Summary Of The Glass Menagerie

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This play's plot talks about the Wingfield family and their struggle to live a good and normal life after they are abandoned by Mr. Wingfield, Amanda's husband and Laura and Tom's father. Tom, the son, financially supports his mother and "crippled" sister. The mother, Amanda, is always concerned about the fact that her daughter Laura does not have any gentlemen callers and sits around the house all day doing nothing except looking out for her glass menagerie. Therefore, she enrolls her in business school but soon find out that Laura has been lying about attending after she embarrasses herself in front of the others. Consequently, Amanda decides that Laura needs to get married to live a happy life and makes it her goal to find a gentleman caller …show more content…

Amanda and Laura never get what they want or expect and Tom ends up leaving his family like his father did and feels remorse and guilt for leaving Laura behind. There is a lot of imagery and metaphors in the play. The title of the play "the glass menagerie" is also Laura's glass figurine collection and is a symbol of her fragility since they break easily. Another imagery is the movies. Tom goes to the movies everytime things get tense at home as a means of escape. He also uses alcohol to escape and Amanda hates it because she associates it with her husband and the fact that he left them, which Tom eventually does, so the alcohol is a symbol for …show more content…

It is desrcibed as "the saddest" to emphasize the fact that what they want is unreachable. It is related to the fragility of glass which is linked to Laura's image in the play.
Spectacle and Conventions:
What I have noticed in this play is the fact that it is divided into seven scenes and isn't divided into Acts. It "employs unconventional techniques" and aims at "a closer approach to truth" and tries to show "a more penetrating and vivid expression of things as they are". The way the characters speak is "exactly as its audience speaks" and this brings audience and chracters closer and makes it easier for the audience to relate and empathize with each character and their struggles.
In my opinion, all these elements are equally important to this play because each one has a different function that brings the play together in a smooth manner that is easy for the audience to relate to and understand. They are all like different pieces of a puzzle and complete the play in a way the other

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