Efforts, Failure and Grace
Scenes VI-VII
The Glass Menagerie
Outline
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Review of the Issues Covered
Starting Questions
Efforts Doomed
Amanda’s Efforts and Responses to Failure
Laura’s Fears and Responses
Tom and Jim:
◦ Jim’s Efforts and Failures
◦ Tom’s “Escape”
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Conclusion
Review
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Scenes 1-II: Memory, Dream and Family
Relations
◦ The Setting vs. Dreams (fire escape vs. porch),
◦ The narrator as a magician
◦ Amanda’s past vs. Laura’s.
◦ The first “fiasco”
 Scenes III-V: Escape, Pressure, and Efforts
◦ Tom’s escape from and conflicts with Amanda
◦ Laura’s efforts in keeping peace.
◦ Amanda’s efforts
Scenes VI and VII: Questions
Amanda's efforts:
 Describe what she has done--to the house, to herself
and to Laura. Does she do all for Laura? (1463-65)
 How does she behave in front of Jim? (1469-70) When
the electricity is cut? (1471-72) When knowing about
Jim's engagement with Betty? ()
 Why is she afraid of Jim at one moment? (1470)
Laura:
 Why is she so afraid of Jim at first?
 What does the unicorn glass figurine signify? How does
Laura look at "him"? And the breaking of its horn? Why
does Laura give it to Jim at the end?
Scenes VI and VII: Questions (2)
Jim:
Why is he called a "high school hero"? Is he still a hero?
 Is he successful in helping Laura overcome her
"inferiority complex"? Or in overcoming his own? What
drives Jim to kiss Laura?
 Is Jim right to say that democracy is built on Money,
Power and Knowledge?
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Tom:
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How is Jim a contrast to Tom? What does Tom reveal
to him? And him to Tom? Are they good friends?
Is he irresponsible?
Ending
1. Laura's and Amanda's responses: How
does Amanda, like Laura, maintain her
dignity when realizing the truth about Jim?
 2. What do you think about Amanda's
scolding of Tom? Is Amanda the one to
drive away Tom?
 3. Ending: Does Tom escape successfully?
What do you think about Tom's
concluding speech? What does "blowing
out" the candles mean?
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Efforts Doomed to Fail
Laura – cannot fit in this
society
 Tom – does not have
any friend in the
warehouse
 Amanda – limited
understanding
 Jim – not really a hero

Sound Development—Merry Music to
Doom
Music – “Ou sont les neiges” 'ALL THE WORLD IS
WAITING FOR THE SUNRISE !'
 Music to accompany the Annunciation
 When Tom says that Laura is “peculiar” [THE DANCEHALL MUSIC CHANGES TO A TANGO THAT HAS A
MINOR AND SOMEWHAT OMINOUS TONE.]
 When Laura knows Jim is the caller –[MUSIC
OMINOUS.] (1463)
 End of Scene 6 (Laura sick) A clap of thunder (1470)
 Laura’s walking – clumping like thunder for her
 When Amanda hears about Betty – “There is an
ominous cracking sound in the sky”  “The sky falls.”
(1482)
 Ending: nowadays the world is lit by lightning! Blow
out your candles, Laura.
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Amanda: Her Efforts
(1463-65)
 New pieces of furniture
 Gay deceiver for Laura (Laura as a “a
pretty trap”)
 (1464) Relives her past: She wears a
girlish frock of yellowed voile with a blue
silk sash. She carries a bunch of jonquils the legend of her youth is nearly revived.
Amanda’s Responses
In front of Jim – gay and humorous, she repeats
the past.
 When the power is cut (1471-72)—Still goodmannered, her problems revealed.
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Her joke – Moses “in the dark”
Her words on electricity: a mysterious thing
Lives in the 19th century
Gives Jim an old candelabrum used in a church
burned-down by lightening.
She is “frightened” (1470) over “thunder” and
Laura’s repeated “sickness.”
 Maintains her grace when hearing about Betty
(1483) –giving good wishes, and “bravely”
grimacing
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Laura: Her Fears
Amanda’s excessive preparation
 Her secret love of Jim O’Connor – her past
failure (1465) the moment: the climax of her
secret life (1472)
 Afraid of social contact, and lives with
“collectible” –
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◦ figurines; treating them as living things (more later)
◦ Victrola – 1) when Amanda finds out about her absences
from the business school—L “crosses to the
victrola ”(1446)
 2) When asked to open to door for Jim, “Darts to the
victrola and winds it franticallly and turns it on (1466)
 3) After knowing about Betty and giving Jim her unicorn,
“She rises unsteadily and crouches beside the victrola to
wind it up.” (1481)
Laura’s Responses --Sharing
Opens up to Jim – (1473- )
 Talks about his and her past (1474)
 In between Jim’s two speeches (on everybody’s
having problems and L’s inferiority complex),
her shyness is dissolved by Jim’s warmness –
who [smiles] at LAURA with “a warmth and
charm which lights her inwardly with altar
candles.” (1476)
 Uses
◦ The annual to establish connections with Jim.
◦ the glass figurines – to disguise her “tumult” (1476),
and then as her interest to share with Jim.
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Her wonder at Jim’s self-importance and
expectation of success(1478).
Laura’s Responses: Grace
Accepts the first accident gracefully (1479)
 Nervous but not carried away (1480)-
◦ abashed beyond speech; nearly faint with the novelty
of her emotions;
◦ Ask questions – “blue” roses; “pretty”?
◦ After the kiss – “bright, dazed look”; “she looks at it
[the unicorn] with a tender, bewildered expression.”
(--as if looking at herself)
◦ After the revelation—1. “She bites her lip which was
trembling and then bravely smiles.” (1481)
2. Gives the unicorn (without a horn) to him as a
“souvenir” –a symbol of good will, of her self
“normalized,” and, maybe, of self-distanciation.
Tom and Jim
Is Jim’s visit helpful?
Is Jim considerate or
self-centered?
 Is Tom selfish?
Does he have to
leave?
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Jim – Not Successful, But More Sociable
than Tom
Past: High school hero: always under the spotlight (1462)
Present: -- more sociable than Tom;
-- a man of action, interested in public speaking, radio
engineering and sports.
-- Believes in social poise; gains confidence with public
speaking skills. (1467)
-- practical, asks Tom to wake up.(1468)
-- Charming, sociable, and worldly:
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Thrown off the beam, and won over by Amanda’s charms (69)
Accepts candlelight (72)
classical music vs. hot swing music (67)
Believes in making fortune, science and progress ("The Century
of Progress“ exhibition held in Chicago, 1933-43 p. 1473)
◦ Believes in television (mass media), Money, knowledge and
power
Jim –His Efforts and Failures
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Believes he has social poise  chewing gum (1473, 1477)
and cigarette, mint, life saver (1480) as self-protection
Their conversation, started by Laura’s raising the
question about his singing in the past (73)
Speaks to Laura but actually about or to himself
◦ about “everybody’s” problems and disappointment ( his not
being discouraged) 1475-76
◦ About her inferiority complex  the others’ ordinariness (see
next page)
◦ [after breaking the unicorn] He tries to encourage Laura by
praising her and kissing her only to reveal his engagement.
(1481)
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lacking in inner substance or understanding of Laura’s
◦ Asks about the music (From the Paradise Dance Hall)  dance
a wrong move
Jim’s Self-Centeredness: attention
shifted to himself in his speeches
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2nd speech (1477) I understand it [inferiority
complex] because I had it, too.
Which of them has one-tenth of your good
points! Or mine ! Or anyone else's, as far as
that goes - Gosh !
Everybody excels in some one thing. Some in many !
[Unconsciously glances at himself in the mirror.]
All you've got to do is discover in what! Take me, for
instance.
[He adjusts his tie at the mirror.]
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Pumping himself up: “think of yourself as
superior” (77) Well, well, well, well Look how
big my shadow is when I stretch ! (1478)
[before the dance]
Jim – Kind but Impulsive, Honest but still
self-centered
3rd “speech” and the kiss (1480-1481) –Why? To
make up for his error, or to shows his genuine
concern?
 [His voice become soft and hesitant with a genuine
feeling]
 I wish that you were my sister. I'd teach you to
have some confidence in yourself.
 [gets carried away] Somebody needs to build your
confidence up and make you proud instead of shy
and turning away and - blushing - Somebody ought to - Ought to - kiss you, Laura!
 Cigarette  Stumble-john!
 [gets carried away] Well - right away from the start
it was - love !
(LEGEND: 'LOVE!‘)
LAURA sways slightly forward and grips the arm of
the sofa. He fails to notice, now enrapt in his own
comfortable being.]
Tom’s Escape –Planned, Bound to
Happen but Directionless at First
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Amanda’s accusation as the catalyst:You don't know
things anywhere ! You live in a dream; you manufacture
illusions! (1483)
“something boiling inside”; Like Jim and his father, he is
one on the move. (1468-69)
Tom’s final escape– (1484)
◦ Frustration and attraction: Images of the rail; dance-hall music;
◦ Futile actions: caught writing a poem on a shoe-box; being a
sailor?
◦ Directionless, unsettled; “in [his] father's footsteps, attempting
to find in motion what was lost in space” – traveling as escape,
cities sweeping about him “like dead leaves” (no genuine contact
or achievement)
◦ Haunted by the image of Laura
◦ Wishes for Laura to blow out the candle, so that Tom can move
onward without the guilty past. (and maybe Laura can move on,
too?)
Conclusion
Memory and Family
as Constraints?
Memory Haunting Tom?
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Haunted:The whole play is a memory play; with
legends showing the changes of Tom’s moods
and tones as he remembers the past:
◦ Even when he [gentleman caller] wasn't mentioned,
his presence hung in Mother's preoccupied look and
in my sister's frightened, apologetic manner - hung
like a sentence passed upon the Wingfields
Writing as distanciation – the ironies and
sympathy expressed; the final blowing out of the
candles.
 Broader understanding: Setting the context –
Depression and an industrial city
 The use of symbols (Tom has become a poet)
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Screen Device – Changes of Tone
(1463-64)
 Emphasis of the atmosphere (tension) -- 'THE
ACCENT OF A COMING FOOT' “Terror!’ ‘The
Opening of a Door’
 Ironic Emphasis -- A PRETTY TRAP (1464);
(LEGEND: 'LOVE!‘ at Jim’s speech 1481)
 sympathy –e.g. Laura in a pool of light
(1449)Laura turns away from THIS IS MY
SISTER: CELEBRATE HER WITH STRINGS!'
MUSIC. (1464); Souvenir (1471, 1480)
 Self-Irony: sailing vessel with Jolly Roger (1455);
When power is cut, and Amanda asks about the
notices--[LEGEND: 'HA!'] (1471)
Symbols
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The father’s portrait
Glass menagerie
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What else?

Of the world
 fire escape and dark
alleys
 Glossy magazine
 Movies, rainbow scarf,
coffin trick
 the Paradise Dance
Hall and the a large
glass sphere which
filter the dusk with
rainbow colors.
 Radio engineering and
TV
 Thunder and lightening
Characters all Constrained
By a Self-Image which they could not attain
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Amanda – as a girl (Southern belle)
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Laura – unicorn or blue roses
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Jim – Executive at Desk (1467)
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Tom – a poet
But
1. Laura and Amanda show genuine concern for each
other (e.g. scene 4: Amanda “So quiet but - still
water runs deep!” scene 7: ending )
2. Tom makes it, and he expresses infinite sympathy to
those struggling without success (presenting the
mother and sister as dignified 1484)
Extensions
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A psychoanalytic reading: (ref.
)
What Tennessee Williams tries to do.
http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elltankw/theatre/week3.htm
◦ Williams’ sister: suffers from schizophrenia and
later, paranoia. The parents allowed a prefrontal
lobotomy (前頭葉切離術) operated on her, which
left her incapacitated all her life.
A New Critical Study of its use of symbols,
tensions, and irony
 Stylistic study of the use of simile,
hyperbole, etc. (ref. A Tentative Study of Linguistic
Deviation in The Glass Menagerie )
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