the glass menagerie by tennessee williams

During one particularly heated argument, precipitated by Tom’s manuscripts pouring out of the typewriter, Tom accidentally shatters some of Laura’s precious glass animals. Tom and Amanda argue bitterly, he claiming that she does not respect his privacy, she claiming that he must sacrifice for the good of the family. He escapes the apartment night after night through movies, drinking, and literature. Tom, who feels stifled in both his job and his family life, writes poetry while at the warehouse. Amanda begins to raise extra money for the family by selling subscriptions for a women’s glamour magazine. Laura tells Amanda about Jim, a boy that she had a crush on in high school. Amanda is frustrated but quickly changes course, deciding that Laura’s best hope is to find a suitable man to marry. Laura also spends much of her time caring for her glass menagerie, a collection of glass figurines. Laura spends her days wandering alone around the park and the zoo.

Amanda is disappointed when Laura, for what appears to be the umpteenth time, says that she will never receive any gentleman callers.Īmanda has enrolled Laura in business college, but weeks later, Amanda discovers that Laura dropped out after the first few classes because of her debilitating social anxiety. The stories are threadbare from constant repetition, but Tom and Laura let Amanda tell them again, Tom asking her questions as though reading from a script. She regales Tom and Laura with memories of her youth as a Southern belle in Blue Mountain, courted by scores of gentleman callers.

Amanda nags Tom about his table manners and his smoking. Throughout the play, thematic music underscores many of the key moments. Tom enters the apartment, and the action of the play begins. Tom and Laura’s father abandoned the family many years ago, and except for a single postcard reading “Hello––Goodbye!” has not been heard from since.

A gentleman caller, Tom says, will appear in the final scenes of the play. Tom works in a warehouse to support his mother, Amanda, and his sister, Laura. Tom stands on the fire escape and addresses the audience to set the scene. The apartment is entered by a fire escape. The curtain rises to reveal the dimly lit Wingfield apartment, located in a lower-class tenement building in St. The Glass Menagerie is a memory play, and all the events are drawn from the memories of the play’s narrator, Tom Wingfield, who is also a character in the play.

The glass menagerie by tennessee williams