The Glass Menagerie Study Guide Questions Pg. 1773-1774 Sean Hanjra
The Glass Menagerie
Questions:
1. What does the setting described in the opening stage direction tell you about the
Wingfields? Consider especially the adjectives and symbolism of the alley and the
fire escape
2. Who is the “fifth character” in the play, and how is his presence established? In
what ways is Tom a parallel to this character?
3. What does Amanda reveal about her past in scene 1? How does Williams reveal
that Amanda often dwells in the past?
4. What happened to Laura at Rubicam’s Business College? How can you account
for her behavior? What plan of Amanda’s did she upset?
5. What new plan for Laura’s future does Amanda begin to develop in scene 2? Why
is the plan impracticable? Why is the image of Jim introduced here?
6. Summarize the argument between Tom and Amanda in scene 3? What does
Amanda assert about Tom? What does he claim about his life? Why is Laura
spotlighted throughout the argument?
7. What sort of agreement does Amanda try to reach with Tom about Laura in scene
4?
8. How do Amanda and Laura react to the news of the gentleman caller? Describe
Laura’s feelings toward Jim during the conversation and the dancing in scene 7?
Describe how he changes after the kiss.
9. Explain the symbolism of the unicorn (both whole and broken). Why does Laura
give it to Jim as a souvenir?
10. What is Tom’s situation at the end? To what degree has he achieved his dreams of
escape and adventure?
11. Describe Amanda’s and Laura’s concluding situations. Why does Laura blow out
the candles? What is the future for these women?
General Questions:
1. Explain the most striking nonrealistic aspects of the play. What do these contribute to the
play’s meaning and impact? Which aspect is the most effective? Why?
2. Which character in the play changed significantly? To what extent do the characters
succeed or fail? How do they try to escape the realities they face?
3. Consider Tom as character and narrator. Explain why his language changes as he shifts
between narrator and character. What does the character dream about and strive for?
What does the narrator learn about these dreams and strivings?
4. Explain why Laura cannot deal with reality. What does her glass menagerie symbolizes?
5. Williams says that there is much to admire, pity, and laugh at in Amanda. What aspects
of her character are admirable? Pitiable? Laughable? Which reaction is dominant for you
at the close of the play? Why?
6. Tom calls Jim the play’s “most realistic character.” In what ways is Jim realistic? How
are his
dreams and goals more (or less) realistic than Tom’s?
7. At the opening, Tom (as narrator) mentions the “social background,” and he remarks on
it throughout. Discuss how this background relates to the play, especially the events
occurring in Europe.
Discuss the play’s religious allusions and imagery, especially Malvolio the Magician, the “Ave
Maria,” the “Annunciations,” the Paradise Dance Hall, and Laura’s candles. How do these
references affect the play’s level of reality?
1. The setting of the play gives you the impression that the Wingfields are of the lower
or middle class in society. The fire escape is described as “a structure whose name is
a touch of accidental poetic truth, for all of these huge buildings are always burning
with the slow implacable fires of human desperation”. This is apparent in the play
because Tom is continuously looking for adventure and escape with his constant
visits to the movies every single night. The apartment they live in seems to be isolated
from the convoluted frameworks (“lattices”) of neighboring fire escapes. The fire
escape is symbolic of a connection between reality and fantasy.
2. The fifth character in the play is Amanda’s husband and her children’s father. His
presence is continuously domineering over the whole family (especially Amanda).
His portrait is displayed within the living room and is consistently alluded to through
the play. Tom is parallel to his father because he leaves the house as much as he can
to watch movies. He also wears a uniform similar to his father during soliloquies.
3. In the first act, Amanda reveals that she was very popular in her youth. She retells her
story of the “17 gentleman callers” to her children over and over again as they
patiently listen. These recollections allow us to see that Amanda is trying her best to
relive her past in order to compensate for the failures of her future. Her husband is
classified as a “less-than ideal man” (Domina). This causes us to wonder why she
chose him over all the other suitors she could have chosen. Another scene where
Amanda is clearly dwelling in her past is when Jim comes to their house. Amanda
dresses up as if Jim is calling for her as opposed to for her daughter. “Amanda’s
girlhood merges with her middle age” (Domina).
4. She got indigestion and before her first speed test in typing, she threw up. Instead of
attending the business school, Laura had gone to the art museum, bird houses, and
most recently she had been spending afternoons at the Jewel Box (a glass house
where tropical flowers were raised). Her behavior is understandable because if left to
her own devices, Laura is a very shy girl and would prefer to stay at home and enjoy
the comforts of her glass collection and her records. Her mother seems to have
unrealistic expectations of her however. Her mother wants/wanted to see her get a
career and a husband, but Amanda doesn’t really understand her children.
5. Amanda tries to live her own life through her daughter by trying to find/court a
respectable husband for her daughter. She wants someone who will not drink and
someone who can earn his own way. This is impracticable due to Laura’s own
shyness. In essence, she wants someone who will not travel away like her husband
did. Amanda may have Laura’s best interests at heart, but she is far too controlling
and demanding of her daughter that she cannot see the true desires of Laura. Jim’s
image foreshadows the events that occur in the 7th scene, where we learn of his “jolly
disposition” alluded to in the present scene.
6. Tom is angry at his mother when she confiscates his books. Amanda calls Tom
selfish. This angers Tom because he states that if he was truly selfish, he’d have
chased his dreams rather than provide for his family. Laura would be greatly affected
if Tom left. Tom feels trapped by his situation with his family. His love for his sister
is greatly expressed during the play, but his slight scorn for his mother is also present.
7. Amanda and Tom reach the agreement that Tom will find his sister a gentleman
caller. This is significant because it proves that Amanda is trying to live her young
life once again through her daughter’s eyes. She states that she knows how Tom seeks
adventure and she will let him once his sister is provided for. She doesn’t want Laura
to spend her life listening to phonographs and maintaining her glass menagerie.
8. Amanda is excited that Tom found a gentleman caller and anxiously prepares for his
arrival. Laura on the other hand is extremely nervous because she makes the
connection that it could be the same Jim who she had a crush on in high school. As
the their conversation begins, Laura remains shy, but she eventually opens up a little
more as they begin to discuss high school and how Laura remembers Jim from choir.
They talk Jim says he wishes Laura was his sister so that he could allow her to gain
more confidence in herself. It is Laura’s self consciousness of her brace and the
clumping noise which retained her shy demeanor. Upon the completion of their kiss,
Jim immediately regrets his actions. This is because Jim is engaged and even though
he gave Laura a dream for a fleeting moment, it was taken away from her almost
instantly. This relates to the theme of the entire play which revolves around dreams
and hardly harbors on realities.
9. The unicorn represents Laura. She is described as fragile and unique, exactly like the
unicorn. The stage directions in the play lead us to believe this. When the unicorn is
shattered it represents Laura lowering her guard, but it also represents the shattering
of her dream. The unicorn is now homogeneous when compared to the remainder of
her menagerie because Jim has broken Laura’s heart. A unicorn is an example of a
creature of fantasy, whereas a horse is far more realistic. This results in a break in the
play from fantasy to reality.
10. Tom’s situation at the end is similar to that of his father. Tom has become a traveler.
To some extent he has achieved his escape, but he is just as unhappy as he was when
he was at the apartment with his family. His love for his sister is what attaches him to
his home. So while his body is away from his home, his heart remains behind. His
adventure has essentially concluded before it even began.
11. The candles symbolize the remaining light in the house. By removing the remaining
light, it symbolizes the departure of their fantasy world as reality finally hits all the
characters involved. The dark atmosphere that remains is symbolic of the hopeless
situation that Tom left his family in. Because Tom was the breadwinner of the
Wingfield home, Amanda and Laura will struggle because of his “selfish dreams”.
Tom will be forever haunted by his love for Laura.
General Questions
1. The idea of a “memory play”, the coincidence that Tom would be best friends
with Laura’s crush from high school, Amanda’s ridiculous expectations of her
children, and Tom simply leaving his family to seek adventure is all very
unrealistic. Amanda’s expectations are very impactful to the play’s meaning as it
shows us how realism is not at the forefront of our attentions. Amanda
consistently criticizes her son. Perhaps the reason behind this is that she sees
parallel behaviors between Tom and his father and fears Tom’s eventual leave of
his family. Amanda cannot bear to have no one to provide for the family. The
memory play idea distorts all of the events within the play because memories can
never be truly trusted all of the time. A memory can be altered or distorted
dependent upon the event’s occurrence and the person recollecting the event. It
adds to our perceptions of the fantasy growing slowly into a more realistic idea.
2. Laura is the character who changes most in the entire play. She begins a shy
young girl and eventually she becomes more confident in herself as she speaks to
Jim. She fails however when she lets her guard down and all of her
accomplishment is taken down with the realization that reality is at the forefront
of her issues. She tries to escape this reality at the end of the play by blowing out
the candles which symbolizes the hopelessness of her situation.
3. The recollections of the narrator are what influence our views of Tom “the
character”. Tom is trying to escape from his mother’s nagging and her berating of
his character. Amanda treats Tom like a child when he is a fully grown adult. The
character strives for freedom and he physically achieves this upon completion of
the play. The narrator learns however that it was never worth it in the end. He is
unhappier without his family and lacks a sense of purpose as well as a loss of his
dignity.
4. Her withdrawal from society is correlated with her disability, her shy behavior,
and her oversensitivity. The aspects of Laura’s character cause her to be reclusive
from society. The glass menagerie represents her world of illusions and fantasy.
By tending to her menagerie she remains in her isolated world and avoids all of
the problems of society. She rebels against her mother’s ideals and wishes.
5. We can admire Amanda based on the way she loves her daughter Laura. She
wants both of her children to succeed and cannot bear the potential failure of
either of them. This quality is admirable in any mother. We pity Amanda because
of the loss of her husband. His departure has caused her to raise her children alone
and as a result she may be harsher than she means to. The laughable quality of
Amanda is her cling to the past. This is fully apparent as she tries to gather a
“gentleman caller” for her daughter and her dress up for his arrival. The most
apparent quality of Amanda at the play’s conclusion is pity. We pity her because
she has lost her son in perhaps a similar way to her husband. The parallels
between the shadow of the father and the son are unmistakable. They both seek
escape and adventure. In the end they both achieve their desires at the cost of their
family.
6. Jim is the play’s most realistic character because he is the only person who has
goals and ideals relating to the future of his life. The other characters appear to
stagnate. His goals are more realistic than Toms because Jim is content with his
life the way it is, but Tom will never be happy as he continuously tries to find
adventure and excitement.
7. The social background relates to the play because there is revolution surrounding
the whole world, but the Wingfields are completely oblivious to this fact.
8. Malvolio symbolizes Tom’s inevitable escape from his current situation. The
Annunciation is the revelation that Mary would bore a child as the son of god.
The Paradise Dance Hall relates to dancing under an illusion