Throughout the show, Williams emphasizes the importance of family dynamics and interaction in regards to the formation of an individual, tacitly highlighting how the characters in The Glass Menagerie are imprisoned by their environment and situation. Williams shows that Amanda's nostalgic memory of her youth, Tom's need to escape Wingfield's apartment, and Laura's "inferiority complex" create a schism between reality and the characters' perception of reality. As the play's characters struggle with personal desires and needs, family dysfunction further forms an imaginary bubble around Wingfield's apartment, creating an atmosphere filled with unrequited love, unknown abilities, and unfulfilled goals. However, Williams is keen to point out that the _______ actions of the characters can bring to light the harsh reality of the world. In The Glass Menagerie, Williams illustrates the duality between fantasy and reality with the passive and active actions of the characters, in an attempt to make clear that it is human nature to live in ignorance, but realizes that humanity can only truly experience life after acknowledging the truth.Williams models each of the family members in the play in emotional isolation, "...inhabiting a private world in which the paramount concern is self-image," illustrating the ease of creating barriers and walls to live in (Levy). Evidence of Levy's analysis can be seen through Amanda's delusional memory of her popularity as a youth in the South. Exclaiming that he had "... received - seventeen! - gentlemen!" and by telling countless stories about each caller, Amanda's continued tales of her adolescence further her perception of Laura (William 1. 1782). In Laura's search for a gentleman caller, Amanda vi...... middle of paper ....... 48, n. 4, April-May, 1973, pp. 150-53Greiff, Louis K. “Spiritual Fathers, Daughters, and Sisters: Marsha Norman's Night, Mother's The Glass Menagerie, and Tennessee Williams. Text and Performance Quarterly 9.3 (July 1989): 224-228. Rpt. In contemporary literary criticism. Ed. Tom Burns and Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol 186. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center. Network. March 7, 2012.Levy, Eric P. "'Through Soundproof Glass': The Prison of Self-Awareness in the Glass Menagerie." Modern Drama 36.4 (December 1993): 529-537. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Deborah A. Schmitt. vol. 111. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Network. February 20, 2012.Williams, Tennessee “The Glass Menagerie” Literature: reading fiction, poetry and drama. Ed. Robert Di Yanni. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2002. 1780-1831. Press.