Conflicting forces and their results

<Tab/>Like the British novelist Laurence Sterne wrote "No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing is to have a man's mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time." Such conflict by two compelling desires, obligations and influences can be seen in Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie. Tom Wingfield faces a conflict between the desire to live one's own life and the responsibility for one's family. This conflict within the character of Tom Wingfield therefore illuminates the mean…