Conflicts

The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams

Many of the conflicts in this story are intertwined.  The family lives in close quarters and the three family members have distinctly different personalities which occasionally clash.  In addition, internal conflicts can manifest themselves as or lead into external conflicts.
Tom, for example, has the internal desire for adventure that conflicts with the fact that he is stuck in his warehouse job and stuck with his dependent family.  "TOM: Man is by instinct a lover, a hunter, a fighter, and none of those instincts are given much play at the warehouse!" (Williams, 1253)  This conflict causes Tom to be unhappy and confrontational.  He smokes, drinks, and argues with his mother.

In Laura's case, her external setback, the fact that she is cripples, lead to her internal conflict of being shy while trying still to fulfill her mother's expectations of having suitors.  Laura doesn't want to be impolite or anti-social, she is just very self-conscious.
I noticed that Laura becomes less shy around Jim when they get into talking and she senses his warmth.  Jim might just bring Laura out of her shell and be the resolution to the conflict.