The Glass Menagerie

“You know it didn’t take much intelligence to get yourself into a nailed-up coffin, Laura. But who in the hell ever got himself out of one without removing one nail?” Asks Tom Wingfield in the play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee William. Tom is already making excuses for his weak decision to abandon his family and run away to the Merchant Marines. In Tom’s eyes he cannot escape his “2 by 4” situation without removing a few nails, like his elderly mother and his disabled sister. Tom’s…

The Glass Menagerie St. Louis, Missouri, was not the brightest place to be, in 1937. The Glass Menagerie, helps understand the life during the Great Depression and the economical problems that occurs in both the novel and in real life. The Glass Menagerie divulges the standards that the population dreams to have. Laura Wingfield does not meet the standards and is affected severely, vanishing her faith. When most of Laura’s hope and faith were gone the broken unicorn came into action. The…

In the final instants of The Glass Menagerie, Tom leaves his mother, Amanda, then his sister, Laura, for a new lifetime. The cause for his departure is Amanda's continuous criticism of his egoism. In truth, Tom feels unrewarding and wicked. He works hard to support his little family, but his efforts often go unrecognized by Amanda. Tom desires for a measure of freedom and harbors a sense of hopelessness concerning his life. The atmosphere at home is made extremely tough by Amanda's dominant…

The Glass Menagerie is a play, in which its events are taken from the memories of the narrator, Tom Wingfield. The play is set in St. Louis on the year 1937. Tom is a leading character in the play. He is an amature poet who works in a shoe warehouse to support his mother, Amanda, and his sister, Laura. Tom and Laura’s father, Mr. Wingfield, ran off years ago and has not been heard from, other than a postcard they received. Amanda is disappointed that Laura, a shy girl who is forced to wear a…

lack of freedom due to his homosexuality ("About Tennessee Williams"). In an effort to liberate himself both spiritually and financially, Williams began writing plays, many of which have a crafted resemblance to his own childhood (Bray). The Glass Menagerie, an expressionist play set during the Great Depression, underscores the emotional tension existing between the three members of the Wingfield Family: the mother Amanda, daughter Laura, and son Tom. Amanda, due to her obsession with her past,…

Ashley Wilson Brown English 152 OM3 4 December 2016 The Glass Menagerie Stevenson University’s production of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie was a fascinating experience. The play’s setting took place in St. Louis in 1937 where a family of three lived in a small dingy apartment. The narrator and character, Tom Wingfield, desires to leave his mother, Amanda Wingfield, and his sister, Laura Wingfield but has a duty to support his family. Tom and Laura’s father happily abandons…

a heated argument that ends in the shattering of a part of Laura's glass menagerie. During their fight, Tom expresses his unhappiness with his life and his desire to start a new one for himself. Nonetheless, Tom can not leave due to his emotional ties to Laura. He does not know how to go and find his happiness without hurting her. As the fight comes to a conclusion, Tom storms out of the room, accidentally smashing Laura's glass collection in the process. Instantly, “Laura cries out as if…

Symbolism plays a huge role in the play, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams. Throughout the play, Williams uses symbols to represent and show different aspects of things. It makes the viewer/reader discover the underlying meaning of these objects. For example, a dove can symbolize peacefulness, holy spirit, and purity. Another example, in Williams, play the apartment in which they live in, it symbolizes something different for each character. For Tom, it symbolizes prison, for Laura…

The characters in Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie all have a delusional state of mind, shown by the inner psychology when read with a psychoanalytical approach. The play is written in the style of expressionistic. In the first sentence of the Production Notes it says “it is a memory play.” “Memory play” suggests that it is a play worked out in one’s mental process, rather than a real life representation. Instead of external reality, the idea becomes the primary concern of…

The glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a play that tells part of a man’s life named Tom Wingfield it takes place in St. Louis. Tom works at a shoe warehouse to support his mother, Amanda, and older sister, Laura. Tom and Laura’s father left years ago and he is only slightly mentioned in the play. Tom is the man of the house since his father left he is the only one with a job and the family one hundred percent relies on him for the income and to pay any bill. He wants to leave and go travel…