Glass Menagerie by Tennesse Williams - Book Report/Review Example

Introduction Glass Menagrie is one of Tenesse Williams most famous plays. The story is beautiful, depicting the tragedy of characters who want to escape from what the reality around them has made them. The play portrays human fraility but with sympathy and clarity that makes readers and viewers deeply empathetic towards all the characters The play has some biographical elements. Tenessese Williams had a sister Rose who was his close companion during their childhood but later on was diagnosed with schiszphrenia and was treated with a surgey which significantly impaired her faculties. Williams however did have a father who stayed but developed a drinking problem and had a very troubled relation with his son. Williams even worked in a shoe warehouse for sometime and enjoyed his time there as much as the character ‘Tom ‘ enjoyes his time in his warehouse. The play covers the lives of Amanda and her two children Tom and Laura. Just one additional fourth character makes an appearance the gentleman caller Jim a collegue of Toms from the warehouse. The other fifth character is the father who never makes an appearance and has disappeared abandoning his family but in reality has a ‘larger then life’ presence. Amanda is someone caught up completely in her past, leaving her unable to understand or deal with the reality that is now oppressing her and her family. Although she is the one for whom the narrator Tom has the least sympathy, the realization of the suffering that she experiences is a far more poignant one then any irritation that the audience may experience because of her. Tom is the narrator of the play, the one going back into his memory. He is desperately unhappy with his present and dreams of an escape and a future away from the shoe warhouse and his mother. Laura is a mild character someone who is able to see reality for what it is but who has hidden herself in her glass world. Her physical deformity, natural shyness and overbearing mother have wharped her character, rendering her incapable of escaping anywhere else except her glass menagrie. Jim makes a smaller appearance but he issignificant for many reasons. One is that in a way he was Laura’s last hope, another because he himself is a victim of himself. He has been unable to recreate the success he had in highschool and is stuck at the same job that Tom has, left with many plans for the future. The character’s in this play are victims of their own flaws, trapped in their own lives. The central idea of this play really is that we cannot escape from our ourselves and our reality. Tom for example, has run away miles to find himself still unable to escape from the obligation and love that ties him to his sister. That our mistakes and flaws will always be there and we will be a victims of the tragedy they create in our lives. Description Tom is the narrator of the play, both involved as a part of the scenes that he is remembering and also as a commentator on the content of his memories flowing in and out of the story. Tom has been saddled with the financial responsibility of taking care of his mother and sister after his father decided to leave the family. Tom is unahppy in his life and he feels hedged in by his job and his mother. Initially his escape is the movies, where he can choose to be anyone else other then who he is. Toms attachment to this world is his sister. He cares for her and finds room from his struggle to escape to try and arrange a safe future for his sister. But he has always planned to leave, subconsciously or consciously he has made choices like buying the union card and writing a poem on a shoe box to engineer his attempt at freedom. But life teaches Tom a bitter lesson, you can never run away from yourself. Circumstances have made him responsible for his family and even though he escapes physically, emotionally he is still tied to his sister. On the surface Tom does something morally unacceptable, he abandons his family. But this is Tom’s flaw he is desperate to escape and runs away only to realize that he actually cannot runaway. And we can sympathize with him, he has been denied a chance at any other reality and has been tasked with the responsibility his father forsook. He is a sufferer by his own hand like everyone else in the play. Amanda has had a glorious past or atleast that is the past her memory has recreated for her. She cannot get away from the past and face her dark and dreary present. It is this that makes her unable to understand her children, specially Toms obsession with the future. In her we find someone who Is obsessed with her own delusions almost who refuses to see the reality in front of her but is still in her own way struggling to find practical solutions to her childrens survivial. Amanda is desperate to see her children safe but her obsession with the past and her inability to face reality deprives her from this very future. She is continuously making plans for her children but her tragic flaw makes sure that this never happens. Trying to introduce Laura to new people is something that is positive but the very way she goes about dooms the plan to failure from the start. She goes overboard in her preparations unable to realize that the world she knew is dead. Although Amanda’s fraility is obvious and at many occasions annoying Tenesse Williams is equally effective in drawing in her vulnerabilities. Her dialogue ‘I never told you this Tom, but I loved your father’ is perhaps one of the most painful and haunting lines in the play. Amanda’s tragedy is not only is she trapped by who she is but unlike Tom and Laura she is unable to see this element of herself, an element which is painfully obvious to her children. Laura like the others in the play too creates another world in which to escape from the harsh reality around her. But unlike Amanda, Laura is only too painfully aware of the past around her. This is made most obvious when we compare how Laura refers to herself as a cripple while Amanda insists on terming it a minor defect. Laura has an uneasy survivial in the world outside her phonographs and her glass menagerie. The galss menagerie is an important symbol for Laura with glass being used throughout the play to reflect Lauras fraility and her beauty. The audience is made to sympathize with Laura and the pain and dissapointment that life seems to have stored for her at every end. Her meeting with Jim is her last chance at freedom from herself, from her weaknesses and insecurities and her intense shyness but even this chance becomes meaningless when everyone finds out that Laura’s gentlemen caller is already engaged. Despite her own fraility and pain or perhaps because of it Laura displays great understanding and sympathy for her family. Although on a superficial level Amanda might appear to be the protective mother it is in reality Laura who protects her mother. She protects her mother by letting her obsess over the past, realizing that forcing Amanda to see reality might actually finish her. She even intervenes frequently between Tom and her mother simply so that there is less friction between the two. But even Laura despite her understanding and sympathy is as much a victim of herself as the other are. The term of reference used by Jim ‘Blue Roses ‘ is an apt one for Laura, reflecting both her uniqueness and delicacy. Jim is the gentlemean caller, the one person from outside the family who comes as a hope for Laura. But even Jim is stuck in his life. All the high expectation engendered by a brilliant high-school career have led him to a place with a job no better then Toms. However Jim has planned to improve his life and to regain his lost glory. Conclusion The play is a beautiful depiction of human tragedy and the author remains true ro his word of telling ‘truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion’. The play covers the stories of Amanda, Laura and Tom the narrator. Each of these chatacters is stuck in a reality which they find painful and use some or the other way to escape from the unpleasant treality. Tom has his obsession with the future which he focuses on , Laura has her menagerie, her secret beautiful world and Amanda has her past. The real idea behind this story is that we cannot escape from ourselves or our lives and we will always be victims of our own flaws. Laura cannot escape from her shy world, from her onsesiion with her lameness. Tom cannot escape from the onligation he feels towards his sister and Amanda does not even understand the trap that her obsession with the past puts her in. Works Cited ‘THE GLASS MENAGERIE-by Tennessee Williams- Teacher’s Study Guide’ L.A Theatre Works Winter 1999 http://www.latw.org/acrobat/glass.pdf Web 7th April 2010 Williams Tennessee ‘The Glass Menagerie’ Heniemann Educational Publishers, Halley Court Jordan Hill Oxford OX2 8EJ 1996 http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=qt9Qnulz2ikC&printsec=frontcover&dq=glass+ menagerie&source=bl&ots=UIGtlgxpJp&sig=5KXeCwnLQGcN969LZD4cj7RK4_A&hl =en&ei=4Ry- S9nrPMWwrAeUucXjCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6 AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Web 7th April 2010 Ketcham C. Ray’Through a Glass Starkly’ Honours English (1966-67) Woppingers Central School, Woppingers Falls New York Blufarb Sam’ The Glass Menagerie:Three Visions of Time’ College English Vol 24 NO 7 Apr 1963 pp 513-518 Jstor http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0010- 0994%28196304%2924%3a7%3C513%3ATGMTVOO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N Web 7th April 2010 Read More

Tom has been saddled with the financial responsibility of taking care of his mother and sister after his father decided to leave the family. Tom is unahppy in his life and he feels hedged in by his job and his mother. Initially his escape is the movies, where he can choose to be anyone else other then who he is. Toms attachment to this world is his sister. He cares for her and finds room from his struggle to escape to try and arrange a safe future for his sister. But he has always planned to leave, subconsciously or consciously he has made choices like buying the union card and writing a poem on a shoe box to engineer his attempt at freedom.

But life teaches Tom a bitter lesson, you can never run away from yourself. Circumstances have made him responsible for his family and even though he escapes physically, emotionally he is still tied to his sister. On the surface Tom does something morally unacceptable, he abandons his family. But this is Tom’s flaw he is desperate to escape and runs away only to realize that he actually cannot runaway. And we can sympathize with him, he has been denied a chance at any other reality and has been tasked with the responsibility his father forsook.

He is a sufferer by his own hand like everyone else in the play. Amanda has had a glorious past or atleast that is the past her memory has recreated for her. She cannot get away from the past and face her dark and dreary present. It is this that makes her unable to understand her children, specially Toms obsession with the future. In her we find someone who Is obsessed with her own delusions almost who refuses to see the reality in front of her but is still in her own way struggling to find practical solutions to her childrens survivial.

Amanda is desperate to see her children safe but her obsession with the past and her inability to face reality deprives her from this very future. She is continuously making plans for her children but her tragic flaw makes sure that this never happens. Trying to introduce Laura to new people is something that is positive but the very way she goes about dooms the plan to failure from the start. She goes overboard in her preparations unable to realize that the world she knew is dead. Although Amanda’s fraility is obvious and at many occasions annoying Tenesse Williams is equally effective in drawing in her vulnerabilities.

Her dialogue ‘I never told you this Tom, but I loved your father’ is perhaps one of the most painful and haunting lines in the play. Amanda’s tragedy is not only is she trapped by who she is but unlike Tom and Laura she is unable to see this element of herself, an element which is painfully obvious to her children. Laura like the others in the play too creates another world in which to escape from the harsh reality around her. But unlike Amanda, Laura is only too painfully aware of the past around her.

This is made most obvious when we compare how Laura refers to herself as a cripple while Amanda insists on terming it a minor defect. Laura has an uneasy survivial in the world outside her phonographs and her glass menagerie. The galss menagerie is an important symbol for Laura with glass being used throughout the play to reflect Lauras fraility and her beauty. The audience is made to sympathize with Laura and the pain and dissapointment that life seems to have stored for her at every end. Her meeting with Jim is her last chance at freedom from herself, from her weaknesses and insecurities and her intense shyness but even this chance becomes meaningless when everyone finds out that Laura’s gentlemen caller is already engaged.

Despite her own fraility and pain or perhaps because of it Laura displays great understanding and sympathy for her family. Although on a superficial level Amanda might appear to be the protective mother it is in reality Laura who protects her mother. She protects her mother by letting her obsess over the past, realizing that forcing Amanda to see reality might actually finish her.

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