Malaya Journal of Matematik, Vol. S, No.

2, 3699-3701, 2020

https://doi.org/10.26637/MJM0S20/0959

A critical study on Tennessee Williams’ the glass

menagerie
M. Parvathi Ranjani1 and A. Annie Christy 2

Abstract
Life is a lonely idea, a lonely condition, so terrifying to think of that we usually do not. And so we talk to each
other, write and call each other short and long distance across land and sea, clasp hands with each other
at meeting and parting, fight each. The focus Williams’ play is not on characters reveals themselves the full
reality of their inner disharmony. The theme of Williams seems to be the utter loneliness of man in a world
without beliefs, and man’s chief enemy is time. Tennessee Williams is a major American dramatist as Henri
Ibsen, whom he admired, dwelt upon several controversial Subjects. His plays made dramatic history not only
thought their phenomenal successes but also by leaving each succeeding ideas. His handling of such themes
as homosexuality, emasculation, drug-addiction, venereal diseases and cannibalism kept the greatest of his
admirers guessing about what he would deal with next. He always seemed to flout the social and moral code by
rebelling against it. In his personal life he was more or less a travelling worker, always the move. His love life and
his frank confessions about it left his friends cold. On the positive side he earned the enviable reputation of an
artist who would know, understand and interpret the feminine sensibility and aspirations dramatically, something
that no one else had done as successfully.
Keywords
Success, emasculation, loneliness, aspiration, travel.
1,2 Department of English, Bharath Institute for Higher Education and Research, Selaiyur, Chennai-600073, Tamil Nadu, India.
Article History: Received 01 October 2020; Accepted 10 December 2020 2020
c MJM.

Contents selfish son, a crippled, shy, morose daughter who cannot get
strangers, cannot help herself and hangs like a heavy cross
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3699 upon her and above all her fast fading youth. She perhaps
2 The individual and the family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3700 draws her sustenance and tenacity to fight with dignity and
3 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3700
heroism for survival from her past. In such circumstance she
often forgets or rather gets very little time to communicate
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3700 with others. Her zest doe life, her attempt to defeat or ignore
the depression, catastrophe and uncertainty that hang like a
1. Introduction dark cloud threatening to engulf her are really pathetic, espe-
William’s also, from yet another point of view, a poet of the cially when she is trying to get over with every motion without
Symbols adds greatly to the value and significance of The the help others.
Glass Menagerie. They are essential to its poetic nature and The symbol of The Glass Menagerie, which is full of little
treatment. The symbols play a significant role in underlining glass animals, suggests the isolation, fragility, and lonesome
the isolation of the characters in the play. There are more than soul of Laura. They have to be protected from the malice
a dozen major symbols in the play. In his first major play, outside world. This is a dominant symbol which reveals the
The Glass Menagerie, the mother figure, Amanda Winfield isolation in the life of Laura. Williams also suggests that like
is constantly haunted by her beautiful and romantic memo- the glass animals, the life of Laura is cold, and inanimate,
ries. These include Sunday afternoons on the Blue Mountains and she, too cannot move from shelf. Her world is a sterile
entertaining her seventeen gentleman callers and her love and static one.Blue Mountain’ represents Amanda’s’ illusions
for Tom’s father whom she chose out of so many richer and about the gentle, beautiful life she led as a girl. It is her retreat,
worthier wooers. Her present is miserable – poverty, insult of the only source of charm and beauty in an otherwise isolated
being deserted by her selfish husband, a worthless, and equally life. It represents her inability to cope with the established
 A critical study on Tennessee Williams’ the glass menagerie — 3700/3701

norms of societyLaura is identified with blue roses in the play. be loved without loving others; they want the protection of
Roses are sweet and symbolize earthly beauty, but at the same the family without loving others; they want the protection of
time blue roses never exist in the present world is a contradic- the family without surrendering their selfish particularly, and
tion in itself. The Unicorn, which is a mythological creature, these are the basic contradictions in their attitude.
plays a symbolic role by depicting. the isolation in the life Tom in The Glass Menagerie deserted his family in the hope
ofLaura. Like the blue colored roses, the unicorn does not of realizing his dreams; Blanche Dubois is the worst sufferer
exist in the real world. The unicorn is a symbol of Laura’s of a family collapse; he comes out of Belle Rave, confronts
fragile life. Because he is unique, he has enjoyed a special a brutish, violent and hostile society, goes deep down in her
place among the animals in Laura’s glass menagerie, when self-esteem and others’ esteem, and ends up in an asylum;
his horn is broken, Laura is not upset. She is temporarily Brick polite in the play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof turns alcoholic
sheltered by Jim, and her calmness symbolizes her attempt to forget the oppressive air of a family infested by “mendacity”
to put aside her world of fantasy for the real one. When she Alma in summer and smoke, unable to strike up a significant
finds out that Jim, her gentleman caller is already engaged. relationship with her parents and her lover John, desperately
She gives him the unicorn for a souvenir. This symbolizes her goes in for strangers in a brothel. All these characters are
retreat into her indifferent and abnormal life. both causes and effects of broken families, thought the play-
wright implicitly informs us that they are only victims of
2. The individual and the family circumstances.

A particular young man may condemn certain aspects of his

family and refuse or fail to identify with that culture and in the 3. Conclusion
process may feel isolated from the mainstream of the affairs
The Glass Menagerie Laura Winfield is isolated so is her
of the family, but at the same time he may show his profound
mother, Amanda Winfield. The factors responsible for the
regard for certain values of his society. Popular culture is one
withdrawal of Laura into a themselves her own world of glass
thing, fundamental values other.
animals are her shyness, her being a cripple, the gap between
Disenchantment with one does not necessarily imply disen-
her attitude and her mother’s, her lack of hope, indifference,
chantment with the other, when an individual considers his
her acceptance if her condition, and the absence if a character
family and tries to withdraw, he is alienated no doubt from
who would release her from the bonds of isolation. These
the prevalent culture sick or demands absolute conformity
factors integrate at various levels and close the possibility of
of all, but he is at vantage point. He is at a vantage point
her release. Chances of rehabilitation seem to be low in the
because he takes upon himself the full responsibility of his
life of Laura since nobody comes to marry her. The scheme
self-inflicted alienation. He is not sick, nor does he consider
of the play lacks a character, which may illuminate the dark
himself sick or guilty. He is search of new frontiers, in a
world of isolation of Laura, and grant her a new sheltered and
position to transcend his milieu. But invariably, the characters
happy life. Although Jim appears to be a groom, and she gets
in Williams’ plays are victims of their own society. They
momentary relief from her withdrawn and secluded world,
themselves are guilty and degraded. So their stern indictments
soon she plunges back into frustration when Jim discloses
of the moral lapses of their society do not have earnestness
to her about his engagement. Jim, the only gentleman caller,
and urgency that expected from the genuine does not have
comes in her knife, but he too is engaged and isolation remains
earnestness and urgency that are expected from the genuine
in her life as it was before. The play is of tragic dimension.
rebels. Their protests fall invariably flat because they are also
The dramatist reveals that isolation is the condition of the
alienated from themselves. They lack inner direction and
modern man. The readers or audience feels the impact of
conviction; hence of their revolt against the banality prevalent
isolation in the life of human beings. They feel that in society
in the society rather it is the outcome of their guilt and their
the trait of isolation is present in everybody.
inability to adjust. Their antagonism is not directed against
the cultural patterns also against the fundamental values of
their tradition and culture. To those who are crippled by their
References
own inconsistency and vulnerability, basic institutions like
family serve as crutches. [1] The Glass Menagerie, New Directions, reissued in 2011
The modern individuals while hungering for protection, un- with an Introduction by Tony Kusher, ”Past Awards, 1944-
derstanding, guidance and love, are not willing to yield to 1945” Archived 2009-07-10 at the Wayback Machine
the family norms and patterns. They consider that places New York Drama Critics’ Circle, accessed January 8,
like clubs can be a substitute for home. It is not possible 2014
to establish a lasting and meaningful rapport with strangers. [2] Saddik, Annette J. Glass Menagerie The Politics of Repu-
Sometimes they do not also try to establish one because in- tation: The Critical Reception of Tennessee Williams
timacy demands restriction of independence, because love (books.google.com), Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press,
means belonging to another in a responsible way. They want 1999, ISBN 0838637728, p. 25
to be understood without trying to understand others; want to [3] Lyle Leverich, ”Tom: The Unknown Tennessee

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Williams”, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. (April 1, 1997)

ISBN 0-393-31663-7
[4] Greenberg-Slovin, Naomi. ”Notes from the Dramaturg”.
Program to The Glass Menagerie. Everyman Baltimore,
2013–14 season. Jump up to:a b ”The Collected Stories
of Tennessee Williams”, New Directions, 1985, page 110,
ISBN 978-0-8112-1269-4

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Malaya Journal of Matematik
ISSN(O):2321 − 5666
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