two very different stories. The settings in which each of these stories take place differ greatly, along with the roll each of the parents take in each of the