The Glass Menagerie is a play by Tennessee Williams. It premiered in Chicago in 1944, and in 1945 won the prestigious New York Drama Critics Circle Award. The Glass Menagerie was Williams’ first successful play, and he went on to become one of America’s most highly regarded playwrights.
The Glass Menagerie was published as a book by publishers Chelsea House. It is set in 1930s St. Louis, USA, and is the consummate dramatic pleaser. In the Wingfield apartment in St. Louis, the mother (Amanda) lives with her crippled daughter (Laura) and son (Tom). The action is drawn primarily from the memories of Tom, the narrator, an aspiring poet who toils in a shoe warehouse to support his mother and sister since their father ran off, years ago, and has not returned.
Amanda, once a sprightly Southern belle from a well-to-do family, regularly bombards her children with tales of her idyllic youth and the scores of suitors who once pursued her. She is disappointed that Laura, who wears a brace on her leg and is painfully shy, does not attract any gentleman callers. She enrolls Laura in a business college, hoping that she will make her own and, consequently, the family’s fortune through a business career.
Weeks later however, Amanda discovers that Laura’s debilitating shyness has led her to secretly drop out of the class and spend her days wandering the city alone. Amanda then decides that Laura’s last hope must lie in marriage and begins pressuring Tom to invite someone over for his sister.
The Glass Menagerie unfolds with ease, and Williams crafts the characters expertly, which is no surprise since he’s the mastermind behind such classics as “Sweet Bird of Youth” and “A Streetcar Named Desire”. It undoubtedly succeeds in telling a surreal tale of an all-American family and their diverse struggles with fantasy and reality, leading to a devastating conclusion.
By Tyrone R., Miami, FL.
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