The Glass Menagerie

I found this in the Schwules Museum in Berlin, Deutschland along with "Endstation Sehnsucht" ("A Streetcard Named Desire"). I can't remember having read the English-language version of "The Glass Menagerie", although certainly I'm familiar with the play, having been a theatre major at Niagara University and NYU, and having seen at least one version of this play, featuring Katharine Hepburn, on television in the 1970's. My German is intermediate level; I read it and understand it better than I speak it. Nonetheless, I understand written German well enough to have comprehended the main themes of this play, despite my lack of advanced German vocabulary. That being said, I will now review this play as if I had read it in English.

First of show more all, if you ever become suicidally depressed, question the value of your life and think about ending it all, then remember that you're probably better off than Laura Wingfield, who unfortunately I cannot refer to as a tragic heroine, since being a heroine, even an anti-heroine, implies having an existential, conquering nature (think Brunnhilde or Medea). Unfortunately Laura is crippled emotionally as well as physically, and seemingly afraid of everything; in today's culture, she would probably be committing cybersuicide. I found myself getting angry at Laura and her obsession with her glass menagerie (a 1940's metaphor for obsessive-compulsive disorder); probably because I'm angry at that fear-ridden part of myself. On the other hand, her brother Tom is either purposely unaware, or being insensitive, in suggesting to Amanda that Jim O'Connor come over to the Wingfield's for dinner so that Laura can meet a man. Because unfortunately Jim ends up being engaged to Betty, and therefore will not be able to whisk Laura away to wedded bliss like a knight in shining armour. Thus, according to Tennessee William's perspective in 1945, men are bastards (this is still true today); Tom, Mrs. Wingfield's absentee husband, and even two-timing (at least as Laura sees it) Jim O'Connor also fit that description.

In the end, Laura is the ultimate victim, Tom is the ultimate bastard, and Amanda ss the ultimate overbearing, nagging yet neglectful mother. And yet, I feel sorry for Amanda for having been abandoned by her "no-good man", as Laura was by Jim O'Connor. Laura is William's first "delicate soul" (the next being Blanche DuBois); given that most homosexuals were closeted in 1940's America, Williams, as a gay man, lived vicariously through these women. His male characters, on the other hand, can be brutes (IE Stanley Kowalski, or the kind of guy Sal Mineo or Pier Paolo Pasolini were interesting in meeting). Even though I may sound flippant in this review, I still find "Das Glasmenagerie" to be authentically, heartbreakingly and bleakly tragic. When Laura blows out the candles at the close of the play, it's as if hope is non-existent and she will remain in that house for the rest of her life. The three characters in this play share a hell similar to those of Sartre's "No Exit". I hope anyone who reads this play will be inspired to transcend their fears and live life to the fullest (I know, easier said than done), lest they end up like Tom, Amanda and Laura. show less

Labeled a memory play based on author Tennessee Williams’ own history, The Glass Menagerie tells the heartbreaking story of the Wingfield family as they live their lives in reduced circumstances in a St. Louis tenement just before World War II. The play is narrated by Tom, a young man who yearns to be a poet and see the world, but feels trapped in the dead-end warehouse job he needs to support his delusional mother and crippled sister. Amanda, the mother, spends most of her time recalling her younger glory days when she was a beautiful Southern belle with plenty of “gentlemen callers” from whom to choose.

Unfortunately, she chose the wrong one and married a man of limited means who long ago deserted the family. Laura, the sister, show more is painfully shy and withdrawn, in part because a childhood illness has left her leg in a brace. She does little but stay at home all day polishing her collection of fragile glass curios that gives the play its title and serves as an apt metaphor for her own life. Into this sad mix, Amanda pressures Tom to invite one of his co-workers home to dinner so that Laura might have a gentleman caller of her own. Needless to say, that scheme—which concludes the play—does not end well.

This is a poignant, sharply written story that is rightfully considered to be one of the very best American plays ever produced. As the first contribution in what became a remarkable portfolio of hits, including A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth, and The Night of the Iguana, this play established Williams reputation for creating strong, sympathetic, but highly flawed and relatable characters. In particular, Amanda Wingfield stands alongside Blanche DuBois as one of theater’s great female roles. It should also be mentioned that the author’s extensive production notes in the written script make this play as interesting to read as it is to watch performed in person. The Glass Menagerie is hardly a feel-good tale, but it is essential fiction. show less

The Glass Menagerie is a short, classic American play from the 1940’s. I have vague memories of reading this in school, but I didn’t remember anything about it, not even whether or not I liked it.

It’s difficult to explain much about the story without spoiling it since it’s so short. The majority of the play has only three characters: Amanda (the mother), Laura (her daughter), and Tom (her son). Tom also serves as a narrator to provide some context for the story. The father abandoned his family and they live in a cheap apartment, barely scraping by. Both children are past school age, and the son has a low-paying job at a warehouse. The daughter is extremely shy and timid. The mother desperately wants her children to do and be show more more than they are.

This is a pretty depressing little play about people who are stuck in a bad situation and lack the motivation or ability to better themselves, squandering their opportunities and making things worse for each other . Laura’s and Tom’s actions were really frustrating to me, especially when Tom financed his escape by using the money allocated for the electric bill instead of saving it up from the money he was spending on cigarettes, alcohol, and movies. The mother was pretty obnoxious and I’m not sure she was entirely sane, but she was the one whose motivations I understood best.

I thought the story was well-told, though. It felt real, and I could understand the characters even if I didn’t like them very much. As a play, it was easier to picture what was going on as compared to the few other plays I’ve read, mostly Shakespeare. The stage directions were pretty detailed, describing characters’ expressions and actions and movements, and even their motivations or thoughts at times. Add to that quite a bit of narration from Tom, and it almost felt like reading prose that just had a lot of dialogue. show less

The Glass Menagerie is a good mirror. It accurately reflects the selfishness of society.

That's not to say that it's enjoyable—far from it! The dysfunction of the Wingfield family is painful to read. Whether it's Amanda's life in the past, Laura's agonizing inability to interact with people, or Tom's overt selfishness, each character brings something heartbreaking to the story.

As with all of Williams' plays, the symbolism runs just as deep as the character development. This is the sort of story you can mull over for a while.

Williams did a fine (and semi-biographical) job in revealing the results of a life lived only for oneself.

The 1944 “The Glass Menagerie” is Tennessee Williams’ first commercial success. It’s a tight 4 person play with Amanda/mother, Laura/sister, Tom/brother and narrator, and Jim/the gentleman caller. Amanda is an ex-Southern Belle who is obsessed with finding a gentleman caller for the ultra-shy and mentally fragile Laura, the symbolic glass. Tom meanwhile is tired of his mother’s endless naggings of the way he chews, the way he dresses, and of her repeated retelling of her girly days in the Blue Mountains with her “17 gentleman callers in one Sunday afternoon”. Upon his mother’s urgings, he brings home a coworker, Jim, to meet Laura. Nothing ends well (big surprise), and the family will soon face even darker days, show more literally and figuratively, when Tom follows his father’s footsteps. The candles are darkened…

Having read “Streetcar” first, Amanda immediately evokes images of Blanche, living in memories of a time long ago, thrusting her ideals upon others, and simply annoying everyone around her. Tom is a softer version of Stanley with an innate selfishness and perhaps even cruelty that has yet to reveal itself fully. The writing is a bit simpler and restrained, for good reasons. Apparently, “The Glass Menagerie” has autobiographical elements particularly of Laura, whose nickname of “Blue Roses” is named after Williams’ sister, Rose, who had a blotched lobotomy leaving her incapacitated. Williams had loved his sister dearly; writing of his own family must have stung to say the least. When I initially finished the book, I felt I was left hanging; I wanted more. But after sleeping on it, it would make no sense to reveal the torments that will befall the family. The controlled ending is right as it is.

Finally, this book version has an essay written by Williams, titled “The Catastrophe of Success”, addressing the impact of his sudden fame living in luxury hotels with servants and how such an environment is not conducive of creativity. This snapshot of a moment in his life is particularly intriguing after a bit more autobiographical reading reveals that he too fell into traps of his own success becoming a drug addict. Yikes. This bonus essay bumps the rating up half a star.

One quote on Success from the essay:
“…Once you fully apprehend the vacuity of a life without struggle you are equipped with the basic means of salvation. Once you know this is true, that the heart of man, his body and his brain, are forged in a white-hot furnace for the purpose of conflict (the struggle of creation) and that with the conflict removed, the man is a sword cutting daises, that not privation but luxury is the wolf at the door and that the fangs of this wolf are all the little vanities and conceits and laxities that Success is heir to – why, then with this knowledge you are at least in a position of knowing where danger lies.” show less

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 show more 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. show less

Another dolorous Tennessee Williams play. One wants to shake the daughter, Laura, and plead with her to get away from her mother, who enables Laura's withering lack of self-confidence. Amanda's fantasy world is a dark parody of ambition. Love gets lost in the Amanda-Laura-Tom triangle. Jim, the gentleman caller, saves himself by turning away, gently but quickly.