The Glass Menagerie Research Paper

Chandler Henkelman

Mrs.Ditton

CC Senior english

26 February 2018

The Glass Menagerie Evaluation Abandonment and grief has filled many families lives throughout the years. Abandonment has filled many families in the world with a hole in their life, in change these feelings are turned into writings in literature. Tennessee Williams is a prime example of a successful playwright who did not have a solid family bond. Williams’ parents did not have a solid relationship that lead him to write The Glass Menagerie, which followed the mother Amanda, the daughter Laura, and the son Tom. The storyline was based in St. Louis Missouri, 1937 right before World War 2 in 1939. Williams made the character Amanda resemble his mother in such a way describing

The film does the play a great service by showing how the family goes through the rollercoaster of a time they share with each other. Harvey’s filming of The Glass Menagerie adequately identifies symbols throughout the film that hint towards the missing part in the family.

Throughout the play Tennessee Williams uses the dialogue to highlight the theme of abandonment is filled throughout the family. The play explains how the three main characters (Amanda, Laura, Tom), all try to escape reality with their certain ways. Amanda use the picture of her husband as her escape from reality when she knows she is struggling to provide for her family. Amanda wants to make her children's life as best as she possibly can before she can no longer help them anymore. At one point in the play Amanda states, “ So what are we going to do with the rest of our lives? Stay home and watch the parades go by”(757)? Amanda is wanting her children to be successful in life and have a solid marriage so they do not have to go through struggles alone like she had to. When Amanda went to Laura’s college classes and noticed she had been skipping, Amanda was heartbroken knowing her daughter was not getting a better education for a job

It all started when they first showed Tom in an alley with dark lighting smoking a cigarette with light music in the background. This scene truly starts off the mysterious and dreamy theme throughout the movie and play. This play also gives of the sense of abandonment throughout the play as Amanda and Laura end up losing everyone in their family besides them two theirselves. Tom also senses some loneliness when he leaves the family and is on his one. Throughout the film Amanda yells for Tom but gets lost in her escape from reality by staring at the picture of her husband, which hints back to her loneliness. This scene is a huge factor of how Anthony Harvey wanted to start off the tone for the film. When the audience sees Amanda looking at the picture it starts to give off the drama like feeling to the play. The first look of the picture of the father immediately tells the audience he did something major to affect the family. Another way Harvey alleuds to the escape from reality is when he cuts back to Tom in the dark alley smoking and speaking to himself. When the audience sees that Tom is in the alley alone it directs the minds of the viewers to the feeling of