Analysis of the Glass Menagerie

An Analysis of The Glass Menagerie Dysfunctional families are common to films, novels and plays. They contain the drama and escape that people search for in entertainment. In Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie, the author explores the memory of Tom Wingfield, investigating the family dynamic with the absence of a father figure, the presence of an overbearing matriarch and the constant need by each family member to find an escape. Amanda Wingfield is the matriarch of the Wingfield household. She was born in the deep South and grew up in the life of luxury. Living in a tenement in an alley in St. Louis, abandoned by a husband, was not part of her plan. She mentions her lavish past casually to her children, dreaming of a better life. It is her favorite story to tell: AMANDA. One Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain—your mother received— seventeen!—gentleman callers! Why, sometimes there weren’t chairs enough to accommodate them all. We had to send the nigger over to bring in folding chairs from the parish house. TOM. How did you entertain those gentleman callers? AMANDA. I understood the art of conversation! (1.1.1-8) In telling this story, Amanda is attempting to bring her dead but beautiful past into the present. She wishes she had fallen for another man, perhaps one of those gentleman callers. If she had, she believes that she could have what she desires; a secure future for her daughter with a husband; a respectful and caring son; a happy life of her own. Instead, though, she fell in love with Mr. Wingfield, who is represented by a blown-up photograph hanging on the wall in the living room in the Wingfield tenement. Tom describes his father in the opening scene of the play: TOM. There is a fifth character in the play who doesn’t appear except in this larger-than-life-size photograph over the mantel. This is our father who left us a long time ago He was a telephone man who fell in love with long distances; he gave up his job with the telephone company and skipped the light fantastic out of town…The last we heard of him was a words: “Hello—Goodbye!” and no address. I think the rest of the play will explain itself… (1.1.25-34) With this photograph hanging in the apartment, dominating the small room, Mr. Wingfield is unintentionally present in the life of the Wingfields. Yet although Amanda keeps her husband’s photograph on her wall, she seems to forget that she chose to marry a “less-than-ideal man” (Domina). Mr. Wingfield’s absence affects Amanda by her relying on Tom for financial support to pay the bills. In her reliance on Tom, she is the cause of tension. She controls him, trying to prevent him from acting as his father might have. She knows that Tom desires escape and adventure, but refuses to let him leave because that would be irresponsible. Tom Wingfield’s need for escape is sprouted by the adventures he witnesses every time he goes to the movies. He is a frequenter of the local cinema, escaping to view another adventure when Amanda becomes too overbearing on him. Sometimes he goes to the bar to drink afterwards. He escapes from Amanda, his job at the factory, and familial responsibility. He is a dreamer who aspires to travel the world. It is only natural for him to dream different lives for himself, especially when his life is not spectacular. The Glass Menagerie is a memory play. Tom explains in the opening scene what Tennessee Williams meant by that: TOM. The play is memory. Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic…I am the narrator to the play, and also a character in it. (1.1.13-17) Being a memory of Tom’s, some things are emphasized or looked over. One does not always remember every detail of one’s life. As stated earlier, the picture of Mr. Wingfield is “larger-than-life-size” and dominates the living room. This is an example of the exaggeration of Tom’s memory. The portrait could have actually been life-size or smaller in his past, but it was such a main focus of Tom’s because he was disturbed by the ease with which his father abandoned the Wingfields. The thought of leaving home plagues Tom’s mind throughout the play. Laura is the only reason why he stays for so long, bearing everything Amanda tosses his way. Laura is innocent and pitiable. She unintentionally backs away from life, because “nature has ill-equipped her to fight for survival” (Corrigan). She has been afflicted with pleurosis which has left her with a limp and caused her to retreat even farther into her shell of self-consciousness. The limp of her leg is the basis for her anti-social behavior. She believes it is the first thing people notice about her. When Jim, the gentleman caller, comes for dinner and mentions that he never even noticed her limp, it is made clear that Laura is self-conscious and that she had no need to avoid talking to people. The conversation that they had shows her nervousness through the use of dashes and ellipses, and his comments show that her worries have been petty, believing that she should have talked more in high school: LAURA. I was out of school a little while with pleurosis. When I came back you asked me what was the matter. I said I had pleurosis—you thought I said Blue Roses. That’s what you called me after that! JIM. I hope you didn’t mind. LAURA. Oh, no—I liked it. You see, I wasn’t acquainted with many— people… JIM. As I remember you sort of stuck by yourself. LAURA. I—I—never have had much luck at—making friends. JIM. I don’t see why you wouldn’t. (1.7.16-26) Laura’s escape is in her glass menagerie, a collection of glass animals that she frequently plays with, as well as her walking adventures around town. Her menagerie is beautiful and has many different animals, her favorite being a unicorn. She retreats into herself, playing with her glass and pretending instead of facing the real world full of people who may judge her. As for the walking, Amanda had sent Laura to business school so that she could become a secretary or typist. On the first day, though, Laura got nervous and retreated into herself, never setting foot into the school again. She fools Amanda into thinking that she is still attending the school by leaving in the morning and returning in the afternoon at the same time she would have if she had actually attended the school. She walks to the park, the zoo and the glass shop, where she buys more glass animals for her menagerie. The absence of Mr. Wingfield seems to either have the greatest or least effect on Laura. She is either most affected with her anti-social behavior and anxiety or least affected due to the effects of the pleurosis. Tom’s eventual departure is sparked when Jim tells Laura that he is secretly engaged, making him not a candidate for a future husband. Amanda is furious and starts the final argument between her and Tom: AMANDA. The gentleman caller has made an early departure. What a wonderful joke you played on us! TOM. How do you mean? AMANDA. You didn’t mention that he was engaged to be married. TOM. Jim? Engaged? AMANDA. That’s what he just informed us. TOM. I’ll be jiggered! I didn’t know about that. AMANDA. That seems very peculiar. (1.7.1-9) Tom, in all actualities, was not aware of his friend’s engagement. This is the only argument between Amanda and Tom that does not end with Tom going to the movies to see another adventure. Instead, he goes on his own adventure, leaving St. Louis altogether. He feels guilty about leaving Laura but is glad to be free of Amanda’s tyranny. In leaving, Tom finds himself. He is unrestricted in his ventures. The unique thing about the Wingfields is their retreat from the world of daily existence, each of them fantasizing a world which is “infinitely more real than the world of the St. Louis tenement” (Corrigan). Amanda does her best to escape into her past. Laura tries to escape in her glass menagerie. Tom does escape through movies, alcohol, and leaving his mother and sister.

Works Cited Corrigan, M. A. "Memory, Dream, and Myth in the Plays of Tennessee Williams." Renascence (Spring 1976): 155-167. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 11. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. Domina, L.M. Essay on “The Glass Menagerie.” Drama for Students. Ed. David Galens and Lynn Spampinato. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 133-136.
Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. New York: New Directions Books, 1945. Print.

Cited: Corrigan, M. A. "Memory, Dream, and Myth in the Plays of Tennessee Williams." Renascence (Spring 1976): 155-167. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 11. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. Domina, L.M. Essay on “The Glass Menagerie.” Drama for Students. Ed. David Galens and Lynn Spampinato. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 133-136. Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. New York: New Directions Books, 1945. Print.