KEY THEMES AND

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CONCEPTS

MEMORY NOSTALGIA

GENDER ROLES

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THE DIFFICULTY OF
ACCEPTING REALITY
SYMBOLS
THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF
TRUE ESCAPE Glass Menagerie : Laura 's fragility
'

otherworldliness , tragic beauty

ABANDONMENT
•
Fire escape :
literary / figurative release
ILLUSIONS 4 DREAMS from TOM 's confines
•
Glass Unicorn :
how Tom envisions Laura
RESPONSIBILITY TO
When Tim breaks the unicorn , it
FAMILY , glass
becomes a normal horse , shattering
FREEDOM { CONFINEMENT signals the
impossibility for Jim 4
Laura to be together
KEY TECHNIQUES
•
Blue Roses :
mispronunciation of pleurosis
SYMBOLISM ALLEGORY
,
turns Laura 's defect into an asset ,

IMAGERY NARRATOR POV .

qualities are special rather than
( FIRST PERSON )
MELANCHOLY, debilitating
•
Movies : Tom's temporary escape , just as
REFLECTIVE TONE
the audience escapes reality by watching a

GRANDIOSE , PRETENTIOUS Play , Tom escapes his reality by watching a

theatrical spectacle
WRITING STYLE

META FICTIONAL
-

HOW T.tv 'S LIFE REFLECTS G. M .

'
T.nl . Real Name : Thomas or Tom

•
Tennessee : comes from father 's home state
•
mother = southern belie , father =
travelling salesman
•
Close w/ sister Rose = delicate 4 mentally ill

Father pulled T.tv Out of college h put him to work in

•
.

shoe factory
•
Rose collected bits of brightly colored broken glass
, schizophrenic
•

Age 24 : T.nl suffered a nervous breakdown and left

his job

SUMMARY
In this memory play , narrator TOM Wingfield who

is also a character in this play , tells the story from

his memories Set in St. Louis in 1937 Tom works a
.
,

tiresome job in a shoe warehouse in order to

support his mother , Amanda , and his crippled

sister , Laura .