Karla Diaz
Toni Brady
Michelle Diaz
The Glass Menagerie Period 3
Sasha Guerrero By Tennessee Williams October 17, 2019
Armando De La Torre AP English Literature
We escape our painful lives by
making unrealistic plans.
Amanda frequently reminisces about her
youth and her desirability to men. Her
attachment to her former identity as Southern
Belle makes her dreams for Laura impractical.
Laura finds social interaction unbearable due
to her anxiety. Knowing that she will never
marry, she finds solace in her collection of
glass animals. However, her unemployment
does not make for a sustainable lifestyle.
Without Tom, Laura and her mother lack the
financial means to survive.
We peak in their youth and are
destined to live ordinary and
insignificant lives.
Jim went from being student body president
and debate club champion in high school to
being a mere factory worker in adulthood.
Amanda went from entertaining seventeen
suitors in one day to being abandoned by the
man she chose to marry.
After being fired from the warehouse and
moving out of his mother’s home, Tom spent
the rest of his life in bars and movie theaters.
Foreshadowing
AMANDA: “Haven't you ever liked some boy?”
LAURA: “Yes. I liked one once … He had a
wonderful voice and we sat across the aisle from
each other … He used to call me Blue Roses.”
(Scene 2)
Williams foreshadows the meeting of Jim and
Laura when Laura shows Amanda pictures of
him in her high school yearbook. She never
approached Jim, and she only observed him from
a distance.
Laura’s old crush on Jim makes the audience to
feel sympathetic toward her because she lost the
chance to form a relationship with him due to her
anxiety.
Soliloquy
TOM: “I left Saint Louis. I descended the steps of
this fire-escape for a last time and followed, from
then on, in my father's footsteps, attempting to find
in motion what was lost in space—I travelled
around a great deal. The cities swept about me like
dead leaves, leaves that were brightly coloured but
torn away from the branches.” (Scene 7)
Williams uses soliloquy to tell the audience Tom’s
fate after his fight with Amanda. In his final speech,
Tom explains how he left his home, just like his
father, with no end goal.
Tom’s soliloquy shows his true character in that he
is desperate for independence, even at the cost of
maintaining contact with his family. His one-sided
conversation with the audience feels intimate
because he reveals the ugly details of his life with
them.
Symbolism
LAURA: “I'll just imagine he had an operation.
The horn was removed to make him feel less -
freakish! Now he will feel more at home with the
other horses, the ones that don't have horns."
(Scene 7)
Williams uses Laura's glass menagerie to
symbolize her view of herself and the world around
her. Although the unicorn was her favorite
ornament, Laura was not upset when Jim
accidentally broke the horn off. In fact, she seemed
pleased that the unicorn was now able to fit in with
the other horses.
The broken unicorn ornament represents Laura's
desire to become normal. Laura has characteristics
that make her stand out: she is timid, socially
awkward, as well as being crippled. Like the
unicorn losing its horn, Laura hopes that she could
lose her shyness and fit in for once.
Works Cited
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‘The Glass Menagerie.'” New York Daily News, Tribune Publishing, 16 Sept. 2013,
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1.1455406.
Healy, Patrick. “Good Reviews Propel 'Glass Menagerie' Sales on Broadway.” The New York Times, The New
York Times, 30 Sept. 2013, https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/good-reviews-propel-
glass-menagerie-sales-on-broadway/.
Jeffery, Morgan. “Sense8 Star: Glass Menagerie More Relevant, Post-Trump.” Digital Spy, Digital Spy, 29
Nov. 2018, https://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/theatre-news/a820774/sense8-brian-j-smith-takes-to-
west-end-stage-the-glass-menagerie-more-relevant-than-ever-in-post-trump-era/.
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https://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/zachary-quinto-the-glass-menagerie-broadway/all.
Vincentelli, Elisabeth. “Style Counts More than Words in 'Glass Menagerie'.” New York Post, New York Post,
27 Sept. 2013, https://nypost.com/2013/09/26/style-counts-more-than-words-in-glass-menagerie/.
“Zachary Quinto: Broadway Debut in 'The Glass Menagerie'!” Just Jared, http://www.justjared.com/photo-
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