Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the story behind the play, "The Glass Menagerie". The focus is on explaining the symbols used in the play. Some of the symbols explained are the fire escape, the use of irony, the glass menagerie, the search for a man by both Laura and Amanda. The paper concludes by suggesting that the family in this play is dysfunctional and explains the reasons for this suggestion.

From the Paper:

"Amanda is obsessed with her past as she constantly reminds her children of "one Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain" when she received seventeen gentlemen callers (Williams 32). Amanda refuses to acknowledge that her daughter is handicapped and refers to her disability as "a little defect (that is) hardly noticeable" (Williams 45). Only for brief moments does Amanda ever admit that her daughter is "crippled" but then quickly reverts back into her state of denial. Amanda doesn't see anything in realistic terms. She believes that the gentleman caller, Jim, is going to be the one man who will rescue Laura, even though she has never seen or spoken to him at this point. Again, she is wrapped up in her own fantasies and delusions about men, who must act as saviors to all young women."

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