In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, narrator Tom filters the story through his own memories. This technique causes the characters to be presented in a way that is manipulated by Tom's personal illusions. Upon achieving his goal of finding happiness, Tom comes to the conclusion that it can only be achieved through the path his father took. This causes Tom to analyze the actions performed by the people around him through a filter. Every facial expression or happy movement is inherently a way of hiding his true emotions from Tom. Aside from Tom, the Glass Menagerie doesn't really represent who the characters are and so each action is just a representation of Tom's character development, as well as his desires and motivations in terms of achieving happiness. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Tom's happiness comes from escaping his problems. When he looks at his father, he sees a troubled but nonetheless happy man. “I am like my father. The bastard son of a bastard son! Did you notice how he smiles in the photo? And he’s been gone for sixteen years” (Williams 64)! Tom feels that he still has a personal relationship with his father despite the fact that he was absent for most of his life. This desire for a relationship comes from admiration that his father was satisfied with his life. Tom identifies with his father because he observes both the positive and negative qualities of his father. He thinks he is "like his father", meaning he feels he has his good and bad attributes. Showing Jim a photo of his father, Tom remarks "notice how he smiles?" obviously believing that smiling signals inner happiness. Tom doesn't have much of his father left and so he places extreme emphasis on this one photo of him in the house. As he looks at the photo, the smile on his face turns into a lifetime of happiness for his father. While Tom admires his father's contentment, he begins to believe that the only way to be happy is to do what he did and, therefore, no one else can achieve happiness. In St. Louis, Tom believes that happiness is a disguise for true emotions and therefore only false happiness exists. At work, Tom considers false happiness when his co-workers "the hostility dissipated and they also began to smile at me the way people smile at an oddly shaped dog that trots across their path" (William 50-51 ). Tom is very sarcastic in the way he describes his colleagues. He feels like his co-workers view him as an "oddly shaped dog," meaning he's weird and out of place. He sees their smiles as a way to cover up the sympathy they feel for him because he is so different. Tom also thinks that Amanda is using happiness to cover up her true emotion and he sees this when Jim is at their house. While Jim and Laura are in a separate room, "there is a burst of girlish laughter from Amanda in the kitchen." Amanda is so persistent in showing Tom her family's southern hospitality that she puts on a fake persona in order to hide how uncomfortable she really is. She uses a "girlish laugh" in order to hide her true emotions of nervousness and to charm Jim. Her laughter is in no way true happiness, but rather a means used to conceal who she really is. Laura's actions also convey the idea of ​​using happiness to cover up inner feelings. After being devastated by the news of Jim's engagement, she pretends to be happy to avoid hurting Amanda's feelings., 1999.