1. THE GLASS MENAGERIE
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

2. Quick Write
What vivid memories do you have?  What senses are most affected by this memory (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell)?  What/Who is the focus of this memory?  What part of this memory stands out the most in your mind?  How does your own perception of what happened influence the memory? (Did it really happen exactly as you remember?)

3. What is a glass menagerie?
noun 1. a collection of wild or unusual animals, especially for exhibition. 2. a place where they are kept or exhibited. 3. an unusual and varied group of people.
On the back of your paper – what do you think a “glass menagerie” is?
Make sure you look at all parts of the definition.

4. BACKGROUND Tennessee Williams born Thomas Lanier Williams in 1911,
Mississippi.
His mother, Edwina Dakin, was
daughter of a minister. His father
Was a “violent and aggressive
Traveling salesman” (Gussow).
He was very close to his sister Rose
who suffered from mental
illness and was forced to have a
lobotomy, which altered her
personality

5. “Hive-like conglomerations of cellular living-units that flower as warty growths in overcrowded urban centers . . .”
He wrote to escape from his mundane existence as a clerk with a shoe company. There are autobiographical parallels in the play The Glass Menagerie

6. CHARACTERS
Laura Wingfield - She is the crippled and very shy daughter of Amanda who nags Laura about finding a husband.

7. Tom Wingfield - The narrator and actor
As Laura’s brother, he is also pressed by his mother to find his sister a gentleman caller and to keep the job at the shoe factory to support the family.

8. Amanda Wingfield -
She is the mother of Tom and Laura and often digresses back to memories of her former days on the southern plantation farm and her night with 17 gentleman callers.

9. Jim O’Conner -
He is a friend of Tom from the factory who Tom invites to dinner and Amanda treats as Laura’s first gentleman

10. MINOR CHARACTERS
Mr. Wingfield - He is Amanda’s husband who deserted the family about 16 years ago and is only seen in the play as a large photograph hung on the wall, but he is often referred to.

11. SETTING 1930 St Louis (Great Depression)
The Wingfield apartment- This takes up most of the stage and the different room are separated by curtains.  There is the living and the kitchen.
The fire escape - This is on the side of the stage and is what the characters use to get into and out of the apartment.

12. SYMBOLS
Victrola
Jonquils
Fire Escape

13. Symbols
Magic Show
Glass Menagerie
Blue Roses

14. Symbols
Unicorn
Candelabrum
Scarf

15. SYMBOLS
gentleman caller -
father’s portrait -

16. Topics – what themes develop around these topics
Escapism/Imprisonment
Dreams and reality
Responsibility / duty
Family dynamics
Abandonment

17. Method of Narration
Tom is narrator and a main character. He tells the story as memory.
What does this technique contribute to the play?
How does this technique help to convey Williams’ message and ideas?
Describe his character in the play.
Describe his “traps.”
What are his means of escape?
Describe his relationship with Amanda.
Describe his relationship with Laura.
Respond to how the play ends in relation to Tom.