The Glass Menagerie Mood

Tennessee Williams’ play “The Glass Menagerie” uses it’s brilliant mood, quirky characters, and interesting story to draw in many readers. Set in 1937 in the city of St. Louis, the charming tale takes place in an apartment shared by a mother, her daughter, and her son. The mother, Amanda Wingfield, lives in the past, and uses her fond memories to lecture her kids about life. It’s clear, though, that she only wants the best for her children Tom and Laura Wingfield, whom of which are both adults. In the play, Amanda tries to take on her children’s main problems at once; Tom is depressed, and Laura is incredibly shy and insecure due to her leg disability, finding comfort only in her glass animal collection. She does this by confronting Tom about
Laura, claiming she was ill even though it was because she was too shy to come down for dinner, avoided the situation. However, in a turn of events, Jim and Laura are left alone, in only the candle light when the electricity went out. As the night progresses, feelings change. Jim realizes that Laura is shy about her disability, and tells her to think better of herself. Then the two share a dance, and during this, Jim accidentally hits Laura’s glass menagerie, causing a glass unicorn to fall and its horn to break off. The two then share a kiss before Jim reveals that he’s engaged. Laura tells him to take the broken unicorn as a gift, and he leaves. When Amanda finds out that Jim was engaged, she lashes out at Tom, even though she knows Tom wasn’t aware of the fact. This is Tom’s last straw, and he says goodbye to his mother and sister, and then tells Laura to blow out the candles, thus ending the play. The play itself sounds brilliant on the surface, but there is also a lot of hidden gems beneath it. With “The Glass Menagerie”, Tennessee Williams demonstrates how authors can involve many different elements into a plot, such as irony, foreshadowing, and