Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie

Tennessee Williams

Synopsis:

               The Glass Menagerie takes place in 1944 and is a play told through memories. The Wingfield family lives in small apartment that can only be entered and exited by a fire escape. Single mother Amanda lives with her son Tom and crippled daughter Laura. After their father left them, Tom took a full time job working at a warehouse to support the family. After Laura drops out of Business College due to her social anxiety, Amanda turns all her focus to finding a gentleman caller, or husband, for Laura. However, due to her anxiety, Laura has no interest in marrying and spends all her time collecting glass animals. Hoping to find a husband for Laura, Tom brings home his friend Jim from work who was an acquaintance to Laura in high school. After a few hours of conversation, Jim begins to break down the barrier Laura has created between herself and society. However, as Jim and Laura are dancing, Jim accidently bumps into Laura’s glass unicorn, breaking the horn and causing it to become as ordinary as any other horse. Laura’s hopes quickly become as shattered as her glass unicorn when Jim tells her that he is to be married.

Play Background

.                   Debuted in Chicago in 1944

         Characters and story based on experiences of author Tennessee Williams

         Character Laura based on William’s sister, Rose

Primary Characters

         Amanda Wingfield

         Tom Wingfield

         Laura Wingfield

         Jim O’Connor

Setting

         St. Louis in 1944. The Wingfield apartment

Key Plot Moments

         Beginning: Laura dropping out Business College: Viewer first insight into Laura’s personality and internal struggles.

         Middle: The shattering of the glass unicorn: Laura’s major characterization shift

         End: Laura blowing out the candle: ending of the play and final downfall of hope

Key Quotes

         “The scene is memory and is therefore non-realistic. Memory takes a lot of poetic licence. It omits some details; others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart” (Williams5-10)

         “A little physical defect is what you have. Hardly noticeable even! Magnified thousands of times by imagination! You know what my strong advice to you is? Think of yourself as superior in some way!” (Williams 37-41).

         “Now it is just like all the other horses” (Williams 89).

Symbols:

Glass Menagerie: Laura’s collection of little glass animals represents her fragile mental state and personality. The glass is very delicate and unique like Laura’s personality.

Fire Escape: The only way to enter and exit the Wingfield apartment us through a worn-down fire escape. This represents the difficulty that the family has escaping the despairs and struggles of reality.

Glass Unicorn: The glass unicorn is the most intricate and fragile animal in Laura’s collection. The glass unicorn represents Laura’s unique personality and inner beauty. The unicorn breaking and it becoming an average horse represents Laura’s snap to reality and Jim stealing Laura’s individuality.

Blowing out the candle: While Jim at the WIngfield’s, the apartment loses power due to Tom’s inability to pay the electric bill. Laura and Jim light candles in the living room. The candles being lit represent the hope Laura feels while growing closer to Jim. At the very end of the play, Laura blows out the candle. This represents Laura’s lose of hope after she finds out that Jim is to be married.  

Motifs:

Laura’s defect: Foster Chapter 24, ...And Rarely Just Illness, suggests that when a character has a specific illness or defect it represents something about the time period or who the character is as a person. One of Laura’s leg is shorter than the other causing her to wear a brace on one leg. This makes Laura different from everyone else and represents her individuality.

Paradise Dance Hall: Paradise is a biblical allusion to the Garden of Eden. While Laura and Jim are talking, they hear music from Paradise Dance Hall across the street. The Garden of Eden is originally a beautiful and perfect place but eventually falls due to Adam and Eve’s lack of responsibility. This relates to Laura because she feels as though she is so close to paradise when she is with Jim but loses it all when she finds out that Jim is engaged.

Themes:

Escape:  Amanda, Laura, and Tom struggle with the weight of reality. Escape is an important theme in the play because each character has a way of escaping reality and going to their own mental happiness since reality is not enough. Amanda remonises from her days as a southern belle and dreams about gentleman callers, Laura spends her time with her glass menagerie, and Tom goes to the movies to escape reality.

Individualism: A main theme in the play is the rareness of individuality.  Even though awkward and antisocial, Laura has a unique personality despite the pressure to conform in high school. The glass unicorn, which symbolizes Laura, represents this theme because it is the most individual animal is Laura’s collection before it is broken.  

Stylistic Devices:

Music: The Glass Menagerie is a play told through memories. Music is used throughout the script and our video to connect different parts of the story. Music that is played at a certain point in one part of the script and is the played again later on is used to bring the viewer back to other points in the play and connect them.