The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Glass Menagerie
Book Review: One of my favorite plays to teach!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love The Glass Menagerie, and love teaching it, as well. The characters are so unrealistic, but so clearly defined. Read it - and the rest of Tennessee Williams, as well!Book Review: Our Greatest Roadblocks and Tragedies are Often Caused by Our Misperceptions
Summary: 4 Stars
Unfortunately, for too many students, literature is only as good as the professor who is teaching it. Some students of literature end up studying it on their own, for their own pursoses - with no time deadlines and no required 'number of words' essays. If you have never seen this play, I encourage you to read it and underline it at your own pace. "Quality literature is not intended to be immutable Truth sent down from the mountain; rather, it is a conversation to be continued with future generations."
In the beginning of the text of the play, each character is described. The playwright's description of the key role of Tom, the son, sets the stage for unavoidable tragedy. The playwright himself suggests the only solution to the social problems raised in the play is: "to escape from a trap he has to act without pity." This foregone preclusion is nonsense.
The words of this play are beautifully and thoughtfully chosen. The play clearly displays tragedies of the female characters, who make their personal success dependent on executing a perfect traditional marriage - an objective the mother, the daughter, and the son are not likely to achieve any time soon - if ever. The play shows what often happens to people who frame their mental success or measure the quality of their soul on whether they can obtain and maintain an absolute, singular intimate relationship with only one other person. And as with many Tennessee Williams plays, the drama is not so much a result of defective people trying to succeed in healthy social environments and constructs; rather, the drama (the stuff that "the theater" was created to show) is created more when ordinary, complex & fragile people try to fit into narrow social molds that few people are likely to prosper in.
Amanda, Laura, and Tom are worthy of lasting love. The tragedy is they have each defined love in different, seemingly small but devastating ways. And as a result, they have blinded themselves to their potential to love each other and find love in others. A tragedy in any relationship would be to be with someone who, for whatever "good" reasons, stops learning & adapting - they become someone from whom little new can be learned or expected. Tom senses those trends in his mother and sister and concludes that neither of them are capable of reconsideration. Thinking he cannot reason with either of them, he incorrectly assumes he is trapped. He knows of no method of education to change their mindsets, and he tragically abandons them, like his father before him.
Tom says, "I didn't go to the moon, I went much further - for time is the longest distance between two places." And his abandonment, leaving them not only for a period of time, but more accurately for an indefinite and possibly never ending period of time is a level of insensitivity I doubt he fully conceives. Because as the playwright says, "His nature is not remorseless;" rather more likely he is lacking either the education and/or human experiences that would give him a better understanding of the harms his abandoment could cause. Leaving a poor mother and handicapped, hard to employ sister during the depression is not an act that (as the playwright himself incorrectly asserts) warrants him acting without pity. His mother and sister do not need pity. They need support, education, and a determined, dogged willingness to find new ideas, perceptions, and possible solutions.
I have no problem with Tom going off and exploring the world, but he doesn't tell his mother or sister when or if he will ever return - a decision that is neither necessary nor healthy for him, his family, or the other people close to him. And I don't need to hear Tom at the end of the play trying to engender sympathy from the audience for his abandonment by saying he is still haunted by the plight of the sister he left behind. To quote the sentiment of a more recent great American playwright: "If He ever did come back, if He ever dared to show His face, or His Glyph or whatever in the Garden again . . . if after all this destruction, if after all the terrible days of this terrible century He returned to see . . . how much suffering His abandonment had created, if He did come back you should sue the bastard . . . Sue the bastard for walking out. How dare he. That's my only contribution to all this Theology."
Tom go home. There is great discovery, challenge, and adventure in working to reconcile the irreconcilable differences in our roots - even if you are only partially successful. The road less traveled is often the more difficult one leading us back home.
Book Review: Overview of The Glass Menagerie
Summary: 4 Stars
The Glass Menagerie, by Tennesse Williams is a tale of desperation and a longing for something more. The characters within this incredible stories pages yearn for more than the mundane facts of life. Amanda, who plays the mother, grew up a pure southern belle. As she describes it, men practically kissed the ground she walked on. Wouldn't you think her daughter Laura would be the same? The answers no. Laura is a shy, crippled girl who is forced to wear braces on her legs. Unlike her mother, Laura rarely has gentlman callers and this bothers Amanda. Her mother, not knowing what to do with Laura, signs her up for business classes which Laura secretly skips. Her brother Tom is an aspiring poet who is forced to work in a shoe warehouse so he can support his family. Their father ran out on them at an early age and the only thing they have recieved from him in years is a single postcard.The Glass Menagerie is one of the few books that has ever caught me by surprise. You can't help but feel the agony of repression these three main characters feel. The novel, which was originally written for the stage, only takes place over a very short period of time in late 1930's. It was a time of change and growth of the human spirit. The beliefs of youth and age clashed and no matter who you were you longed for something different. But as our character Tom figures out at the end, change isn't always what you need.
I feel the most interesting quality this novel contained was it's use of symbolism. The fire escape had so much meaning behind it, it was practically impossible to miss. It was their only way of escaping the pain that was inside the walls of their home. The music that was often cued in the play took a major part in creating the essense behind the story. Music relates to memory and that is what this play comes down to, memories of how it should be, or should I say, the delusions the Wingfield family created.
Overall this book impressed me. It had all the elements a good story should have,(pain, pleasure, humor, distruction and healing). I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to sit down and sink into a well written story. After all, everyone lives within their own glass menagerie.
Book Review: PRETTY GOOD
Summary: 4 Stars
After having read this book , I can honestly say that this is oneof those 2-hour reads. Its a short play about life in the 1940s. About a disfunctional, somewhat 'humorous' family. I would defineatly reccomend this book to anyone who likes a good short, read.Book Review: Review of The Glass Menagerie
Summary: 4 Stars
The Glass Menagerie is a gripping tale of three family members trying to make it through life. Amanda, the mother of the family, is a caring mother that, in her days of youth, had men adoring her much of the time. However, much to Amanda's dismay, her daughter Laura is not so great with the guys. She has a disease, called pleurosis, that leaves her in leg braces. Her brother Tom is an aspiring poet, but works in a shoe warehouse to support his mother and sister. He doesn't like his job and hates that he has to support everyone.I think that The Glass Menagerie was a wonderful book which took you in and let you get to know the characters. You feel like you are very close to them. Laura is an intersting character that I felt for. It is sad that she is stuck in leg braces. Also when Tom's friend Jim joins the family for dinner, she at first is very shy. Then she talks to him and enjoys his warm comfort. She ends up dancing with him and he actually kisses her. At this point in the story you feel a connection between the two. I felt very happy for Laura that she could finally get over her shyness and get to really know someone. He even tells her a nickname he thought up for her in highschool, "Blue Rose". I felt like Laura finally found the person for her. While they are dancing Jim accidentally knocks over a glass unicorn that was Laura's favorite. She is forgiving and explains that now the unicorn is a normal horse. This symbolizes that Laura was different from other girls because of her disease, but Jim made her feel like "a normal horse". This means she felt like a normal girl and that made her feel great. They finally kiss and Jim apologizes. He goes on to explain that he is in a serious relationship and he can't be doing this. Laura's heart is broken, but she gives him the broken glass unicorn as a souvenir. Jim then tells the family that he has to leave because he is meeting his fiancée. When Jim leaves Amanda is very upset with Tom for bringing Jim over when he was engaged. Tom explains that he didn't know that. Then, Amanda goes to Laura and comforts her. At this point in the story your heart goes out to Laura. She finally met someone she liked being with and could talk to and have fun with, and he has a fiancée. The story ends with Tom talking about how he can never forget what he did to Laura, and no matter where he goes he is always reminded of the incident. At this point in the story, at the end, I did not feel content with the way it ended. I was left longing for Laura to find a man for her and wondering what would happen to Tom. I guess I'll never know.