«The Glass Menagerie » by Tennessee Williams

1. «The Glass Menagerie» by Tennessee Williams

2. The WriterTennessee Williams (1911-1983) • Born in Missouri. His fatherwas a salesman; emotionallyabsent, oftenviolent and neveraffectionate with histhreechildren. • His motherhad an aggressive and dominatingcharacter. His sister Rose wasmentallydisturbed and hisbrother, Dakin, wasrepeatedlyfavored over oldersiblings. • In 1947 he fell in love with Frank Merlo. • In 1961 Merlo’s premature deaththrew Williams into a deepdepression. • His mostfamous work is«The glassmenagerie» (1944) • He died in February 1983

3. Historical Background • Almost the end of the Second World War • Difficultperiod for Usa and Europe • World wide economicdownturn

4. Memory plays • Tennessee Williams definedhisplaysas «memoryplays». • They are dividedintothreeparts: in the first one the charactergoesthrough a deep and intense experience, in the second, thisexperiencecauses an arrest of time the characterisfrozen and in the last part the protagonist must re-live hisexperiencetrying to makesense of it.

5. The glassmenagerieMaincharacters • Amanda Wingfield (the mother) : her life is paranoia. Herfoolishnessmakesherunwittinglycruelattimes. Shehas endurance, a kind of heroism and sometimesthereistenderness in herperson. • Laura Wingfield (the daughter): shefailed to establishcontact with reality. So shecontinues to live in herillusions. She’slike a piece of herownglasscollection, too fragile to move. • Tom Wingfield (the son): isalso the narrator of the play. He’s a poet, but he works in a warehouse. • JimO’Connor (the gentleman caller): he works with Tom. He’s a nice, ordinary , young man.

6. The plotTom, after the departure of hisfatherhasbeenleft to provide for hismother, Amanda and for hissister Laura. Amanda isobsessedabouttrying to find a husband for herdaughter, whoisextremelyshy and introverted. Tom works hard during the day and goes out everyeveningbecause he wants to escape the oppressive atmosphere of the house. Oneevening, he brings home Jim, a friend of his, whom Laura metatschool. Afterdinner Laura spends some time alone with him; the talk for a while, thenJimkisses Laura, regrettingitat once. He tellsherthathe’salreadyengaged and Laura isdesperate. She gives him a glass unicorn (part of her glass collection) which was broken during the night. Amanda accuses Tom of foolingher and Laura. Theyarguedreadfully, so thatTom decides to live, never to return.

7. Writing Style • William’slanguageis intense and powerful. He uses images and symbols, suchas the glassanimalfigures. • His scripts are full of stage directions. • Protagonists are sometimeslonelydreamers. • Tom is also the narratorActing as a character and narrator allows us to enter into Tom’s mind and his inner world and thoughts.

8. Importantthemes • The difficulty the charactershave in facing, accepting and relating to reality  theyall live in a private world of dreams and illusions paralysis • The desire to escape. • The desperateloneliness of the femininecharacterstornbetweenromanticdream and the reality dominated by men. • Desperation and depression influenced by autobiographicalevents.

9. Symbols • glass menagerie - Laura’s private world, and the breaking of it. • unicorn - Laura’s singularity, her return to reality, and her return to her retreat back into her world. • gentleman caller - the real world as opposed to Amanda’s imagined one.