The Glass Menagerie Analysis

The play The Glass Menagerie, written by Tennessee Williams, is told as a flashback from the point of view of the character Tom Wingfield. He narrates the play as well. It is set in St. Louis in the year 1937. Tom works to support his mother, Amanda, as well as his sister Laura. Laura is extremely shy, and her mother is not happy with her because she does not attract any “gentlemen callers.” Laura gets enrolled in a business school by her mother, in hopes that she will go into a business career and earn money for herself and her family. A few weeks after, Laura drops out of business school due to her shyness, and wanders the streets of St. Louis during the day. When she is caught by her mother after she visits the business school, Laura tells her “I’ve just been going walking” (Williams 1166). It is then decided that the only hope left in Laura is in marriage. Laura then begins to sell magazine subscriptions in hopes that this job will not only earn her money, but attract a gentleman caller as well. Tom, who works in a shoe warehouse, is a slight alcoholic. He tries to get away from the job that he doesn’t like by drinking, watching movies, and reading literature. Tom often argues with his mother Amanda, and in one of these frequent arguments, Tom accidently breaks a few of Laura’s glass animals. These glass animals are her most prized possessions, so Laura is upset but forgiving.

The play, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams is a play that focuses on the flaws of people and the overwhelming feeling that many face throughout their life. Tennessee Williams was quite familiar with this feeling. During his career Tennessee Williams even said:

In The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams presents us with four characters whose lives seem to consist in avoiding reality more than facing it. Amanda lives her life through her children and clings to her lost youthfulness. Tom retreats into movie theaters and into his dream of joining the merchant seamen and some day becoming a published poet. Laura resorts to her Victrola and collection of glass ornaments to help sustain her world of fantasy. Finally, Jim is only able to find some relief in his glorified old memories. This essay will examine how Amanda, Tom, Laura and Jim attempt to escape from the real world through their dreams.

The Glass Menagerie is a memory play narrated by the main character and son, Tom Wingfield. It takes place in their apartment in St Louis, 1937. The father left them years ago leaving Tom to support the family. He works in a shoe warehouse, a job in which he hates and wants to leave, but can't because he has a duty to support the family. His mother, Amanda is loving and caring but nags too much, annoying Tom. She expresses the desire for her daughter, Laura, who is crippling shy, to have "gentlemen callers". Amanda finds out that Laura dropped out of college because of her shyness and she demanded Tom to choose a gentleman caller for her. He chooses Jim O'Connor, a boy who she liked in high school, but was too shy to talk to him before. Tom invites him for dinner and Jim talks to her and gets her to open up a little. He leads her on by kissing her then after tells her he is engaged. He then leaves and Laura gets sad. Amanda yells at Tom, blaming him for it. Tom reveals to the audience that he abandons his family later that night and has been haunted by Laura ever since.

The Glass Menagerie is arguably the most symbolic and deep plays ever written. The Glass Menagerie isn’t just a story of Laura’s disability, it has a deeper meaning behind it, and it can be easily overlooked by mediocre minds. Although the story revolves around the Wingfield family, Tennessee Williams throws in symbolism that corresponds with his childhood. In a way, he found closure for the loss of his sister Rose through writing The Glass Menagerie. One of the symbols is the play that holds a different meaning for each of the characters is the fire escape. As the play evolves the fire escape brings out Laura’s, Tom’s, and Amanda’s true desires.

In “The Glass Menagerie,” Tennessee Williams presents four characters that choose to avoid reality rather than facing is. Amanda lives her life through her children’s and clings to her past. Tom constantly spends his nights at movie theatres and dreams of joining the merchant seamen and someday becoming a published poet. Laura uses her collection of glass ornaments and victola to help sustain her world of fantasy. Finally, Jim is only able to find relief in his praised old memories. Amanda, Tom, Laura, and Jim attempt to escape from the real world through their dreams of a fantasy life they desire.

The Glass Menagerie is a play that Tennessee Williams made to portray the gender roles that were socially constructed in this time

The Glass Menagerie is a drama in which Tom, the narrator, shares his memories around the time World War II broke out. The memories Tom shares throughout the course of the drama resemble a life that is very close to the lifestyle Williams had before he became famous for his plays. To begin, the mood is set

The Glass Menagerie is a play, told by the memories of the narrator, Tom Wingfield. Tom loves books and writing but is working in a warehouse to support his mother, Amanda, and sister, Laura. Mr. Wingfield, Tom and Laura’s father, ran off years ago leaving Tom to be the man of the house. Tom's decision to leave his mother and sister was justified on the grounds that Amanda tends to show him little to no respect, on top of the lack of respect Tom feels as if he would be better off doing what he would like to do. Adventure. With those being said, of course it’s difficult for Tom to make this decision because he is unsure of the state it would leave his mother and sister in, with nobody to take care of them is unsure whether it’s the right decision.

“The Glass Menagerie” is a memory play based on Tennessee Williams’ memories as a young man back in the 1930’s. We will learn about each character, and that these memories occur in a small apartment in Saint Louis. The title of this play is used to refer to his sister Laura’s infatuation with glass animals.

Tennessee Williams’s, The Glass Menagerie, is one of the most popular plays of all times and the play that started his success as a playwright. This play explores a dysfunctional family who has been abandoned by the husband/father and struggles to progress in an economically stressed time. The play showcases three extremely complex characters who each have personal struggles in their own lives which furthermore create tensions between each other as a family unit. As a true lover of this play, I had to dig deep into the text and try to understand each of the characters of this play in order to figure out what was the cause to their unhappiness. There were many factors that played a huge role to the misery of their lives but the most

The story of a young Tennessee Williams is poetically portrayed through a 1945 Broadway Play, The Glass Menagerie. The main character, Tom Wingfield, lives in his family’s apartment with his mother, Amanda Wingfield, and sister, Laura Wingfield. Their father left the family, and he remains a silent character appearing as a portrait on the apartment wall. Throughout the seven scenes, the immaturity of each family member is revealed. In search of adventure, Tom has dreams of being a writer and wishes to leave his family and factory job, like his father, to join the Merchant Marines. Laura lets her disability, a braced leg, hinder her finding a job or a husband, while Amanda stays in denial of her children’s failure by living in the past

In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the primarily characters exhibit a state of illusion that originates from their dissatisfaction and unhappiness with their lives. Tom seeks adventure in the movies. Amanda reminisces often about her days as a Southern Belle. Laura sits in a dream world with her glass collection, and Jim wallows in the praises of his high school glory. In their own unique ways, they demonstrate their anxiety. Thus, the characters are all displeased, but take no action to improve their situation in any feasible.

The Glass Menagerie is a play written by Tennessee Williams the book talks about the hardships faced by the single women and how they care for their children. The play has four characters. Amanda Wingfield is a woman from Mississippi whose husband moved the family to St. Louis and abandoned her and her two children. Laura has been left disabled by disease, and Tom is a would-be poet. Amanda's life is a mixture of reality and fantasy; she has struggled to support her children, who are now grown, but she refuses to acknowledge Laura’s disability and dreams of a happy married life for her. Each member of the Wingfield family is unable to overcome

Based on real events that unfolded, The Glass Menagerie really opened our eyes to Tennessee Williams’s family life. The Glass Menagerie depicts Williams’ childhood. His father worked as a traveling salesman (Williams, Notebooks), his mother raised the children practically by herself and often longed for her past. The relationship between Tennessee’s parents was dysfunctional to say the least. Tom Wingfield portrays a young Tennessee, and Laura, though only has a limp is