The Glass Menagerie- 2

Amanda. "Overcome selfishness! Self, self, self is all that you think of!"

Tom struggles with an internal conflict when we here the story in retrospect. Tom tells us of his memory of his life with his mother and sister. Tom had to decide if he wanted to leave like his father, hurting his family, or sacrifice his freedom to support his ungrateful family. If Tom leaves, he will suffer from the guilt of leaving his helpless family. He will realize that he did exactly what his father did to him. However, Tom had to worry about his own sanity. If he stayed with his family, he would be doing the honorable thing. But, staying would mean Tom would be sacrificing his life to take care of his selfish mother. Either decision Tom made would be hard. He is facing a life of misery or a life of guilt.

Plot 4. Interpreter of Maladies

"The slip of paper with Mr. Kapasi's address on it fluttered away in the wind." pg. 166

I think there were two central conflicts in this story. Both of which were internal. One was Mrs. Das's struggle to deal with her guilt of cheating on her husband and having an illegitimate child. The other is Mr. Kapasi's fantasy like desire towards Mrs. Das. I sympathize with Mrs. Das because she has no one to confide in. She has to live with her guilt and has no one to help her deal with it. I don't sympathize with Mr. Kapasi on the other hand though. I find him to be pathetic. He becomes overwhelmingly infatuated with Mrs. Das when she is simply gives him a little attention. I feel like he made every encounter they had more significant than it really was. I'm glad that Mrs. Das and Mr. Kapasi never got involved. I felt like that was what the suspense of the story was leading to, but I'm glad it wasn't. I think once Mrs. Das learns to deal with her guilt, she will begin to love her children and husband again. I also hope Mr. Kapasi finds something more meaningful in his life.