Level: Master 1 ( COMPARATIVE LITERATURE)

Module : American Drama

Teacher: Dr. NAIMI

The GLASS
MENAGERIE
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
BACKGROUND

 Tennessee Williams born

Thomas Lanier Williams in 1911,
Mississippi.
 His mother, Edwina Dakin, was
daughter of a minister. His father
Was a “violent and aggressive
Traveling salesman” (Gussow).
 He was very close to his sister Rose
who suffered from mental
illness and was forced to have a
lobotomy, which altered her
personality
He wrote to escape from
his mundane existence as a
clerk with a shoe company.
There are autobiographical
parallels in the play The
Glass Menagerie
CHARACTERS
Laura Wingfield - She is the crippled and
very shy daughter of Amanda who nags Laura about finding
a husband.
 Tom Wingfield

 The narrator and actor

 As Laura’s brother, he is
also pressed by his mother
to find his sister a
gentleman caller and to
keep the job at the shoe
factory to support the
family.
 Amanda Wingfield

 She is the mother of Tom and

Laura and often digresses back
to memories of her former days
on the southern plantation farm
and her night with 17 gentleman
callers.
Jim O’Conner -

 He is a friend of Tom
from the factory who
Tom invites to dinner
and Amanda treats as
Laura’s first
gentleman
 MINOR CHARACTERS
 Mr. Wingfield - He is Amanda’s husband who
deserted the family about 16 years ago and is only seen in
the play as a large photograph hung on the wall, but he is
often referred to.
 SETTING
 1930 St Louis (Great Depression)

 The Wingfield apartment- This takes up most of the stage

and the different room are separated by curtains.  There is
the living and the kitchen.

 The fire escape - This is on the side of the stage and is

what the characters use to get into and out of the
apartment.
 Main themes

 Escapism/Imprisonment

 Dreams and reality

 Responsibility / duty

 Family dynamics

 Abandonment