THE GLASS MENAGERIE

BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
About the Playwright:
Tennessee Williams

 Born in 1911 in Mississippi to a traveling

salesman and a driven woman who prided
herself on her strong Southern roots
 Father moved them to North St. Louis when
he was a teenager; Williams hated it there –
he used writing as an escape
 Had two siblings; he was closest to eldest
sister Rose; Rose sent to institution after
showing signs of mental illness
 Williams later changed his name from Tom
Williams to Tennessee Williams; traveled to
NY and LA to write
 Worked as a contract script writer; wrote a
short story called “The Girl in the Glass”
 Shortly after, Williams moved back to NY &
turned that short story into The Glass
Menagerie (premiered on Broadway in 1945)
 About the Playwright (continued)
Tennessee Williams

 The Glass Menagerie was very well-received by

critics and audiences
 Williams decided to move to New Orleans where he
felt was a better place for his creativity/writing
 In New Orleans, he wrote A Streetcar Named Desire
(titled after a real streetcar that ran by Williams’
window in the French Quarter); won Pulitzer Prize
for this play
 Other hit plays include: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet
Bird of Youth, and The Night of the Iguana
 After The Night of the Iguana, critics tore apart every
new work he wrote; dismissed his writing altogether
 Almost split with partner Frank Merlo; press
continued to tear him apart – too much for Williams
to handle and he never really recovered emotionally,
mentally, or in his writing career
 He died at age 71 under mysterious circumstances in
a NY hotel in 1983
 What is a Glass Menagerie?

 Glass Menagerie:
A collection of animals kept for exhibition, made of glass

 Example:
 Historical Context of Play

 The historical context of a play is the information about the time period, the location,
and the events that influenced the writing of the play
 The play’s action is set in 1937.

Historical Context of The Glass Menagerie:

• The Great Depression was the worst period of economic downturn the United States
has ever seen. It took place from 1929 to 1939.
• By 1933, when the Great Depression reached its lowest point, some 15 million
Americans were unemployed and nearly half the country’s banks had failed.
• Despite this poverty, individual entrepreneurs were still able to become millionaires if
they had an enterprising and creative idea.
• Because of unemployment rates, men were desperate to support their families and
worked for meager wages wherever they could find work.
• Traditional family roles changed in the 1930s. Women were forced to enter the
workforce and work for meager wages to help.
• Most industries struggled. The cinema and Hollywood flourished! The 1930s were ”The
Golden Age” of cinema in the United Stages. People during this time used art/the
movies to escape emotionally and mentally.
 Autobiographical Context

The Glass
Menagerie is
autobiographical.
Tennessee Williams
wrote this play
based on his own
family and life
experiences.

The playwright frequently used his life experiences to influence his writing,
and The Glass Menagerie was the most autobiographical of all his work.
 The Play versus Williams’ Life
The Glass Menagerie play action:
• The narrator is named Tom; most likely
named after himself. Works at shoe
warehouse.
• The play takes place in a dingy St. Louis
apartment.
• Domineering mother, absent father, sister
with a disability
• Narrator Tom has nickname for sister: “blue
roses”; based on her disability. Tom is very
close to his sister Laura.
• Laura has a crippling disability
Tennessee Williams’ own life:
 The playwright’s name was Tom
before he changed his name to
Tennessee. Worked at shoe
warehouse.
 Tennessee Williams was forced to
move as a teenager to a place just like
this that he hated in St. Louis
 Domineering mother, absent father,
sister with a disability – all reflect
Williams’ own family
 Williams was very close to his sister,
Rose.
 Williams’ sister struggled with mental
health and was institutionalized.
 Memory Play

The Glass Menagerie is a

memory play – meaning
the style and content are
shaped by an individual’s
memory

 This play takes place as a

narrative from Tom’s memory.
We see the story unfold from his
memories.
 Memory Play (continued)

A memory play often starts with a

narrator recalling his/her memory.

Then, it shifts to the action of the play.

We, the audience, watch the characters
live inside the memory without narration.

The Glass Menagerie does this.

For thought: how reliable is memory? How much do we put our own ideals, thoughts, dreams,
and desires on our memories to shape them how we want them to seem?
 The Characters: TOM

• The play’s narrator

• Wants adventure &
excitement - instead of the life
he’s living with his mother and
sister and working at the
warehouse
• Feels trapped/imprisoned in
his life, especially by his
mother
• Deep affection for his sister
Laura and feels guilty for
leaving her
• Feels similar to his father; he
has the impulse to abandon
The Characters: AMANDA

• Mother to Laura and

Tom
• Stuck in her past of being
a Southern socialite and in
the future dreams/plans
for her children
• Abandoned by her
husband, but talks about it
as if it doesn’t hurt her
• Pushes traditional gender
roles; appropriate for the
South in the early 20th
century
• Is she overbearing and
suffocating? or Is she a
mother who loves her kids
and only wants the best for
them?
 The Characters: LAURA

• Amanda’s daughter and

Tom’s sister
•Fragile and beautiful, like
her glass collection
• Has a crippled leg;
disability has shaped her
personality and lack of
confidence
• Retreats from reality with
her glass collection; very
little social interaction
• Dependent on Tom
• Recognizes Tom’s desires
for adventure
• Not living up to her
mother’s standards for a
Southern woman at this
time
The Characters: JIM

• Tom and Laura’s high

school acquaintance; was
popular in high school
• Works with Tom
• Outgoing and sincere;
gets Laura to open up
• Believes in self-
improvement
• Reveals he has a fiancé
after he kisses Laura
 Plot Overview

SCENE 1
 St. Louis. The play starts in the present, 1943, when Tom addresses the audience.
 We meet Tom Wingfield who shares this is a memory play
 The action of the play and the memories take place in 1937.
 Reveals his dad left when he and sister Laura were little; last time they heard from him was
a postcard from Mexico that said “Hello-Goodbye!” with no address
 At the kitchen table, Tom’s mother Amanda gets on him about manners and etiquette.
Amanda speaks about how she was a socialite way back when with many gentleman callers.
She also says passive-aggressively that her daughter Laura should be both dating and
working on her typewriter skills.
SCENE 2
 Laura polishes her glass figure collection. Amanda comes in and confronts her about finding
out she’s been lying about going to typewriting school – she’s very upset about her and
Laura’s future.
 We find out that Laura used to like a guy from high school named Jim. He called her Blue
Roses after she had an attack of pleurosis and he misheard her. Laura doesn’t think she’ll
ever marry because she’s “crippled” – her mother tells her never to use that word, she just
needs charm.
 Plot Overview (continued)

SCENE 3
 Amanda has become obsessed with finding Laura a gentleman caller. She has picked a job
selling magazine subscriptions. Amanda yells at Tom for going out every night, and we
find out that Tom hates his job at the Continental Shoemakers warehouse. He says he
wants to run away like his father did, throws on his coat violently, and ends up breaking
some of Laura’s glass menagerie.
SCENE 4
 Tom comes home late drunk one night from movies and tells Laura about it. The next
morning, Tom and Laura are not speaking. Tom finally apologizes. Amanda goes on about
how she’s worried about Laura, and she’s afraid Tom will take after his father. She wants
him to stop being so selfish and going out late at night.
SCENE 5
 Tom tells Amanda he’s found a gentleman caller to come over tomorrow (James
O’Connor). Amanda wants to make sure this guy doesn’t drink, like her husband did. He
doesn’t know about Laura, and Tom says that Amanda needs to remember that she’s
peculiar. Tom goes to movies.
 Plot Overview (continued)

SCENE 6
 Amanda tries to get Laura ready for Jim, including shoving handkerchiefs in her bra
 Amanda reveals that it’s Jim O’Connor coming over, Laura panics. When he arrives,
Amanda makes Laura answer the door. Jim says he never knew Tom had a sister.
 Tom and Jim talk about how Tom is not making a good impression at the warehouse,
but Tom says he’s going to leave his sister and mom and go to the Union of Merchant
Seamen Instead of paying light bill.
 Amanda shows up and acts extravagantly, talking everything up, including Laura.
 Laura says she doesn’t feel well and won’t join for dinner, and Amanda tells her to go
rest in the living room (where she cries)
SCENE 7
 The lights go out, and Amanda sends Jim to keep Laura company. They reminisce about
high school. Laura reveals she dropped out. Jim is not with his fiancé anymore. He tells
Laura she should be more confident in herself. She shows him her glass collection and
unicorn. They dance, and the unicorn’s horn gets broken when its knocked off the table.
Jim kisses her, then tells her he has a different fiancé now.
 Amanda comes in and finds out about engagement. Jim leaves. Amanda confronts Tom
about not knowing about this, so he leaves for movies. Talks to audience while Amanda
comforts Laura. Tom tells audience that he left his family, but cannot stop thinking
about his sister.
 Possible Themes

Accepting the reality one lives in and coming to terms

with reality
 How do Tom, Laura, and Amanda avoid their realities? Who feels
isolated because of this? Who comes to terms with reality? Who
doesn’t?
Memory as a “crippling force” which won’t allow the
characters to find happiness or move forward
 Who is crippled or paralyzed by the past? Do any of the characters
find happiness in the present?

What other themes can you find in The Glass Menagerie?

 Sources

 https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/upstage/glass.pdf
 https://www.denvercenter.org/docs/default-source/Show-Study-Guides/2016-17/glass-menagerie-st
udy-guide.pdf