Tennessee Williams- The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie is a dramatic reinactment of Tennessee William's life. The play is set in William's childhood home of St Louis, where the house he and his family occupy is in stark contrast to the upper class lifestyle they are used to. William's lives with his mother and sister, and these 3 people are the only characters for the majority of the play. In the second half a new character enters, and we are told by Tennessee in his monologue at the beginning that this character is the only realistic identity in the play, and the others are merely fantasies based on reality.

The play, although dramatised, is autobiographical and we are introduced into the troubled life William's lived as a child. His sister suffers from schizophrenia and keeps a 'glass menagerie', a set of glass animals that is extremely precious to her. His mother is often a humerous character who clearly wants the best for her children, however she persistently annoys Tom (Tennessee) with her constant claims that he 'shouldn't smoke so much' and that 'he doesn't eat properly.' In the second half the audience is introduced to Tom's friend Jim who is from the factory where they work. Jim is a honest, confident boy who has been brought home for supper in the hope he will fulfil their mothers dream of falling in love with her daughter, Laura.

The Glass Menagerie uses a lot of symbolism in the form of light and sound. For example red lighting to signify anger or jealousy and aggresive or passive music to show Tom's inner emotions. However the most interesting dramatic symbol for me was that of the glass menagerie. Whilst Jim is getting to know Laura he is shown her most precious glass menagerie and accidently drops and breaks her favourite object in the collection; a unicorn. The horn is broken off the unicorn but Laura claims it is okay because now he will be normal and able to fit in with the other horses. This shift from abnormality or normality in the form of the glass animal shows Laura's new found confidence in who she is despite her disability. However the audience then find out Jim is engaged and cannot be with Laura after all, and with his exit he takes the broken animal as a token of friendship and memory, and with this he is taking the only normal part of Laura she ever had.