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Humanities Literature

"The Glass Menagerie" Character / Plot

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 Jane Wyman & Arthur Kennedy in movie about The Glass Menagerie. Getty Images

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by Wade Bradford
Updated December 25, 2015

What is The Glass Menagerie?

The play is a melancholy family drama written by Tennessee Williams. It was first
performed on Broadway in 1945, meeting with astounding box-office success and
a Drama Critics Circle Award.

The Characters: In the introduction of The Glass Menagerie, the playwright

describes the personalities of the dramas main characters.

Amanda Wingfield: Mother of two adult children, Tom and Laura.

A little woman of great vitality clinging frantically to another time and

place...

Her life is paranoia

Her foolishness makes her unwittingly cruel

There is tenderness in her slight person

Laura Wingfield: Six years out of high school. Incredibly shy and introverted.
She fixates on her collection of glass figurines.
 She has failed to establish contact with reality

A childhood illness has left her crippled, one leg slightly shorter than the
other

She is like a piece of her own glass collection, too exquisitely fragile

Tom Wingfield: The poetic, frustrated son who works at a mindless warehouse
job, supporting his family after his father left home for good. He also serves as the
plays narrator.

His nature is not remorseless

To escape from a trap (his overbearing mother and crippled sister) he has
to act without pity.

Jim OConnor: The gentleman caller who has dinner with the Wingfields
during the second part of the play.

He is described as a nice, ordinary young man.

Setting:
The entire play takes place in the Wingfields meager apartment, located next to
an alley in St. Louis. When Tom begins narrating he draws the audience back to
the1930s.

Plot Summary:
Mrs. Wingfields husband abandoned the family a long time ago. He sent a
postcard from Mazatlan, Mexico that simply read: Hello and Good-bye! With
the absence of the father, their home has become emotionally and financially
stagnant.

Amanda clearly loves her children. However, she constantly reprimands her son
about his personality, his fledgling job, and even his eating habits.
Tom: I havent enjoyed one bite of this dinner because of your constant
directions on how to eat it. Its you that makes me rush through meals with your
hawk-like attention to every bite I take.

Even though Toms sister is painfully shy, Amanda expects Laura to be more
outgoing. The mother, in contrast, is very sociable and reminisces about her days
as a southern belle who once received seventeen gentlemen callers in a single day.

Laura has no hopes or ambitions for her future. She quit her typing class because
she was too shy to take the speed exam. Lauras only apparent interest seems to
be her old music records and her glass menagerie, a collection of animal
figurines.

Meanwhile, Tom is itching to leave the household and seek adventure in the wide
open world, instead of being held prisoner by his dependent family and a dead-
end job. He often stays out late at night, claiming to go to the movies. (Whether
or not he watches the movies or engages in some sort of covert activity is
debatable).

Amanda wants Tom to find a suitor for Laura. Tom scoffs at the idea at first, but
by evening he informs his mother that a gentleman caller will be visiting the
following night.

Jim OConnor, the potential suitor, went to high school with both Tom and
Laura. During that time, Laura had a crush on the handsome young man. Before
Jim visits, Amanda dresses in a beautiful gown, reminding herself of her once
glorious youth. When Jim arrives, Laura is petrified to see him again. She can
barely answer the door. When she finally does, Jim shows no trace of
remembrance.

Out on the fire escape, Jim and Tom discuss their futures. Jim is taking a course
on public speaking to become an executive. Tom reveals that he will soon be
joining themerchant marines, thereby abandoning his mother and sister. In fact,
he purposefully failed to pay the electricity bill in order to join the seamans
union.

During dinner, Laura faint with shyness and anxiety spends most of the time
on the sofa, away from the others. Amanda, however, is having a wonderful time.
The lights suddenly go out, but Tom never confesses the reason!

By candlelight Jim gently approaches the timid Laura. Gradually, she begins to
open up to him. He is delighted to learn that they went to school together. He
even remembers the nickname he gave to her: Blue Roses.
Jim: Now I remember you always came in late.

Laura: Yes, it was so hard for me, getting upstairs. I had that brace on my leg
it clumped so loud!

Jim: I never heard any clumping.

Laura (wincing at the recollection): To me it sounded like thunder!

Jim: Well, well, well. I never even noticed.

Jim encourages her to be more self-confident. He even dances with her.

Unfortunately, he bumps a table, knocking over a glass unicorn figurine. The
horn breaks, making the figurine just like the rest of the horses. Surprisingly,
Laura is able to laugh about the situation. She clearly likes Jim. Finally, he
declares:

Somebody needs to build your confidence up and make you proud instead of shy
and turning away andblushingSomebody ought toought tokiss you,
Laura!

They kiss.

For a moment, the audience might be lured into thinking that everything will
work out happily. For a moment, we can imagine:

Jim and Laura falling in love.

Amandas dreams for Lauras security coming true.

Tom finally escaping the trap of family obligations.

 Yet, a moment after the kiss, Jim backs away and decides, I shouldnt have done
that. He then reveals that he is engaged to a nice girl named Betty. When he
explains that he will not be back to visit again, Laura bravely smiles.

She offers him the broken figurine as a souvenir.

After Jim leaves, Amanda scolds her son for bringing an already-spoken-for
gentleman caller. As they fight, Tom exclaims:

Tom: The more you shout about my selfishness to me the quicker Ill go, and I
wont go to the movies!

Then, Tom assumes the role of the narrator as he did in the plays beginning. He
explains to the audience how he soon left his family behind, running away just as
his father did. He spent years traveling abroad, yet something still haunted him.
He escaped the Wingfield household, but his dear sister Laura was always on his
mind.

The final lines:

Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I
intended to be! I reach for a cigarette, I cross the street, I run into the movies or
a bar, I buy a drink, I speak to the nearest strangeranything that can blow
your candles out! For nowadays the world is lit by lightning! Blow out your
candles, Laura and so good-bye

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the glass m

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Humanities Literature

'The Glass Menagerie' Review

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 Literature
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by James Topham
Updated March 05, 2017

The Glass Menagerie is one of Tennessee Williams more sedate plays,but what it
lacks in the southern fire and passion of A Streetcar Named Desire and A Cat on
a Hot Tin Roof, it more than makes up for in its poetry and emotional power.
Semi-autobiographical--dealing brilliantly with the rift between the world as one
would like to see it and the world as it actually is--The Glass Menagerie is a
convincing portrayal of family members that love each other but cannot live
together.

This play deals with a man's guilt--as he follows his own path.

OVERVIEW

The play is narrated by one of its principal characters--Tom Wingfield--who

works at a shoe warehouse but secretly wants to be a poet. He lives with his
mother and his sister, Laura; he is the man of the house because his father left
them with nothing. Tom's mother is obsessed with the rituals and the values of
her Southern upbringing. She desperately wants her daughter to be a Southern
belle as she remembers from her own past; instead, she is desperately
disappointed.

Laura is crippled by her timidity. With her leg brace, she is not interested in
leaving the house. She whiles away her time at home with her menagerie of glass
animals--fragments that are her only pride and joy.

THE GREAT ESCAPE?

Stifled by his family, Tom drinks. Then, following the example set by his father,
he plans to join the merchant navy. He wants to see adventure and gain
experience so that he can write.

Before he leaves, he brings home one of his work colleagues (his mother believes
that Laura's future is in marriage). He brings home Jim O'Connor, a former
football hero (Laura knew this man and secretly loved him). She is too shy to
come to dinner but finds common ground with Joe when she shows him her glass
menagerie.

Joe and Laura dance, but then he accidentally breaks one her glass animals.
Laura slowly seems to be coming out of herself and they kiss. Joe leaves in hurry.
He also says that he has a fianc. Laura's dreams are crushed, and Tom's mother
calls him a bad son, and a cruel brother. In the ensuing argument, Tom walks out.
Not long after this incident, he leaves his family for good. But, this narration
gives voice to Tom's guilt--for the sister that he left behind.

TRAPPED IN THE MENAGERIE OF MEMORIES AND

UNREALITY: THE GLASS MENAGERIE

Tennessee Williams evokes the hopes and dreams of his characters. Tom needs
escape and adventure. His mother looks back and wants to recreate a more
gentile world that probably never existed (except in her own imagination. Laura
desperately wants to be part of a more gentle, dream world--represented by her
glass animals, particularly that mythical creature, the unicorn.

The symbolic feel to the play--filtered through the memory of one of its central
characters--underlines the distinction between hopes and reality and gives the
drama an ephemeral quality. The characters are trapped in a menagerie of Tom's
memories, and they have become unreal like the glass animals that Laura loves so
much.

A CHASM BETWEEN WORLDS

 Williams also plays on the chasm between the old Southern world and the newly
industrialized civilization. With clarity and power, Williams draws upon his
Southern upbringing to add atmosphere and passion. Here, he investigates the
old world: where men came calling for women, couples attended dances, and love
was easily arranged. He shows how this former Southern experience is obsolete.
Tom's mother is trapped in this world, Tom is desperate to the trappings of this
former mode of existence. Even as Tom flies free, the past maintains its hold on
him. Even in its illusionary state, the past is still "real" in his memory.

A beautiful, slightly haunting play, The Glass Menagerie follows a family as it

falls apart--along with the dreams that had given them some fragmented
substance.

The work is touching, and sad. Though it self-consciously foregrounds the

illusionary nature of the drama, Tennessee Williams taps into a deep seam of
truthfulness. Williams has created a representation of a changing world. He
depicts how change affects the individual (as well as the group), even as it rips
them asunder.

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Humanities Literature

"The Glass Menagerie" Character / Plot

Summary
Share
Pin
Email
 Jane Wyman & Arthur Kennedy in movie about The Glass Menagerie. Getty Images

Literature
Plays & Drama
o Plays
o Basics & Advice
o Playwrights
o Reviews
o Monologues
o Games & Activities
Best Sellers
Classic Literature
Contemporary Literature
Poetry
Quotations
Shakespeare
Short Stories
VIEW MORE
by Wade Bradford
Updated December 25, 2015

What is The Glass Menagerie?

The play is a melancholy family drama written by Tennessee Williams. It was first
performed on Broadway in 1945, meeting with astounding box-office success and
a Drama Critics Circle Award.

The Characters: In the introduction of The Glass Menagerie, the playwright

describes the personalities of the dramas main characters.

Amanda Wingfield: Mother of two adult children, Tom and Laura.

A little woman of great vitality clinging frantically to another time and

place...

Her life is paranoia

Her foolishness makes her unwittingly cruel

There is tenderness in her slight person

Laura Wingfield: Six years out of high school. Incredibly shy and introverted.
She fixates on her collection of glass figurines.
 She has failed to establish contact with reality

A childhood illness has left her crippled, one leg slightly shorter than the
other

She is like a piece of her own glass collection, too exquisitely fragile

Tom Wingfield: The poetic, frustrated son who works at a mindless warehouse
job, supporting his family after his father left home for good. He also serves as the
plays narrator.

His nature is not remorseless

To escape from a trap (his overbearing mother and crippled sister) he has
to act without pity.

Jim OConnor: The gentleman caller who has dinner with the Wingfields
during the second part of the play.

He is described as a nice, ordinary young man.

Setting:
The entire play takes place in the Wingfields meager apartment, located next to
an alley in St. Louis. When Tom begins narrating he draws the audience back to
the1930s.

Plot Summary:
Mrs. Wingfields husband abandoned the family a long time ago. He sent a
postcard from Mazatlan, Mexico that simply read: Hello and Good-bye! With
the absence of the father, their home has become emotionally and financially
stagnant.

Amanda clearly loves her children. However, she constantly reprimands her son
about his personality, his fledgling job, and even his eating habits.
Tom: I havent enjoyed one bite of this dinner because of your constant
directions on how to eat it. Its you that makes me rush through meals with your
hawk-like attention to every bite I take.

Even though Toms sister is painfully shy, Amanda expects Laura to be more
outgoing. The mother, in contrast, is very sociable and reminisces about her days
as a southern belle who once received seventeen gentlemen callers in a single day.

Laura has no hopes or ambitions for her future. She quit her typing class because
she was too shy to take the speed exam. Lauras only apparent interest seems to
be her old music records and her glass menagerie, a collection of animal
figurines.

Meanwhile, Tom is itching to leave the household and seek adventure in the wide
open world, instead of being held prisoner by his dependent family and a dead-
end job. He often stays out late at night, claiming to go to the movies. (Whether
or not he watches the movies or engages in some sort of covert activity is
debatable).

Amanda wants Tom to find a suitor for Laura. Tom scoffs at the idea at first, but
by evening he informs his mother that a gentleman caller will be visiting the
following night.

Jim OConnor, the potential suitor, went to high school with both Tom and
Laura. During that time, Laura had a crush on the handsome young man. Before
Jim visits, Amanda dresses in a beautiful gown, reminding herself of her once
glorious youth. When Jim arrives, Laura is petrified to see him again. She can
barely answer the door. When she finally does, Jim shows no trace of
remembrance.

Out on the fire escape, Jim and Tom discuss their futures. Jim is taking a course
on public speaking to become an executive. Tom reveals that he will soon be
joining themerchant marines, thereby abandoning his mother and sister. In fact,
he purposefully failed to pay the electricity bill in order to join the seamans
union.

During dinner, Laura faint with shyness and anxiety spends most of the time
on the sofa, away from the others. Amanda, however, is having a wonderful time.
The lights suddenly go out, but Tom never confesses the reason!

By candlelight Jim gently approaches the timid Laura. Gradually, she begins to
open up to him. He is delighted to learn that they went to school together. He
even remembers the nickname he gave to her: Blue Roses.
Jim: Now I remember you always came in late.

Laura: Yes, it was so hard for me, getting upstairs. I had that brace on my leg
it clumped so loud!

Jim: I never heard any clumping.

Laura (wincing at the recollection): To me it sounded like thunder!

Jim: Well, well, well. I never even noticed.

Jim encourages her to be more self-confident. He even dances with her.

Unfortunately, he bumps a table, knocking over a glass unicorn figurine. The
horn breaks, making the figurine just like the rest of the horses. Surprisingly,
Laura is able to laugh about the situation. She clearly likes Jim. Finally, he
declares:

Somebody needs to build your confidence up and make you proud instead of shy
and turning away andblushingSomebody ought toought tokiss you,
Laura!

They kiss.

For a moment, the audience might be lured into thinking that everything will
work out happily. For a moment, we can imagine:

Jim and Laura falling in love.

Amandas dreams for Lauras security coming true.

Tom finally escaping the trap of family obligations.

 Yet, a moment after the kiss, Jim backs away and decides, I shouldnt have done
that. He then reveals that he is engaged to a nice girl named Betty. When he
explains that he will not be back to visit again, Laura bravely smiles.

She offers him the broken figurine as a souvenir.

After Jim leaves, Amanda scolds her son for bringing an already-spoken-for
gentleman caller. As they fight, Tom exclaims:

Tom: The more you shout about my selfishness to me the quicker Ill go, and I
wont go to the movies!

Then, Tom assumes the role of the narrator as he did in the plays beginning. He
explains to the audience how he soon left his family behind, running away just as
his father did. He spent years traveling abroad, yet something still haunted him.
He escaped the Wingfield household, but his dear sister Laura was always on his
mind.

The final lines:

Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I
intended to be! I reach for a cigarette, I cross the street, I run into the movies or
a bar, I buy a drink, I speak to the nearest strangeranything that can blow
your candles out! For nowadays the world is lit by lightning! Blow out your
candles, Laura and so good-bye

Article

11 Unforgettable 'The Glass Menagerie' Quotes by

Tennessee Williams

UP NEXT
UP NEXT

Article
 A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) by Tennessee
Williams

UP NEXT

Article

"Fat Pig" by Neil LaBute - Study Guide and

Commentary

UP NEXT

Article

The Dubious Priests and Innocent Altar Boys of

'Doubt'

UP NEXT

Article

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Miller

Article
Amanda Wingfield's Nagging Monologue in 'The
Glass Menagerie'

Article
Which Tennessee Williams Plays are the Best?

List
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