In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the narrator Tom filters the story through his memories. This technique causes the characters to be presented in a way that is manipulated through Tom's personal illusions. In completing his goal of finding happiness, Tom comes to the conclusion that it can only be achieved through the path his father took. This leads Tom to analyze the actions of the people around him through a filter. Every happy expression or facial movement is inherently a way of masking one's 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, his desires and motivations in terms of achieving happiness. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Tom's happiness comes from escaping his problems. When he looks at his father he sees a tormented but still happy man. “I'm like my father. The bastard son of a bastard son! Did you notice how he smiles in the photo there? And he was absent for sixteen years” (Williams 64)! Tom feels he still has a personal relationship with his father despite being absent for much of his life. This desire for a relationship comes from admiring the act by which his father was satisfied with his life. Tom identifies with his father as 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. When he shows Jim a photo of his father, Tom remarks "do you notice how he smiles?" obviously believing that the smile signals inner happiness. Tom doesn't have much left of his father, so he places extreme emphasis on this photo of him in the house. As he stares at the photo, the smile on his face transforms into a lifetime of happiness for his father. As 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 is capable of achieving happiness. In St. Louis, Tom believes that happiness is a disguise for true emotions and happiness. therefore only false happiness exists. At work, Tom sees false happiness when his colleagues' "hostility fades away and they too begin to smile at me as 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 that his colleagues see him as a "wacky dog", meaning he is strange and out of place. He sees their smiles as a way to hide the sympathy they feel for him because he is so different. Tom also feels that Amanda uses happiness to hide her true emotion and 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 to hide how uncomfortable she truly is. She uses a "girlish laugh" to hide her true emotions of nervousness and to charm Jim. His laughter is in no way true happiness, but rather a ploy used to disguise who he really is. Laura's actions also convey the idea of ​​using happiness to mask internal feelings. After being devastated by the news of Jim's engagement, she pretends to be happy to avoid hurting Amanda's feelings. “Laura's dark hair hides her face until at the end of the speech she lifts it to smile at her mother.” Laura is clearly still very upset by the events that happened with, 1999.