Glass Menagerie
Scene 3-5
Summary for Scene 1&2
Billy
Scene 1
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At a dining room
Amanda repeatedly tells Tom to chew
his food
Laura wanted to fetch something but
was stopped by her mother: “I want
you to stay fresh and pretty---for
gentlemen callers!”
Amanda recalled the memory : One
Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain.
Laura said she is not as popular as her
mother once was
Scene 2
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Laura is polishing her collection of glass
figurines
As Laura heard Amanda approaching,
she hides her ornaments and pretends
to be studying a diagram of a keyboard.
A teacher informed Amanda that Laura
has not come to class since the first
few days
Laura explained where she had been
Amanda ask if she has ever liked a boy
Scene 2
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Laura had a crush on a boy named Jim,
who had a wonderful voice
“Blue Roses”, how the boy called Laura
Laura told her mother: “I’m---crippled!”
Amanda told her daughter to develop
charm
Plot summary
Scene 3
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The image of a gentleman caller becomes a
obsession in the house.
The quarrel between Amanda and Tom.
Tom's rage about given no privacy by
Amanda.
The accident which destroyed Laura's
beloved glass menageries.
Eddie
Scene 4
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The symbolic meaning of Mr. Wingfield's
photograph.
Tom's reluctant reconciliation with Amanda
Another quarrel caused by the sentence
Tom said “Man is by instinct a lover, a
hunter, a fighter.”
Scene 5
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Tom announced to Amanda that he has
already found a gentleman caller for Laura.
Amanda's worry about Laura's future.
Tom holds a negative attitude about it and
tell Amanda not to expect too much.
Amanda's reaction to what Tom said.
Characters
Angus and Thomas
Tom Wingfield
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Who is he?
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What kind of man he is?
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What is the function of this character
in The Glass Menagerie?
Tom’s Double Role in the Play
As a character whose recollections the play
documents
 As a character who acts within those recollections
 Where can we sense memory’s emotional
distortion of truth?
 A narrator and also a character
 Address the audience directly &
 Demonstrates the real emotions
 Is he reliable?
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The Character Who Is Full of
Contradiction
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Care for his family
Indifferent and
even cruel toward them.
Rational
Sometimes emotional
Dreamer
Breadwinner
Dreams of higher things
Stuck in
reality, the lower class, lower job and
endless household
The Man Who Intensifies the
Relation Between Wingfields
A character also a narrator
→ points out the tension between truth and
memory's distortion of truth
→ Intensifies the relation between Wingfields
and clearly shows their personalities
→ Amanda’s nostalgia for her past and demands
for the family’s future
→ Laura’s social and physical handicaps
Conflicts & Characteristics of
Amanda and Laura
Who’s in charge of this?
Well, it’s…
Thomas!
Conflicts as the Key to Explore
Their Characteristics
Three Conflicts：
1. The conflict between Amanda and Tom.
(Scene 3)
2. Laura(shrilly). “My glass! -menagerie…”
(Scene 3)
3. The role of peacemaker between Amanda and Tom
(for the follow-up effect after the first conflict.
(Scene 4)
The Quarrel between Amanda
and Tom
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Cause:
Legend on Screen: “You Think I’m in Love with
Continental Shoemakers?” –the cause
 The great difference of their thoughts toward values and
life between Amanda and Tom.
→Tom is always thinking of superior things, quite
unsatisfied with the status quo, especially for his mother.
→Amanda affords him no privacy.
→She also arbitrarily returns his book, to which she calls a
kind of “filth”.
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The Emotional Quarrel
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Lack of Privacy
Amanda: What is the matter with you, you-big-big-IDIOT!
Tom: Look-I’ve got no thing, no single thing…
Tom: In my life here that I can call my OWN! Everything is-
‧Different thoughts
Tom laughs wildly when Amanda is speaking…
Amanda: …BUT I WON’T ALLOW SUCH FILTH BROUGHT INTO MY HOUSE!
No, No,no,no,no,no!
‧Tom’s Point
Tom: House, house! Who pays rent on it, who makes a slave of himself to(He means himself, the one who pays the rent)
The Emotional Quarrel
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Tom’s Attempt to Escape
Tom: No, I won’t hear more. I’m going out!
Amanda: You come right back inTom: Out, out ,out! Because I’m…
Laura (desperately): Tom!
‧Amanda’s Point
Amanda: I think you’ve been doing things that you’re ashamed of. That’s why you
act like this. I don’t believe that you go every night to the movies. … Oh, I can
picture the way you’re doing down there. Moping, doping, because you’re in
no condition.
Tom (wildly): No, I am in no condition!
→Amanda thinks Tom’s misbehavior is endangering his job and, hence, the
family’s security.
The Emotional Quarrel
‧Tom’s Rage
Tom: Listen! You think I’m crazy about the warehouse? (He bends fiercely toward her slight
figure.) You think I’m in love with the Continental Shoemakers? You think I want to
spend fifty-five years down there in that…
Every time you come in yelling that God damn “Rise and Shine!” “Rise and Shine!” I
say to myself “How lucky dead people are!” But I get up. I go!
...
For sixty-five dollars a month I give up all that I dream of doing and being ever! And
you say self-self’s all I ever think of. Why, listen, if self is what I thought of, Mother, I’d
be where he is-GONE! (pointing to father’s picture)
…
Tom says: You ugly-babbling old-witch…
→He passionately expresses his hatred for the factory, and seems to envy the dead
people for Amanda’s morning slogan’s sake.
→He also says how he has abandoned his dreams to work day after day for them. And
if he is exactly a selfish person as Amanda claims, he would have deserted them
long ago.
Overview of This Conflict
‧She desperately tries to seize his son, whom she considered as the
backbone of great importance to both the future and present, in the
family.
→Therefore she may unintentionally ignore her son’s feelings.
‧When Tom starts past her (for he wants to leave immediately), Amanda
grabs his arm.
→She fears to lose again- first her husband, now the son.
‧Amanda is willful in doing what she deems as righteous.
→She presumptuously returns his book by the insane (in her opinion) Mr.
Lawrence.
Have you noticed Laura’s existence in this conflict? There is only one line.
→Laura’s painful shyness and silence is completely shown.
“My glass! -menagerie…”
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…His arm catches in the sleeve of the coat as he struggles to pull it on. For a
moment he is pinioned by the bulky garment. With an outraged groan he tears
the coat off again, splitting the shoulders of it, and hurls it across the room. It
strikes against the shelf of Laura’s glass collection, there is a tinkle of shattering glass.
LAURA cries out as if wounded.
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LAURA (shrilly): My glass!-menagerie…(she covers her face and turns away)
(TOM is left with LAURA. LAURA clings weakly to the mantel with her face averted.
TOM stares at her stupidly for a moment. Then he crosses to shelf. Drops awkwardly to
his knees to collect the fallen glass, glancing at LAURA as if he would speak but
couldn’t.)
→A conflict between Tom and Laura.
Tom accidentally breaks her glass menagerie, and seems to
say something to Laura but couldn’t.
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Laura and the Glass Menagerie
The glass menagerie stands for a symbolic
meaning -Laura’s personality.
→Like these fragile, beloved glass animals, Laura is
also delicate, flighty.
→Laura’s first response to her broken treasure is
sorrow, not anger.
→Tom’s speechlessness toward Laura may suggest
his own self-contradiction, and Laura’s pathetic
personality.
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Laura the Peacemaker
In Scene 4, Tom returns home…
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The conflict among the three.
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Due to his indignant departure, Amanda says: “ I won’t speak to youuntil you apologize!”
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Laura plays an role as peacemaker between Amanda and Tom. In the
possible complete silence between them, Laura becomes dramatically
active (compared to the former scenes) in speaking, for she wants to
recover the atmosphere in her family.
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Amanda sends Laura out to buy groceries on credit. On the way down
the fire escape, Laura slips and falls but is not hurt.
→Both Amanda and Tom instantly show their care for her.
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But as soon as Tom apologizes, Laura’s play becomes again
unimportant.
→Why Laura becomes a successful peacemaker?
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Characteristics of
Amanda and Laura
Through analyzing the conflicts
Characteristic of Amanda
Through the quarrel between Amanda and Tom, we know that they
have quite different thoughts and values.
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Amanda’s Background and Change
Amanda, who has a quite traditional upbringing, is from a prominent
Southern family. But things have changed- everything she was once
taught to value is now with a wholly new aspect. She does indeed
suffer from this significant change, of economic and social status.
We can perceive that Amanda is still sticking to the old ways, about
genteel manner and values.
‧Amanda is seemingly quite demanding and dominant, yet we should not
forget her love and willingness to sacrifice for her children.
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Characteristic of Amanda
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Evidence:
Before the quarrel between Amanda and Tom, she is working on
subscription sales. What for? In fact, she is preparing for Laura’s
marriage without much complaint. Due to the sharp turn of her life,
which has alienated her from modern society, hardships are expected
in her engagements with people. But she still does the hard work,
with strange confidence.
‧Amanda’s Psychological Defects
Throughout the conflicts, we see that her perspective and values are
different from Tom’s.
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Affords no privacy
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Over-concerned with Tom’s future prospect.
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Over-concerned with Laura’s marriage, she is always arranging,
planning for it.
Characteristic of Laura
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Laura: crippled, wears a brace, walks with a limp.
Twenty-three years old and painfully shy. She is far away
from the reality outside the house.
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Throughout the conflicts…
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From the obvious fewest lines in this play, we know that
she is indeed “painfully shy”, almost selfless.
The broken glass menagerie represents her fragile world.
The existence of a mere pitiable figure of compassion, for
Amanda and Tom never demand anything of her; they
deem Laura as the innocent one.
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Characteristic of Laura
Laura, who is crippled both in mind and body, is almost
totally alienated from the outside world. But yet no one
ever blames Laura for her dependence, or her helplessness
to support the family.
→Her selflessness somehow brings a sense of guilt upon Tom
and Amanda, for their selfishness. That is, when Amanda
and Tom are in embarrassment, she becomes strangely
active to recover the family bond.
→In this play, she is the one who never hurts anyone. She
really cares for other- she cries for Tom’s unhappiness.
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Stage Direction
Joe Wang
The Stage
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Dim Lights
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Soft Music
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Projection of Images and Captions
Dim Lights
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Purpose: The scenes are memories
= Non-realistic
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Effect: Poetic
Soft Music
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Delicate / lovely / sad
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Purpose: to bring out the “fragility” of the
glass / Laura.
Projection of Images and Captions
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Purpose: To emphasize the important parts of
each scene.
Effect: Make strong impressions
Themes
Themes
Disappointment
 Escape
 Expectation
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disappointment (scene III)
Tom is disappointed with his life because
he feels trapped. He must work in the
warehouse to support his family (mother
and sister). In spite of his sacrificing his
own dreams, Amanda insists on he acts
selfish and jeopardizes their security by
going to the movies every night.
 His sacrifice is overshadowed by Amanda's
belief that he is selfish.
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disappointment (scene V)
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Although Amanda is optimistic at the
prospect of the gentlemen caller for Laura,
Tom reminds Amanda not to expect too
much from Laura because she is very
peculiar.
Escape
Tom goes to the movie as a way to
escape.(scene III)
 After seeing the magician escape from
a coffin w/o removing a nail made Tom
very impressed, and he believes that it
parallels with his situation at home. He
has to find a way escaping without
destroying the family like his father
did.
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Escape
Amanda demands an explanation of why
Tom spends so much time watching movies
in the night, and he tells her that it's because
he seeks adventure. The movies are his
escape from the mundane reality of his
warehouse job and his apartment
 Amanda mentions the letter Tom receives
from the Merchant Marines. To sail away
with the Merchant Marines seems to be the
most adventurous way to escape.
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Escape
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Tom calls to Amanda's attention that it is
not normal for a young girl to live wrapped
up in a world of glass ornaments without
real human interaction. The glass
menagerie is Laura's escape from the
harshness of reality. Her disability and lack
of confidence has led to shyness. Her
escape isolates her further from the society.
She dotes with the glass ornaments to avoid
interactions with others.
Expectation
Amanda tries to tell Tom about how much she
loved his father and how she never expected
him to abandon them and disappear for good.
She expects Tom to help her find a way to
establish a stable future for Laura. At the same
time, Tom tries to explain that he dreams of
more than just a warehouse worker.
 Amanda expects the gentleman caller would
instantly fall in love in Laura. Her expectations
of people and life is that everyone would bend
to her if she just presents in the right way.
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Symbols
Scene 3
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The beginning of the scene “Annunciation”
Williams’s reference to thee birth of savior
and fairy-tale
Scene 4
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Mr. Wingfield’s photograph
The landing on the fire escape
The use of “Blue Rose”
Scene 5
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The coffin trick
The rainbow-colored scarf