The Glass Menagerie (1945)

Williams’ The Glass Menagerie is an extremely well written play. This was evident in the avid symbolism that ran throughout it, and specifically the placing of the symbols. They themselves were clever, but it’s astounding when they come to light and one sees the extensive foundations that he had laid out to prepare them and fit them in! It seems to be by far one of his best works.

The story follows a family of three: the mother, Amanda, who’s husband has left her and worries for her family’s future, considering her lack of skill and her childrens’ lack of success. The daughter, Laura, a young girl who dropped out of college and has always been self-conscious and shy because she is “crippled” (one of her legs is shorter than the other). She doesn’t seem to have any talent and spends most of her time listening to records and polishing her collection of glass animals. And finally the brother, Tom, who’s stuck working at a warehouse to support his mother and sister when all he really wants to do is be like his father and run off looking for adventure (in his case, the Merchant Marine). Basically, Amanda asks Tom to find a suitable guy for Laura so she can have somebody to support her. He does this, and brings him over for dinner. But there’s one problem: the guy is her old high school crush! This makes for... an interesting night, at least.

There was one problem with the play. This play even resembles Jack London’s book Martin Eden because they both share this problem! It’s that they both lull one into a sense of security: the end’s in sight, and you’re pretty sure that you know what’s going to happen, right? Wrong. The story suddenly takes a violent (not literally violent) twist into the unexpected and leaves everybody involved (the reader included) in a sort of confused, unsatisfied stupor. Common reviewing rules prevent me from telling what happened exactly, but it’s very disappointing. Seeing as this was technically a preventable plot device on the author’s part, he will not get let off easily. He will, however, get 4.5 stars. As annoying as that was, he made the rest of it worth it. ( )

In Tennessee Williams’ play, “The Glass Menagerie”, the theme of escape is shown through the characters of Amanda, Laura, Tom, and Jim. In the book the characters are faced with many ordeals, and find themselves incapable of handling the real world. Amanda, Tom, Laura, and Jim, use their own methods to escape the harshness of life and even in dealing with every day ordeals. Each character has a different flaw they use to cope with the reality of life. Amanda, the mom, is preoccupied with living in the past. A quote in the book shows Amanda’s escape through living in the past, which indicates she has not moved on and cannot face the reality of life. She constantly tries to convince herself that her daughter, Laura, is just a little different and she wants nothing but happiness for her. Williams illustrates the character of Laura to be fragile. There are two major escapes Laura refers to when she does not think she can handle them. Laura is unable to accept reality. She escapes reality and returns to her fantasy world through her old records and glass animals. Laura also escapes from normal every day events, such as attending a business class and being reacquainted with Jim, by becoming ill feeling to overcome this insecurity. Tom, the main breadwinner of the house also escapes many times during the play. His main escape involves numerous trips to the movies instead of being at home in the apartment. As more family issues occur, his escape to the movies become more frequent, which increases his drinking and staying out all night. While on his escapes, Tom searches for adventures and excitement. Once Tom escapes for good, like his father, it was not the true escape he expected. A character, Jim, enters late in the play after being invited to dinner by Tom. Jim briefly became a prospect for Laura but soon it is revealed that he is the guy she had a crush on in high school. Jim is a character of manipulation; he uses his high school legacy as a means of escape. As Jim is reminiscing through their old year book, he decides to sign Laura’s yearbook with gratitude. All the characters in “The Glass Menagerie” share a common theme of escape.

This book has many themes shown through out the book. The class could discuss the differents themes and have a interesting book talk from those themes. The class could then write a paper on a certain theme and discuss their feelings towards the book.

I really enjoyed the book. Tom, Laura, Amanda and Jim all seem to think escape is possible. It ends up becoming a reality check to the characters that they cannot escape their world. It is obvious to the audience that the characters lived a life of escape through their own ways. It is possible that Williams is trying to show his readers that running away is not the way to solve life and its difficulties. The only escape in life is resolving your problem, not escaping them.

one of my favorite plays of all time ( )

3.5/5
A sad, sad trinket of a family bound by dead hopes that are constantly panic-revived into desperation. The mother has dreams for her children that are constantly thrust into them with the forceful insistence of a buzzing gnat; whining reminders of the future and futile efforts of inspiring action through persisting noise. One can either flee the waves of reproach or fully succumb to them, abandon all to find something better or cave in on oneself in full denial of reality. These reactions are deadening ruins of the American Dream, when hope does nothing more than circle in on itself to feed after the outside world has deprived it, bit by bit, of all its sustenance. What comes after the last straw has been thrown down and the world has come crashing down, in the land of the free where all should all able to rise from rags to riches? What excuse is there for those who fail in this ideal promised to them? Not much. ( )

Plays are a little outside of my usual purview, but my book club was reading this so I wanted to give it a shot. It’s short and sweet, and beautiful in its simplicity. There is a lot of symbolism, and Williams attempted things that really weren’t done at the time, such as the use of projected images. There is also a probable autobiographical component to the story. It’s not a happy story, but it definitely has something to say. A play I would enjoy seeing in person. ( )