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 mentally and physically paralyzed. Tom brings home a gentleman for Laura at her mother's request. The Glass Menagerie reflects not only the playwright's sister Rose's diagnosis of schizophrenia and lobotomy, but also Williams' feelings about the procedure. Williams had a close relationship with and adored his sister. He grew up knowing about Rose's bouts of madness and blamed himself for her lobotomy procedure (Morton). Consequently, Tennessee Williams was affected by his sister's schizophrenia and lobotomy, which gave rise to his memory game, The Glass Menagerie, and the development of Laura's character. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayA lobotomy is a form of psychosurgery that requires drilling holes into a patient's head to treat disorders and behaviors chronic mental illnesses. 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 far too dangerous to perform on patients. In 1935, the Portuguese neurologist António Egas Moniz and the surgeon Pedro Almeida Lima brought back 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 “disrupt the neural pathways” that they believed were causing the recurring symptoms of the mental illness of a patient (Encyclopaedia Britannica Editors). Created by Moniz, the leucotome was used to be inserted into holes drilled in a patient's head, "designed specifically to disrupt the bundles of neuronal fibers connecting the brain's prefrontal cortex and thalamus" (Encyclopaedia Editors 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 it was modified again to the transorbital lobotomy ten years later. The transorbital lobotomy required a sharp instrument to be thrust into the eye socket to break the bone behind the eye sockets, then "inserted into the frontal lobe and used to break the connections in the brain" (Editors of the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica). The current form of lobotomy has been modified over the years and a few operations have proven effective for many patients. When other forms of therapy and treatment were developed in the mid-1900s, lobotomy became less popular, but it is still rarely used today to treat certain mental illnesses. Schizophrenia was one of the disorders treated with a lobotomy. This common psychotic disorder changes the way we think, feel, and behave. The term “schizophrenia” was coined by the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler (Piotrowski). Symptoms usually begin to develop in the 20s in both men and women, then progress as the person ages (Piotrowski). 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 illness. Symptoms may include hallucinations, delusions, and withdrawal from reality. People confuseoften hallucinations and delusions, thinking they are the same thing. Hallucinations involve seeing or hearing things that others do not, while delusions are misconceptions about truth and reality. Negative symptoms are thoughts and behaviors that are “withdrawn” from a person with schizophrenia. Negative symptoms of this disorder can include "disconnected speech patterns, broken sentences, excessive body movements and aimless activity" as well as "extreme anger and hostility." Cognitive symptoms concern a person's thinking, with cognition meaning reasoning or understanding. Symptoms may include “poor ability to understand and make decisions, difficulty concentrating, problems with “working memory.” There is no one exact cause of schizophrenia, just as there is no single reason why a person suffers from depression or any other mental illness. But psychotic disorder can be caused by “genetics, 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, including medication and therapy. Even though schizophrenia affects approximately "one percent of the general population", it remains a serious disorder, of which Rose William is a victim and Tennessee Williams is a witness. Tennessee Williams puts a character in his place because of Rose's schizophrenia and lobotomy. Having extensive knowledge 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 the younger brother of Laura Wingfield. Not only do the two men have similar names, but they are also both younger brothers to their fragile sisters. Another factor is that Tom is a poet who works in a warehouse, specifically a shoe warehouse. Williams also worked at a shoe company, but later became a playwright instead of a poet. Additionally, Tom cares deeply for his older sister, Laura, in the same brotherly way that Williams did for his older sister, Rose. In scene IV, it is morning and Laura has to go get butter for her mother. But when she rushes to the door, she trips and falls: “A second later, she screams. Tom emerges and heads for 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 crippled and that any help would be helpful. As simple as this act of kindness may be, it clearly depicts Tom's brotherly love for Laura, similar to Williams' affection for Rose growing up. Also in Scene IV, Tom shows more of his brotherly affection for Laura. After Tom and Amanda argue, Laura begs Tom to apologize to their mother: "Don't make mom nervous...Tom, talk to mom this morning." Make up with her, apologize, talk to her! Tom argues Laura that her mother decided not to talk to her first. But after a few exchanges with Laura after he leaves, he sucks up his pride and apologizes to his mother. Knowing Williams' resentment toward his mother for allowing Rose's lobotomy, readers can assume that Tom apologized to Amanda to satisfy Laura's request, not to truly reconcile with Amanda. Tom knows that Laura is mentally "crippled" and tends to "ruminate" on things she notices, so remaining on bad terms with Amanda could eventually make Laura worried and unhappy. In scene III,before Tom's apology to Amanda, mother and son argue over small things and he ends up calling her an "ugly, talkative old hag" before leaving for the night (Williams 687). It was reported that Williams felt "bitter resentment toward her mother for allowing Rose to be so cruelly mistreated" (Morton). Therefore, Tom's quarrel with Amanda symbolizes Williams' resentment and dislike towards his mother, Edwina Williams, for allowing Rose's lobotomy. But not only did Tennessee Williams create a character to represent himself, he also developed a character to represent his sister. To further express his resentment over his sister's condition and surgery, 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 women is their perception of reality. Rose Williams was diagnosed with schizophrenia and underwent a lobotomy for it. One of the symptoms of schizophrenia is withdrawal from reality, and it is unclear whether Laura is schizophrenic or not. However, in the introduction to the play, it is noted that Laura's case of reality is far worse than Amanda's failure "to make contact with reality" and that she is "paralyzed". Readers may hypothesize that Laura's perception of reality is also distorted, like schizophrenics. Additionally, the fact that Laura is paralyzed may not apply to her physically, in which "one of her legs is slightly shorter than the other", but she is also mentally paralyzed. Even his brother, Tom, recognizes his behavior and his 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 further explains to Amanda that Laura is "special" because "she lives in her own world, a world of little glass ornaments." Schizophrenics not only withdraw from reality, but they may also experience hallucinations. It is possible that Laura is hallucinating the world of her glass collection, because she, as a 23-year-old woman, impersonated her glass unicorn to Jim O'Connor in Scene VII: "He doesn't complain about it not... all Some of them seem to get along well... I haven't heard any arguments between them! (Williams 712). Through knowledge of Rose Williams and analysis of Laura's character, readers can understand 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 of the play parallels Laura, her fragile but schizophrenic behavior and her “clumping” leg brace (Williams 708). However, this real-world oddity is linked to Rose and her schizophrenia. When the unicorn's horn breaks after falling from a table, it symbolizes Rose Williams' lobotomy. Laura consoles Jim by telling him that she will "just imagine he's had an operation...to make him feel less weird." The "operation" parallels Rose's lobotomy procedure, to make her "like all the other horses." But, as obvious as the similarities may be, critics may disagree that Rose Williams' condition and surgery had any effect on the playwright. Critics may argue that The Glass Menagerie has nothing to do with the personal life and feelings of Tennessee Williams. The first argument would simply be speculation that Rose's condition and her lobotomy would not have affected the.