The Wood Menagerie, Oops I Mean Glass

In the play, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams (1945) he presents a story of a mother who is unable to cope with the changing of times, causing her to trap her children in a disillusioned reality. The play opens with scenes that emphasize the defiance and deception displayed by her children,Tom and Laura, in their attempt to become their own person instead of following the path that their mother had set for them. Williams continues this concept throughout the next couple scenes, then transitions to the mother's quest to find a "gentleman caller" for her daughter, who to the mother's dismay, is crippled. The play concludes once the gentleman caller, a former high school friend of the children, comes to the house and though he was not interested in being in a relationship, he did allow for Laura to open up and come out of the shy shell she had long locked herself in. The purpose of the play was to enlighten people of all races and genders of the all too common interactions that result from a mother wanting the best for her children despite being slightly old-fashioned and behind the times.

Vocabulary

• portiere-(n) a curtain hanging across a doorway
• mastication-(v) the grinding or crushing of food as if or with the teeth
• dismal(adj)-lacking merit, particularly bad
• martyr-(n) a person who sacrifices something of great value for the sake of principle
• decorous(adj)-marked by propriety and good taste

Tone
moralistic, skeptical

Rhetorical Strategies
1. aside-" Across the alley from us was the Paradise Dance Hall...all the world was waiting for bombardments" (39)
2. soliloquy- "I didn't go to the moon...anything that can blow your candles out." (96-7)
3. dialogue- "Jim? Engaged " "That's what he just informed us." (95)
4. monologue- "You know what i judge to be the trouble with you?...Think of yourself as superior in some way! " (80-1)
5. stage directions- " They rise from the table and go into the kitchenette, from where their voices are heard" (68).

Discussion Questions
1. Did the mother fear Tom going to movies because of the thought that he may never come back?
2. Why does Tom frequently talk to the audience?
3. Why does Amanda struggle with accepting who her children are or becoming?

"The play is memory. Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic."

The Glass Menagerie

After sampling the play and from what I read in the beginning, I was automatically drawn to it. The first scene was something that I could relate to which also peaked my interest. It was about a mother that wanted the best for her children despite their defiance and unwilling nature to comply with her expectations. An interaction that I know all too well. It also highlights the normal fussing and arguing that usually occurs between teens and their parents since it seems that one of the characters, Tom, is trying to come into his own. Yet, his ways go against how his mother raised him and what she believed in. Since I could very well relate to the interactions that I read, I figured it would be the best play for me to read that would hold my interest.During this time, the United States was in the middle of World War II as well as dealing with the discrimination and injustice of African-Americans in the south which gave Tennessee Williams the inspiration for his play including the violent aspects of it.