Discuss psychoanalytic criticism in The Glass Menagerie.

I think that the psychoanalytic criticism can be applied
to the family dynamics that Williams gives.  On one hand, the family emotional dynamics
presented reflect some deeply disturbing psychoanalytic issue.  The father abandoning
the family is one scar that has not been fully addressed in the family.  To this end,
Tom replicating those same behaviors becomes disturbing.  This might be why the ending
of the play reflects that while Tom is out of the family, there is still a
disenchantment present in his state of being in the world.  At the same time, Amanda is
depicted as one who seeks to bring back that which has passed.  The idea of Amanda as
one who can only find joy in the nostalgia of her past, reliving that which is no longer
there, also gives us a portrait of a psychologically complex figure.  Interestingly
enough, I think that a case can be made for the most psychologically sound figure to be
Laura.  While she is perceived to be weak and frail, I think that a case can be made
that she is the most centered character because she is not trying to be something she is
not.  There is little disconnect between her conscious state of being and her
subconscious.  In this, I think that the psychoanalytic portrait of the family is one
where complexity is present due to the dynamics within it.