Choose THREE of the following essay questions and answer in complete sentences. Be
sure to provide examples from the play to support your ideas.
1. Discuss the way Williams uses the following motifs in the play as symbols. What
does each one represent? How do they relate to the play’s theme?
a. The movies
b. The fire escape
c. The unicorn
2. One critic has said that The Glass Menagerie shows a series of contrasts between
(a) the dreamer and the doer, (b) the past and the present, (c) fantasy and reality,
(d) psychological and physical handicaps, and (e) the desire for escape and the
awareness of responsibilities. Choose one of these contrasts, and trace the way it
is developed in the play.
3. The ending of The Glass Menagerie is somewhat unsatisfying in that it does not
resolve the characters’ situations or psychological limitations. It appears that there
has been little or no emotional or intellectual growth for any of the characters, and
their life circumstances have not improved at all. Write a response in which you
study the conclusion of the play and remark upon the significance of this seeming
lack of a resolution. Indicate what lesson you think the reader is to take away
from a play that lacks a satisfying conclusion.
4. How is the glass menagerie a metaphor for each of the four characters (Tom,
Amanda, Laura, and Jim) in the play? Discuss with examples.
5. In Williams' character descriptions, Jim is described only as "a nice, ordinary
young man" while the Wingfields each get much more substantial treatment.
Why?