The Play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams Essay

Exclusively available on IvyPanda Available only on IvyPanda

“The Glass Menagerie” is a Tennessee Williams play that tracks the progress of a small family living in a tiny apartment in the middle of St. Louis as it is remembered by the narrator, Tom. At the time the play opens, Tom is an adult and travels the world with the Merchant Marines, but remains unhappy because of the way that he left his mother and sister. The rest of the play is his memory of his last days at the apartment as he interacts with his mother and sister.

We will write a custom essay on your topic a custom Essay on The Play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams
808 writers online

This setting is important because it is the memory that both illustrates the family’s desperate condition as well as haunts the older Tom. These concepts would not be so strongly conveyed had the memory play taken place in a nicer home, for example, or all in one time period so that its effects on the older man were unknown. Throughout the play, one of the major themes is the impossibility of escape from reality. This theme is suggested through the major conflicts of the play, the plot development, and the tone to deliver an important warning to audiences of all generations.

The main action of “The Glass Menagerie” begins in the St. Louis apartment as Tom joins his mother and sister at the dinner table after having explained to the audience the time (1937), location (St. Louis), and the missing father who ran off to Mexico abandoning his family in the process. The major conflict is immediately introduced as each of the characters is seen to live in a fantasy world as a means of escaping reality. Tom works at a job he hates in order to help support his family, but he secretly dreams of being a writer and traveling the world, which he can’t do as long as his mother and sister are so dependent on him.

He overcomes his frustration by drinking and going to the movies, which provides his mother, Amanda, with the tools she needs to nag him all the time. Amanda was a Southern Belle who married poorly and is thus stuck in a small apartment, abandoned and expected to support herself, something she was never prepared for. In order to escape this reality, she lives in the world of her memories when she lived in a large house with plenty of wealthy boyfriends, beautiful things to wear, and no great worries to deal with. She tells her children, “My callers were gentlemen – all! Among my callers were some of the most prominent young planters of the Mississippi Delta – planters and sons of planters” (I, 148).

She transfers these dreams over to her daughter, Laura. However, Laura is very shy and awkward as a result of her pleurosis, which makes it necessary for her to walk with a brace, and she is very poor as a result of her family’s conditions. She knows she can never hope to attract the kind of boyfriends her mother talks of nor wear the kind of clothing her mother describes. In order to escape from these impossible ideals, Laura escapes into the music of her childhood, when her father was still at home, and the beautiful light show of her glass menagerie, a collection of miniatures that are more real to her as friends than anyone she’s met in the outside world.

The action of the play rises when it is revealed that Laura has cut off most of her chances for future success and independence by dropping out of high school, dropping out of business school, and too shy to meet people on her own. Her weakness is revealed when she confesses within the play that she dropped out of high school because she “made bad grades on my final examinations” (VII, 219) and couldn’t go back to business school because “I couldn’t go back there. I – threw up – on the floor!” (II, 155).

This forces Tom to find her a boyfriend, which he thinks he does, and preparations are made for the big dinner. The climax occurs with the dinner when it is revealed that Jim is already engaged to be married and Tom takes off with the electric money. The play is only partially resolved in the falling action as Tom reveals his treachery to his family and his abiding guilty connection to his sister. There are hints that Laura might have overcome part of her shyness in her talk with Jim or that Amanda has seen through the veil of her fantasy in attempting to comfort Laura, but nothing is known of where they are at the older Tom’s time frame.

1 hour!
The minimum time our certified writers need to deliver a 100% original paper

The action of the play is delivered as the memory of the main character and is, therefore, a combination of narration and ‘live-action.’ By having the play delivered in this way, the playwright can interject more information and continues to remind the audience that the action is presented in hindsight, which is always clearer than present vision. For example, as older Tom, he can confess, “I had known Jim slightly in high school … He was the only one at the warehouse with whom I was on friendly terms” (VI, 190) whereas a younger Tom’s objections to his mother’s plans when unheard.

In a sense, the entire play functions as a flashback as the older Tom informs the audience of the memories that plague him. However, there are additional shifts in time as the other characters become involved. Amanda returns to her past almost continuously through the play while Laura introduces a suggestion of foreshadowing as she talks about the only boy in high school she was ever interested in, who later turns up on her doorstep for the big dinner party. By presenting the play in this way, the narrator can focus attention on what was most important to him, revealing the depth of connection he felt with his sister rather than focusing on his own adolescent anger and frustration or his mother’s disappointment.

Throughout the play, the audience is made constantly aware of how fantasy is blocking each of these characters from moving forward. Amanda can’t escape the fantasy that she was supposed to grow old through a careless process in which she’d always be provided for and loved. Not able to escape this fantasy, she is unable to do anything meaningful about her present situation. Tom cannot escape the fantasy that a life of travel and writing will free him of his mother and sister, but, as the play itself reveals, even these things do not give him the independence he sought. Laura lives in a fantasy in which she can remain safely tucked away in her home and let everyone else just take care of things.

Although the characters might not realize it, the audience understands that until they each confront reality – Amanda does not have the support she’d expected, Tom will forever be connected to his sister and Laura cannot simply hide away in her imagination for all-time – none of them will be able to move forward. This then becomes a lesson for the audience members in discovering means of addressing the present without expecting it to behave as fantasy might suggest.

Works Cited

Williams, Tennessee. “The Glass Menagerie.” The Theatre of Tennessee Williams. Vol. 1. New York: New Directions Books: 1971.

Print
Need an custom research paper on The Play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams written from scratch by a professional specifically for you?
808 writers online
Cite This paper
Select a referencing style:

Reference

IvyPanda. (2021, November 4). The Play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-play-the-glass-menagerie-by-tennessee-williams/

Work Cited

"The Play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams." IvyPanda, 4 Nov. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/the-play-the-glass-menagerie-by-tennessee-williams/.

References

IvyPanda. (2021) 'The Play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams'. 4 November.

References

IvyPanda. 2021. "The Play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams." November 4, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-play-the-glass-menagerie-by-tennessee-williams/.

1. IvyPanda. "The Play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams." November 4, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-play-the-glass-menagerie-by-tennessee-williams/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "The Play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams." November 4, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-play-the-glass-menagerie-by-tennessee-williams/.

Powered by CiteTotal, referencing generator
If you are the copyright owner of this paper and no longer wish to have your work published on IvyPanda. Request the removal
More related papers
Cite
Print
1 / 1