Literary Analysis: The Glass Menagerie

GENERAL

1. A memory takes us back during the Great Depression in the 1930’s where citizens were trying to survive desperately. Tom Wingfield, the apparent narrator in the story, recalls a time during that era when he was taking care of his mother and sister after his father left them when he got back from WWI. However, Tom had always craved adventure and to go live in a world unlike the mundane life he was living in. His mother, Amanda, called him selfish for not trying to take care of the family. He was always going to go see movies, drinking with his friends, and partying as if there was no tomorrow. Tom would speak in metaphors and poetic verses. He was a writer and loved to read, which worried Amanda about his earning for something much better and running off. She had always described him as a younger version of his father. However, Amanda was more focused on her daughter, Laura, who is described as a very fragile and shy young woman in her own isolated world. Laura hardly opens up to anyone and collects glass animals that she polishes often. Amanda, recalling back to her days as a teenager, wants Laura to receive gentlemen callers much like she had in her days. Amanda also wants her daughter to type on a typewriter, which Laura fails to do because of her shy personality. This, among Tom’s incessant outings, angers Amanda. When Laura complains about her near crippled leg and shyness as an excuse to drop out of typing, Amanda rejects her excuses and pushes for gentlemen callers. Laura exclaims to them that she used to have a crush on a nice, ordinary, young man named Jim who used to call her Blue Roses. Amanda continues to reminisce about her husband. Amanda and Tom soon engage in a fight about Tom’s behavior, which Tom outbursts that he absolutely loathes staying here and working at a warehouse and would rather someone bash his brains out. When Amanda continues to accuse him, Tom’s yells sarcastically about him worshiping Satan and committing heinous crimes. In a rage, he breaks Laura’s glass animals on accident. The next night when Tom comes home drunk, he and Laura discuss the movies and how one might escape a coffin. Tom finally apologizes to Amanda, which leads into Amanda asking Tom if he could help her find Laura a gentlemen caller. Tom eventually tells her that he has asked a friend to be Laura’s gentlemen caller. Amanda grows elated and preps herself and Laura for the caller when he got there. Laura then hears that the caller is none other than Jim, the man she had a crush on. Laura grows nervous and is too nervous to answer the door for Jim and her brother. She is finally pushed by her mother to answer and greets him shyly before Tom and Jim start talking about work, movies, and the Union of Merchant Seamen that Tom has joined. Laura goes to lie down because she feels nervous and Jim accompanies her after the lights go out. While Amanda confronts Tom about the electric bill, Jim gets Laura to open up when they begin talking about old memories during school. Laura shows Jim her glass collection and says that the unicorn is her favorite because of how it differs to the other horses. They begin waltzing to music and Jim accidentally breaks the horn off her unicorn. Laura exclaims it’s a blessing and after flirting with one another, Jim kisses her. However, Jim sadly announces that he is engaged to a woman named Betty. Jim does not deny that he does have affections towards Laura and her frail, yet, unique personality. Sadly, Laura gives Jim the broken unicorn before he leaves. Amanda finds out about Jim’s engagement after he leaves and immediately turns on Tom in anger. Having enough of the fiasco, Tom leaves for a “movie” and abandons his family for good. In his ending speech, he exclaims his guilty conscious will always be there for leaving his sister in her frail nature, which is as translucent as a piece of glass.

2. There are multiple themes played out in The Glass Menagerie. However, one that stood out to me was the confinement role that played out in nearly each character. Tom was confined to a life where he is suddenly the man of the house and putting up with the tedious process of taking care of his family every day wore on him like a pair of stinky socks. He was young and full of excitement. So being trapped in a life where no adventure ever happened, he resulted to neglecting his work and abandoning his family much like his father did. Amanda, too, is confined to her own world where her past comes back to her and shadows her every movement. How she reminisces about the old days keeps her in a state of the past at time. Laura takes on the title within her own little world of glass animals, hence the title of the play. However, Laura is the one who doesn’t leave her shell until Jim comes along and even after she remains ramified between her life in glass and the outside world.

3. William’s tone is told through Tom. Since it’s a very depressing memory that leaves a rather daunting background, the tone is that of melancholy and is also very dramatic. Tennessee William’s tone is always very dramatic when it comes to his plays. He likes to emphasize certain themes and morals in his stories through his tone. His tone is also reflective with the flashbacks and many memories thought back on in the play.

4. Symbolism: The mention of blue roses and jonquils refers to the characters Amanda and Laura. This helped describe their character. Amanda’s jonquils represent herself in the past and how she sees her daughter as beautiful and elegant and she is when she was her age. Laura’s blue rose symbolizes her individuality because there is no such thing as blue roses. She is one of a kind according to Jim and he is the one who gave her the name by recognizing her uniqueness.

Flashbacks: There are multiple flashbacks being used in the play. Usually Amanda is the one who is thinking back to certain dates but the whole story is a flashback, or memory, told by Tom so this really helped summarize the setting and what exactly was happening.

Foreshadowing: The use of the fire escape foreshadows Tom’s actual escape from his confinement at the house. The fire ESCAPE is used in a figurative symbol by referencing to Tom almost escaping by using the fire escape and then coming right back to where he was until he did finally manage to escape what he calls hell.

Metaphors: Tom uses an extensive use of metaphors near the beginning of the play. This helped define the kind of character inside of Tom. It describes how much knowledge he has and how he puts it into words by writing. He also reads a bunch of Shakespeare books, which is why his nickname is Tom Shakespeare. Also, glass menagerie is a metaphor for Laura’s life and how she is just a caged creature made of glass because of her frailness.

Imagery: William’s writing contains a lot of descriptive imagery in the play in the beginning where he introduces the setting to the readers and in important parts during the play like when Tom knocked over Laura’s glass animals on accident. His portrayal of everything happening around the characters and within the characters is vivid enough for the readers to understand the story.

CHARACTERIZATION

1. The direct characterization is hardly in any of the play. Really, it’s a play. So, there isn’t really any direct characterization happening because indirect characterization is prominentally shown through the dialogue of the characters. The indirect characterization happens in every act. The physical appearance is described in scene one through Amanda and Tom. However, Tom is described to be in a navy suit in the beginning of the play so there’s one direct characterization. The personalities are described through the dialogue through the bickering and mannerisms they show in their dialogue. Laura is described as “transparent as a piece of glass.” Act II scene 2.

2. William’s diction does change through each character by how they are acting and the traits they show in the play. For example, Laura is the innocent one who only wants what’s best for the situation. So the diction is much softer and easy to understand her character whereas Tom is fastidious and rough in the diction he is written in. Amanda is also critical and demanding much like Tom’s but there is an underlying weak structure within her words whenever she thinks about her past.

3. The protagonist, who I think is Laura, is static nearly the entire play until she meets up with Jim. Then her character takes a turn when she is comfortable opening up towards Jim. She was so clumped up inside her reserve manner that she had shunned away from reality much like her mother and brother. Even after Jim leaves, she starts to go back into that shell of emptiness.

4. I felt as if I had come back reading a character in a story because they all didn’t relate to someone who I would know. I think it’s because I’ve read so many characters that are much like these ones that I lost focus of meeting that person and just read it as an interesting character that I’ve seen in other books before, but somehow different than the others. An example would be my reaction when Jim meets up with Laura once more and the awkward shyness between them for a few moments had me seeing my own sister, who is a character in her own way.

Sorry for the late update but... well, my excuses are running out and I'm just glad that I'm getting this done today for now I shall be spared of any dooky landing on me. Well, here ya go!