"The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams and "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka are two of the most well known and venerated short stories of the 1900s. They are multi-faceted, detailed depictures of life condensed into what can only be described as the literary equivalent of "bite size." Each of these stories, not to be forgotten in history, are true works of art. They are refreshingly inimitable and personal tales of family and identity. Both may be described as amazing due their unique, and at times even obscure literary genius. Despite each of these stories' distinctiveness there is, nevertheless, a multitude of similarities between the two that should be recognized along with their many differences.

The Wingfield family in Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" consists of a mother, a father, and their two children. Tom, the son, is the sole bread earner in the family, as his father left them...