`You live in a dream; you manufacture illusions!` from The Glass Menagerie

He also is starting to mirror his father by resorting to drinking

Notice must also be given that there are many lines in the play that are written in a repetition style : Go to the movies , go (Williams 507 Laura , I 've told you never , never to use that word (Williams 449 What right have you got to jeopardize your job ? Jeopardize the security of us all (Williams 453 . This style further heightens the creative tension in the play

You live in a dream you manufacture illusions (Williams 507 ) is a

necessary line whose function is to tear down both character 's illusions of themselves . With Tom , it is a line that opens the door to his confrontation with his real self , what he wants , how he wants to live his life , and where he wants to take himself to . It serves as the jolting point of Tom 's liberation . To Amanda , it is the verbalization of her own illusions : her lost youth , the opportunities she failed to seize while she was then the typical Southern belle , the hope of her daughter ever marrying a respectable gentleman . The line speaks back to Amanda who blinds herself to the harsh realities she is facing (Laura being crippled and the possibility of being unmarried for the rest of her life , real financial difficulties , Tom 's growing self-determination which she will soon perhaps come to terms with

The line also spells the end of the road for both mother and son for after this is spoken in the last scene , Tom storms out of the Wingfield house never to come back again . It is a crucial line that either could mean a burning of bridges or an avenue of reconciliation for Tom and Amanda . Clearly , it becomes the former

Works Cited

Williams , Tennessee...