The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, is a play that tells the story of a mother, Amanda, and her two children, Laura and Tom. Laura is a young woman who suffered from an illness that left her paralyzed, mentally and physically. Tom brings home a gentleman who visits Laura at her mother's request. The Glass Menagerie reflects not only on the schizophrenia diagnosis and lobotomy of the playwright's sister, Rose, but also on Williams' feelings about the procedure. Williams had a close relationship with his sister and doted on her. He grew up experiencing Rose's mad episodes and blamed himself for her lobotomy procedure (Morton). Thus, Tennessee Williams was affected by his sister's schizophrenia and lobotomy, which led to his memory play, The Glass Menagerie, and the development of Laura's character. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay A lobotomy is a form of psychosurgery that requires drilling holes in a patient's head to treat chronic mental disorders and behaviors. One of the first psychosurgeries was performed by Gottlieb Burckhardt in 1890 and Ludvig Puusepp in 1910, however, both surgeons decided that the procedure was too dangerous to be conducted on patients. In 1935, the Portuguese neurologist António Egas Moniz and the surgeon Pedro Almeida Lima revived psychosurgery and modified the treatment. “Holes were drilled into the patient's head and then injected with ethyl alcohol,” in which the alcohol was used to “disturb the neural tracts” that were believed to cause the recurring symptoms of a patient's mental illness (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica ). Created by Moniz, the leukotome was used to be inserted into holes drilled in a patient's head, "specifically designed to disrupt tracts of neuronal fibers connecting the prefrontal cortex and thalamus of the brain" (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). In 1936, physician Walter J. Freeman II and surgeon James Watts introduced the procedure to America. The two men modified the procedure and called it the standard Freeman-Watts lobotomy, in which ten years later it was again modified to the transorbital lobotomy. Transorbital lobotomy required a sharp instrument to be inserted into the eye socket to break the bone behind the eye sockets, and then "inserted into the frontal lobe and used to sever connections in the brain" (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). The current form of lobotomy today has been modified over the years and some operations have been found to be effective for different patients. As other forms of therapy and treatment were developed in the mid-1900s, lobotomy became less popular, but today it is still rarely used to treat some mental illnesses. Schizophrenia was one of the disorders treated with lobotomy. This common psychotic disorder alters the way you think, feel, and behave. The term “schizophrenia” was coined by the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler (Piotrowski). Symptoms usually begin to develop in their twenties in both males and females, and then progress as the person ages (Piotrowski). The symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into three categories: positive, negative and cognitive (National Institute of Mental Health). Positive symptoms are thoughts and behaviors present in people with the disease. Symptoms may include hallucinations, delusions, and withdrawal from reality. People often confuse hallucinations and delusions, thinking they are the same thing. Hallucinations involve seeing or hearing things that othersthey do not see, while delusions are misconceptions about truth and reality. Negative symptoms are thoughts and behaviors that are “taken away” from someone with schizophrenia. Negative symptoms of this disorder may include “disconnected speech patterns, broken sentences, excessive body movement, and aimless activity” as well as “extreme anger and hostility.” Cognitive symptoms involve thinking, where cognition means reasoning or understanding. Symptoms may include “poor ability to understand and make decisions, difficulty concentrating, problems with “working memory”. There is no exact cause for schizophrenia, just as there is no single reason why someone suffers from depression or other mental illnesses. But psychotic disorder can be caused “by genetics, the environment (viruses or malnutrition), and/or brain chemistry” (National Institute of Mental Health). Schizophrenia cannot be cured, but there are ways to treat this mental illness such as medications and therapies. Although schizophrenia affects approximately "1% of the general population", it is still a serious disorder, with Rose William falling victim to the disease and Tennessee Williams as a witness. Tennessee Williams puts a character in her shoes due to Rose's schizophrenia and lobotomy. With a basic understanding of the playwright's life, readers can conclude that Tom Wingfield is a literary representation of Tennessee Williams. Williams' real name is Thomas Lanier Williams and Tom Wingfield is Laura Wingfield's younger brother. Not only are the two men's names similar, but they are also both younger brothers to their frail sisters. Another factor is that Tom is a poet who works in a warehouse, specifically a shoe warehouse. Williams also worked in a shoe company, but then became a playwright rather than a poet. Additionally, Tom cares deeply for his older sister, Laura, in the same brotherly way that Williams had for his older sister, Rose. In Scene IV, it is morning and Laura has to get butter for her mother. But when he rushes out the door, he trips over his legs and falls: “A second later he screams. Tom gets up and goes to the door. Tom opens the door” (Williams 689). In this situation, Tom's first instinct is to quickly go to the fallen Laura, knowing that she is paralyzed and that any help would be helpful. As simple as this act of kindness may be, it clearly portrays Tom's brotherly love for Laura, the same way Williams' affection had for Rose while growing up. Even in Scene IV, Tom shows more of his brotherly affection for Laura. After the argument between Tom and Amanda, Laura begs Tom to apologize to her mother: “Don't make mum nervous… Tom, talk to mum this morning. Make peace with her, apologize to her, talk to her!”. Tom discusses with Laura that his mother decided not to talk to him before. But after a few exchanges with Laura after she leaves, he swallows his pride and apologizes to his mother. Knowing Williams' resentment toward his mother for allowing Rose's lobotomy, readers may speculate that Tom apologized to Amanda to accommodate Laura's request, not to truly make peace with Amanda. Tom knows that Laura is mentally "crippled" and tends to "ruminate" about things she notices, so staying on bad terms with Amanda could make Laura worried and unhappy. In Scene III, before Tom's apology to Amanda, the mother and son argue about little things and he ends up calling her an "ugly, stammering old witch" before leaving for the night (Williams 687). It was reported that Williams had "a bitter resentment towards his mother for allowing Rose to be so callously mistreated" (Morton). Therefore, Tom's quarrel withAmanda symbolizes Williams' resentment and antipathy towards his mother, Edwina Williams, for allowing Rose's lobotomy. But, not only did Tennessee Williams create a character to represent himself, he developed a character to represent his sister as well. To further express his resentment over his sister's condition and operations, Tennessee Williams transformed Rose Williams into Laura Wingfield. Rose Williams is the older sister of Tennessee Williams and Laura Wingfield is the older sister of Tom Wingfield. The first clear similarity between the two females is their perception of reality. Rosa Williams was diagnosed with schizophrenia and therefore underwent a lobotomy. A symptom of schizophrenia is withdrawal from reality, and it is unknown whether Laura is schizophrenic or not. However, in the play's introduction, it is noted that Laura's case of reality is much worse than Amanda's failure "to establish contact with reality" and that she is "paralyzed." Readers may theorize that Laura's perception of reality is also distorted as schizophrenics are. Also, Laura being paralyzed may not apply to her physically, where "one of her legs is slightly shorter than the other", but she is also mentally paralyzed. His brother, Tom, also acknowledges his behavior and disability, just like Tennessee Williams with his sister. In Scene V, when Tom talks to Amanda about bringing Jim O'Connor home for dinner, Tom points out that Laura is "terribly shy and lives in a world of her own" (Williams 697). He also explains to Amanda that Laura is "peculiar " because "she lives in a world of her own, a world of little glass ornaments." Schizophrenics not only withdraw from reality, but can also experience hallucinations. It is possible that Laura is hallucinating in the world of her glass collection, because she , a 23-year-old woman, personified her glass unicorn for Jim O'Connor in Scene VII: "He doesn't complain about it... they all seem to get along very well... I didn't hear any arguments between them! ” (Williams 712). By knowing Rose Williams and analyzing Laura's character, readers can conclude why Laura's glass unicorn is one of her favorites in her collection. A unicorn is a horse with a horn on its head, which makes it very unique. This uniqueness in the play is paralleled by Laura and her fragile, yet schizophrenic, behavior and her “aggregate” leg brace (Williams 708). However, this uniqueness in the real world connects to Rose and her schizophrenia. When the horn breaks off the unicorn after falling off a table, this symbolizes Rose Williams' lobotomy. Laura consoles Jim by telling him that she'll "just imagine he had an operation...to make him feel less...weird." The “operation” parallels Rose's lobotomy procedure, to make her “just like all the other horses.” But, as obvious as the similarities may be, critics may disagree on whether Rose Williams' condition and operation had any effect on the playwright. Critics might argue that The Glass Menagerie had nothing to do with the personal life and feelings of Tennessee Williams. The first argument would be just speculation that Rose's condition and the lobotomy did not affect the playwright on a personal level. But this speculation is absurd since Williams had a fondness for his sister and was close to her. Other plays by Tennessee Williams were also written to reflect his life, such as Suddenly, Last Summer and Night of the Iguana, in which the "heroine" was "inspired by Rose." However, the characters in The Glass Menagerie are the most accurate representation of the people in Williams' life, including himself. The.