Literature overview and key concepts

Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie," is a portrayal of the fragile psyches of its characters -- an arrangement of tiny, delicate glass figurines whose essence of life can be shattered very easily. This arrangement takes place in a cramped apartment in St. Louis, inhabited by Amanda Wingfield, her son Tom, and daughter Laura, the husband having deserted the family several years ago. Another character, perhaps the most stable, is Jim O'Connor, a former schoolmate of Tom and Laura.

The play is really a representation of Tom's memory as he admits at the beginning of the play; everything flows from his memories. Amanda vacillates between moments of manic activity and languid recollections of her past southern heritage. She boasts of all the gentlemen callers she has had, and the cotillions she graced. She continually questions her daughter about any dates she might have; and, "how many callers she will be seeing." Laura is a shy girl; whose shyness borders on the pathological. She also has a leg deformity that causes her to use a leg-cast. Laura's shyness gets in the way of her activities; she cannot take any courses or hold on to a job. Her brother Tom works at a warehouse; Tom is a dreamer who wants to join the Merchant Marines and travel the world; he also goes to movies every night. He also spends working hours writing poetry even at the risk of losing his job. Tom's every act is one of escape from the depression at home.

Amanda is concerned that her children do not have any direction in life; her pushiness causes friction with Tom, and Tom occasionally lashes back. Laura response is reticence; her only interest is a collection of delicate glass animal figurines. Tom, once enraged at his mother, causes some of these to break by flinging his coat across the room. Finally, on his mother's insistence, Tom invites his colleague Jim O'Connor to his house in the hope of getting him to date Laura. Amanda much ado at this news; the house is prepared for Jim's arrival. When he finally arrives, Jim recognizes Laura as from high school. Jim, talented in science, sports, singing and debating, won several awards in high school. Laura had a crush on Jim, but was too shy to approach him, the very reason why Jim hesitated to approach Laura -- who believed that her shyness was because of her leg (which could have been part of the problem). After high school, Jim did not quite realize his dreams. And though he worked at a job below his abilities, he had been taking coursework in electronic engineering and public speaking. Recognizing that television was a wave of the future, he wanted to make it big in media communication.

In the course of his visit and dinner, Jim succeeds in penetrating Laura's shyness barrier. He gradually draws her out even getting her to dance with him. Laura and Jim rekindle a glimmer of romance and they kiss. Eventually, later he confesses that he is engaged to a woman Betsy and would be soon married. Later, the lights go out -- a result of Tom not having paid the electricity bill -- using the money instead to pay his first foray into the Merchant Marines. As Jim is ready to leave, Laura gives him a glass unicorn -- with a broken horn. As Amanda turns to reproach Tom "for entertaining some other girl's fiance;" he leaves for the movies -- as his mother calls him a "selfish dreamer" to his back.