The Glass Menagerie
by Tennessee Williams
Study Guide part 1
Synopsis
Act 1
"Preparation for a Gentleman Caller"
Scene 1
“I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion”
The Narrator, Tom, appears in 1944. He tells us that this is a memory play, and
not realistic. Memory omits details and exaggerates them according to the value
of the memory. His memory takes place in St. Louis in 1937. Tom lives in a
small apartment with his mother, Amanda, and his sister, Laura. His father had
abandoned them years earlier, and Tom provides for the family. Amanda
constantly reminisces of of her many “Gentleman Callers” when she was a young
Southern belle. Laura is a frightened and terribly shy girl, who is also slightly
lame in one leg. She escapes the world by caring for her "glass menagerie"- a
collection of delicate little glass animals- and relentlessly playing old music on the
victrola. The Wingfield apartment faces an alley in a lower-middle-class St. Louis
building. There is a fire escape with a landing and a screen on which words or
images periodically appear. Tom explains the social and historical background of
the play: the time is the late 1930s, when the American working classes are still
reeling from the effects of the Great Depression. The civil war in Spain has just
led to a massacre of civilians at Guernica. Tom also describes his role in the play
as narrator and a character in it. He introduces the audience to his mother,
Amanda and his sister, Laura. He then tells the audience that one more
character will appear near the end- a gentleman caller. We learn from the
narrator that the gentleman-caller character is the most realistic because he is
from the world of reality and symbolizes the “expected something that we live
for.” One character, Tom’s father, does not appear on stage: he abandoned the
family years ago and has not been heard from since. However, a picture of him
hangs in the living room. The audience then sees a typical evening in the
Wingfield home. It is dinner time and Amanda is constantly criticizing Tom for
the way he eats. After dinner, Amanda begins talking, describing all her
gentleman-callers from the days when she was young. Laura tells her mother
that none of those “callers” are coming for her.
Scene 2
“So what are we going to do the rest of our lives?”
Laura is polishing her collection of glass figurines as Amanda walks up the steps
outside. When Laura hears Amanda, she pretends to practice her typing.
Amanda tells Laura that she stopped by Rubicam’s Business College, where
Laura is supposedly enrolled. A teacher there informed her that Laura has not
come to class since the first few days, when she suffered from terrible
nervousness and became physically ill. Laura admits that she has been skipping
class and explains that she has spent her days walking along the streets in
winter, going to the zoo, and occasionally watching movies. Amanda complains
to her daughter about her terror of what will happen to the two of them if Laura
remains untrained for work. Amanda decides Laura will have to marry. Laura
again tries to tell the truth to her mother and says it will never happen because
she is “crippled.” Amanda answers Laura by warning her never to call herself
that and, she insists, Laura will just have to be more charming.
Scene 3
“You think I'm in love with Continental Shoemakers?”
After the fiasco of the business college, the idea of a gentleman caller for Laura
becomes an obsession with Amanda. She takes on extra work in telephone
subscription sales in order to afford entertaining gentlemen callers. Tom longs to
be free, like his father, to abandon Amanda and Laura and set off into the world.
He has stayed because of his responsibility for them, but his mother's nagging
has made the apartment a depressing and oppressive place. Tom also hates his
job. He escapes into the world of the movies and alcohol. His nightly
disappearances anger Amanda and they have frequent fights. Tom and Amanda
quarrel after she has sent back his library books without telling him. She accuses
him of doing things he is ashamed of instead of going to the movies every night.
He tells her how he hates working in the warehouse, how he yearns to leave. In
his anger, Tom accidentally breaks some animals in the glass menagerie. He
stops, bends to the shelf of glass, collects the pieces but cannot speak.
Scene 4
“He got out of the coffin without removing one nail”
Tom appears drunk and loses his key in the middle of the night. Laura comes to
him and begs him to make up with their mother and talk to her. He tells her that
he has been at the movies for most of the night and also to a magic show. He
describes how the magician allowed himself to be nailed into a coffin and
escaped without removing a nail. Tom remarks wryly that the same trick could
come in handy for him but wonders how one could possibly get out of a coffin
without removing a single nail. Mr. Wingfield’s photograph lights up, presenting
an example of someone who has apparently performed such a feat. The lights
dim. The next morning at breakfast, Tom speaks to Amanda and apologizes.
Amanda declares her devotion to the children and starts giving him instructions
again on how to eat. She makes him promise not to become a drunkard, and
then asks him how he feels about his life in the apartment. Sensing that Tom
wants to leave, Amanda tries to make a deal with him. If Tom and Amanda can
find a husband for Laura- a man who can take care of her- then Tom will be free
of his responsibility to them. Amanda asks Tom to bring home gentlemen callers
from his work to meet Laura.
Scene 5
“All the world was waiting for bombardments”
Tom becomes the narrator once again, and talks about the Paradise Dance Hall
across the alley from them, and how couples were caught up in their private lives
while in Spain there was Guernica (Civil War) and in Europe “the world was
waiting” (on the brink of war). Tom then turns back to Amanda and tells her they
are, at last, going to have a gentleman caller. He explains that he has asked
someone from work to come over for dinner the very next night. Amanda asks
many questions of Tom concerning Jim- the gentleman caller. She wants to
make sure that Jim is the sort of man she could trust with her daughter. She
agonizes over the last minute preparations that she must make. Tom,
meanwhile, is worried about Laura being different and peculiar. Amanda brushes
that aside, and the scene ends with Amanda asking Laura to make a wish on the
moon -a wish for “happiness and good fortune.”
Act 2
"The Gentleman Calls"
Scene 6
“In High School Jim was a hero.”
Tom tells the audience the background of the gentleman caller. In high school,
Jim O’Connor was a star in everything he did and everyone was certain that he
would go far. Yet things did not turn out according to expectations. The lights
come up on a living room transformed by Amanda’s efforts over the past twentyfour hours. Amanda adjusts Laura’s new dress. Laura is nervous and
uncomfortable with all the fuss that is being made. When Laura is ready,
Amanda goes to dress herself and then makes a grand entrance wearing a dress
from her youth. Amanda mentions Jim’s name, and Laura realizes that the visitor
is the same young man on whom she had a crush in high school. She panics,
claiming that she will not be able to eat at the same table with him. When the
doorbell rings, Amanda calls for Laura to get it, but Laura desperately begs her
mother to open it instead. When Amanda refuses, Laura at last opens the door,
awkwardly greets Jim, and then leaves the room. Tom explains to Jim that she is
extremely shy. Tom confides to Jim that he has used the money for his family’s
electric bill to join the merchant marine and plans to leave his job and family in
search of adventure. Laura refuses to eat dinner with the others as she is feeling
ill. Amanda talks vivaciously with Jim throughout the meal.
Scene 7
“Glass breaks so easily.”
The lights go out in the apartment, and Amanda declares how lucky they are that
they have candles on the table. When Amanda realizes that Tom has not paid
the light bill, she maintains her southern charm and punishes him by making him
come with her into the kitchen and wash the dishes. Jim and Laura are left alone
in the living room. Jim puts the candles on the floor and asks Laura to sit on the
floor with him. He immediately tells Laura she is “an old-fashioned type of girl,”
and Laura suddenly asks him if he still sings. It is then that Jim realizes that he
recognizes Laura. They look at their high school yearbook together. Laura tells
Jim that her greatest interest is her collection of glass animals. He tells her that
he is going to go into television and make something of himself. She shows him
her unicorn. Jim places the glass unicorn on the table and asks Laura to dance
to the music coming from across the alley. She lets herself go, whirls around and
they knock the table, throwing the unicorn on the floor and breaking off its horn.
Jim feels terrible, but Laura tells him it is alright because now the animal is more
like the others and will feel more comfortable. Jim tells Laura how pretty she is
and kisses her. He confesses that he won’t be coming back again for another
visit because he is engaged to be married. His fiancée is out of town and that is
why he accepted the dinner invitation from Tom. Laura hands him the broken
unicorn and wants him to have it as a souvenir. When Amanda finds out Jim is
engaged, she blames Tom and fights with him.
Scene 8
“Time is the longest distance between two places”
Tom runs away, and as he turns to the audience we see Amanda comforting
Laura in a rare, loving moment in the background. Tom tells of how far and fast
he has kept moving, trying to leave Laura’s image behind. In his last words, he
asks Laura to blow out the light of her candles. She leans toward them and, in a
moment, the theatre is dark.