THE GLASS MENAGERIE the unicorn falls from the table, and its horn breaks.

Jim
kisses her but explains he is engaged and then,
Characters ashamed, leaves.

Laura Wingfield – Tom’s sister and Amanda’s mother. When Amanda witnesses this, Amanda accuses Tom of
Her character is very shy, and she is emotionally and tricking and embarrassing her, knowing Jim was
physically fragile. She has a childhood illness that left her engaged. He denies it, and Amanda calls him selfish,
one leg slightly shorter than the other, she wore leg that’s when he leave for good.
brace, and she walks with a limp. He delivers his final remarks as the narrator in the same
Cripple – a person with physical disability, who is unable place and future time as he did at the opening of the
to walk because of illness or injury, or has impaired leg. play, never finding contentment because he could not
ever be free of his emotional ties to Laura. Laura blows
Jim O’Connor – is a friend of Tom who works at the out the candles in the apartment to end the play.
shoe warehouse. Jim, Tom, and Laura are acquaintances
in high school. Jim was a popular athlete in high school Tom finally escapes and joins the Merchant Marines,
and is now a shipping clerk at the shoe warehouse in but even his escape doesn’t save him. He’s constantly
which Tom works. He is devoted to goals of professional haunted by the sad memory of his lonely sister, and
achievement and ideals of personal success. He is everywhere he goes, her image stays with him;
outgoing, enthusiastic, and believes in self- although he escaped the apartment, he didn’t really get
improvement. away from her memory.

Mr. Wingfield – is the husband of Amanda, he is an He understands Amanda will never be an independent
absent father of Tom and Laura. He never appeared on woman but as in the past will always feel the need of a
stage, but his portraits dominates the living room, and man to save her. If Laura had Jim's faith in the future and
his presence looms throughout the play. self-confidence, or the will to grab onto the one superior
quality, she might gain strength. But from Tom's
Tom introduced him: a fifith character in the play who soliloquy and the final scene between Laura and
doesn’t appear except in this larger-than-life-size Amanda, the audience knows she will remain where she
photograph over mantel. He is a handsome man who is.
worked for a telephone company. He abandoned his
family years before the action of the play and never From the fire escape, at the same time he pleads with
appears onstage. her to "Blow your candles out," Laura smiles and blows
out the candelabrum flames, thereby freeing her
Summary brother from his responsibility to her and their mother.
She forgives him because she understands why he left.
Scene 6 Jim helped her to see that that people's futures rest in
their confidence in themselves, and their strength to
After that, on the next night, Amanda shocks Laura by
take the chance on the challenge that comes with
telling her that the gentleman caller is Jim, the boy she
change.
had a crush on in high school. After Jim arrives, Amanda
sends Tom to retrieve Laura for dinner, and they learn When he says "And so, good bye" at the end of the play,
that Laura is ill just as a storm begins outside. Tom it's a way of closing the book on those dreams, but also
helped Laura to rest in their sofa. understanding that Laura's daily existence was a
peaceful one. She would wake up the next day and be as
Scene 7
content as she had been before, once she let go of her
After dinner the electricity flickers and goes out. Amanda mother's unrealistic expectations. Tom could not
send Jim into the living room where he takes a seat next continue to live with his family; like his father, he sought
to Laura. As they speak, Laura slowly warms up and escape. The images of night and day in the play reiterate
relaxes in Jim’s gently encouraging company, and they this idea of daily life's reality versus the long-range
reminisce about high school. She shows him her glass hopes and dreams of a lifetime.
menagerie, in particular the unicorn. When they dance,
Style and Technique  Feather the nest and plume the bird – feather
the nest-to enrich oneself & plume the bird-to
Plastic theatre – a concept of Williams, it is a concept pride oneself in a boastful or showy manner.
in theatre in which a play use all the stage resources, o Said by Tom when he narrated that
lighting, sound, music, movement, set and props, in Amanda call her friends to renew their
order to generate a theatrical experience greater than subscription in the magazine, The
realism. Homemaker’s Companion.
 Sticks and stones can break our bones – a
Uses Idioms and Phrases
physical attack may injure me but a verbal attack
 A phrase is a group of words used to define an cannot.
expression, but it is not a complete sentence. o Said by Amanda when she told Laura to
An idiom is an expression made by grouping buy butter, but instruct Laura to charge
words together to mean something that is the butter instead, and not give
different from the literal meaning of the phrase payment.
or saying. All idioms are phrases, but not all  Still water runs deep – a quiet behavior may
phrases are idioms. conceal a more passionate nature.
 Tennessee Williams used idioms and phrases in o Said by Amanda when she described
order to convey his imagination. He used idioms Laura.
to add color to language by creating images
that convey meanings beyond individual words Sentence and diction are informal and simple
that make them up.  The conversation of the characters is down-to-
Idioms: earth direct and simple, which shows the
characters in their true colors.
 I have tricks in my pocket, I have things up my  The conversations of the characters are natural
sleeve – to keep a secret method or trick that and spontaneous. (spontaneous – the
can use when it is needed. conversations look like they didn’t plan on what
o Intro of Tom as a narrator in the play. they were going to say)
After that, he said that he is the  Tom's words are more sophisticated and his
opposite of a stage magician, because sentence structure is more elaborate when he is
he give the truth in the pleasant disguise the narrator. When speaking to his mother, he is
of illusion. often frustrated and angry, and speaks in short
 Nimble wit and a tongue – alert, bright, and bursts.
clever.
o Said by Amanda when she said to Tom In the play The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee
that girls shouldn’t just have pretty face Williams, Williams uses many symbols, which
and a graceful figure, but they also need represent many different things.
to be alert, bright, and clever. In the play The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams,
 Turned up their toes to the daisies – a person Williams uses many symbols, which represent many
died. different things. Many of the symbols used in the play
o Said by Amanda when she talks about all try to symbolize some form of escape or difference
of her admirers in the past who died. between reality and illusion, displaying how the
 Lesser of two evils – the less harmful of characters are separated from reality. The symbol of the
unpleasant of two bad choices. glass menagerie is the set of glass menagerie itself,
o Said by Laura when Amanda found out representing the bridge between the illusory world of
that she dropped Business College and the Wingfield's and the world of reality.
walk to all sorts of places instead to
deceive Amanda that she was going to
school everyday.
Settings
The Glass Menagerie takes place in the 1930s in a  Amanda – her responsibility is to not set her
tenement apartment in St. Louis, Missouri. Tenement children to failure. She feels responsible for
apartments were generally inhabited by the lower- Laura to be married and to be successful in the
middle class. future.
 Laura – her responsibility is to be married so
that a husband can support her.
Themes  Tom – he is the breadwinner of the family, his
responsibility is to help Laura to get married and
Themes, settings, social context help Amanda financially.

Escape and Illusion vs Reality – The theme escape Gender roles – plays a large part in dictating the future
has two types, the physical escape and psychological plans of each characters. In the 1930’s, males were
escape. The first one, the theme escape is where Tom socially constructed to be the breadwinners and
and Mr. Wingfield escaped from their responsibility to providers for the family, while females were constructed
support their family. It means that they physically to be the caregivers and housewives.
escaped. While the other kind of escape is where all the
characters try to escape reality and live in their own Memory – The play is Tom’s memory of the past, and all
illusionary world. of the action takes place in his head. That action is
therefore dramatic, sentimental, and emotional, not
 For Amanda – she tries to escape the reality of realistic. Tom feels trapped in his memory, he sees his
life by living in her illusion, which is in her past past as a physical and emotional restraint that prevents
when she used to be courted by a number of him from living his life.
gentlemen callers. She is scared to face the
reality that she is a widow left behind by her Social Context
husband without much to provide for the family.
The social setting or context of the glass menagerie is in
Her daughter and son are failures who have not
the 1930s, during the great depression and slightly
worked to meet her expectations. But talking
before the beginning of World War II (1939).
about the gentlemen callers make her forget the
sorrows and problems of her reality. U.S. Economy in 1937 – The Glass Menagerie is set in
 For Laura – she tries to escape reality by living in 1937 during the worst economic downturn history in the
her illusion into world of glass animals, because US known as the Great Depression. The great depression
the glass menagerie is a dream world for her. begun in 1929 to 1930s, during that time, stocks
Her character is very shy and has not been able continued to fail, businesses failed, and unemployment
to achieve any success, and Amanda projects rose dramatically. One of every four workers was
ambitions onto her, so to make up for this sense unemployed. Banks failed and life savings were lost.
of loss, she try to live in the fantasy world of With no job and no savings, thousands of American lost
glass menagerie. their homes.
 For Tom – he tries to escape reality by feeling
the joy and excitement in watching movies or in Considering the story was set in the Depression, Tom
cinema. He feel joy when he is in the unreal was fortunate to have a job at all. Like Tom Wingfield,
world of cinema, but the moment he step out of some men were attracted to the newly organized
the cinema hall, he unwillingly has to face the Merchant Marines as one option. Members of the
realities of actual life. The reality of his life is that Merchant Marines were charged with delivering troops
he has not been able to help his mother to get and military supplies to the Navy ships during wartime.
Laura married off. He has not been able to earn Merchant Marines – The groundwork for the United
much. He is like his father, and he has not been States Maritime Service (USMS) began in 1936 as a
of any meaningful use to his mother. result of that year's Merchant Marine Act, a service
Familial responsibility – Tom, Laura, and Amanda has initiated to deliver military supplies. It was at first a
their own responsibility on their family. voluntary unit with uniform and ranking ties to the Coast
Guard, and did not become its own entity until 1938.
Merchant Marines also were trained to handle weapons and discover that there is much more to her
and artillery that allowed them to reach the troops, as than the shy, barely visible girl.
their ships were in the enemies' sights as soon as they  Likewise, the animals are transparent and need
left harbor. Often known as the Forgotten Service, the to be noticed and handled in order that one can
Merchant Marines was the only integrated subdivision of see their brilliance.
the military during World War II.  In addition, Laura stays at home and does not
wish to go out, like her animals that cannot
escape their surroundings. The animals cannot
adjust with the times and are, therefore,
Literary Devices
inactive.
Imagery – the writer uses descriptive language to
appeal to the reader’s senses of sight, taste, smell,
touch, and sound, as well as internal emotion and Glass Menagerie as the title – the title, glass
feelings. menagerie, refers to a collection of glass figurines that
can be seen as a representation of the family because
Metaphor – making a comparison between two non-
each embodies elements of emotional fragility and they
similar things, without using “like” or “as”.
are all merely reflections given to us through Tom’s
 The play is memory – said by Tom in Scene 1, memory.
which the play itself has been compared to
Glass Unicorn – The glass unicorn symbolizes Laura’s
things recalled from memory.
uniqueness. As Jim point out, unicorns are extinct in
 My devotion has made me a witch so I make
modern times and are lonesome as a result of being
myself hateful to my children! – said by Amanda
different from other horses. Laura, like the unicorn, is
in Scene 4, where she was compared to a witch.
unusual, lonely, and ill-adapted to existence in the world
Symbolism – it represents something beyond literal in which she lives.
meaning.
 Just before Laura's fragile heart is broken, the
The collection of Glass Menagerie – Laura Wingfield unicorn's horn breaks off because of Jim. Laura
and her world are symbolized by her menagerie of glass states that the unicorn is now just like the other
figurines. The glass animals symbolizes Laura’s beauty normal horses.
and fragility, and her desire to escape reality into her  When the unicorn loses its horn and becomes
own illusions. like the rest of the animals in the glass
menagerie, it loses its uniqueness. Likewise,
 Tennesse Williams wrote in his Production Note when Laura gains confidence through Jim, she
“When you look at a piece of delicately spun realizes that she is not too different from
glass, you think of two things, how beautiful it is everyone else.
and how easily it can be broke.”
 Laura is beautiful and fragile. The glass figurines Fire Escape – The fire escape is the entrance and exit of
are delicate and must be gently handled. Laura's the Wingfield’s apartment. It represents exactly what its
emotions are very fragile since she has grown up name implies: an escape from the fires of frustration and
feeling insecure because of her crippled leg. disappointment that rage in the Wingfield’s apartment.
Very little is required to break her; a timed
 Laura – she slips on the fire escape in Scene
typing test, for example, panics her and causes
Four, which highlights her inability to escape
her to leave school.
from her situation.
 The animals in the menagerie are representative
 Tom – he frequently steps out onto the fire
of Laura in that when light is shone through
escape to smoke. For Tom, it symbolizes his
them, they can appear very beautiful and
entrance and exit into both his reality and his
interesting. When others get to know Laura,
dream world.
they can see different aspects of her personality
Blue Roses – Blue Roses is the nickname gave to her by Tennessee worked at a shoe company for two
Jim when they were in high school, derives from Jim’s years while dreaming of becoming a writer.
mishearing of “pleurosis,” the disease that left her
crippled and cause of her absence from school.  After his third year at University of Missouri, his
father got him a position in the shoe factory.
 The name Blue Roses reflects Laura's unusual Tennessee worked there for two years, he later
and otherworldly beauty, and she feels pretty classified this time as the most miserable two
and worthy when Jim calls her that. He tells her years of his life.
the color makes her beauty unique.  He spent dreary days at the warehouse and then
 Both Tom and Jim see Laura as like a blue rose, devoted his nights to writing poetry, play, and
exotic and frail in her rarity. short stories.
 The name also associated with Laura’s attraction
to Jim and the joy that his kind treatment brings
her. Scene 1
Gentleman Caller - To Amanda this gentleman caller The play takes place in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1937,
represents the path to a secure financial future as with Tom as narrator, now a merchant sailor,
Laura's husband. Their marriage would allow her, the returning from an indefinite time in the future to tell
mother-in-law, a place to live. Jim, as a husband for the story of the last few months he spent with his
Laura, is Tom's ticket to a future of freedom he creates mother and sister before he left them. He mentions
for himself instead of one that fulfills his mother's and events of the times—the Spanish Civil War and labor
sister's needs. unrest in American cities—and introduces the
characters in the play.

He transitions from narrator to his role as Tom the

Influences son and enters the apartment from the fire escape
Tennessee’s sister, Rose, suffered from mental when his mother calls him to dinner. Amanda
reprimands Tom for his table manners and smoking.
disorders, had undergone a prefrontal lobotomy,
She wonders if any gentlemen will be stopping by to
and had been always isolated from other people.
visit Laura and then segues into her often-repeated
 Rose is actually the model for the character of story about gentlemen callers during her debutante
Laura Wingfield. period. When Amanda badgers her about
 Tennessee had a very close relationship with his boyfriends, Laura admits she probably will never
sister, Rose. When Rose and Tennessee grew marry.
older, Rose began to exhibit anxious and erratic
Analysis
behavior.
 In St. Louis, Rose attended a school named The Myopic 1930s Middle Class
Soldan High, which is also where Laura attended
Tom creates a metaphor between people who are
in Glass Menagerie.
physically blind and those who ignore what
 Over the course of ten years, Rose suffered
surrounds them. Like horses with blinders, these
through number of nervous breakdowns. Her
people refused to notice the country's continuing
mental health began to deteriorate and she
financial issues and the demands of the working
undergone prefrontal lobotomy, which left her
class who are no longer keeping silent about
institutionalized for the rest of her life. Rose also
unreasonable working conditions and inequities.
has sense of isolation from the world, like Laura.
 Rose and Laura are both shy, quiet, but lovely Spanish Civil War (1936–39)
girls who were not able to cope with the modern
This conflict between the conservative Nationalists
world, as seen by Tennessee.
(leaning toward fascism) and socialist Republicans
(the standing government) attracted worldwide
attention, with many volunteers from other
countries joining the fight.

Scene 2

Amanda discovers Laura has dropped out of

business school. Laura admits she has instead been
walking around the city and going to movies, afraid
of Amanda's rebuke. Amanda worries about their
future if Laura cannot work and tells Laura they will
find her an appropriate husband. When Laura
responds, "I'm—crippled," Amanda admonishes her
for even saying crippled.

Narrator Tom updates the audience about Amanda's

husband scheme in Scene 3 before assuming his son
role. Here he is furious with Amanda for treating him
like a child when he is 21, with his salary paying their
rent. Amanda ignores his rage, accuses him of lying
about his evening activities, and calls him selfish. He
calls her an "ugly—babbling old—witch" and
accidentally shatters some of Laura's glass animals
on his way out.

Scenes 3 and 4

The following morning Tom stumbles up the fire

escape after a night at the movies and much
drinking. Laura helps him into the apartment,
warning him to be quiet. At Laura's request Tom
apologizes to their mother. Amanda admits that her
love for her children has made her anxious. Tom
remains pleasant until she nags him to eat breakfast
and interrogates him about the movies. She admits
knowing he plans to join the Merchant Marines but
asks him to find a man for Laura to marry before he
leaves. Appalled, he storms out again.

Scene 5

Amanda joins Tom on the fire escape, and they

banter about wishing on the full moon. He mentions
he invited a young man, his coworker, to dinner for
the next evening. Amanda is ecstatic. The scene
ends with Amanda and Laura wishing on the moon.