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 enlarge | Author: Tennessee Williams
Creator: Robert Bray
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Category: Book
List Price: $10.95
Buy Used: $2.00
You Save: $8.95 (82%)
New (59) Used (166) Collectible (5) from $2.00
Rating:  127 reviews
Sales Rank: 3982
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 105
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.3
ISBN: 0811214044
Dewey Decimal Number: 812.54
EAN: 9780811214049
ASIN: 0811214044
Publication Date: June 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: May have marks or highlighting
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| Customer Reviews:
 Glass Menagerie June 12, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
When I first bought the book, the name sounded really interesting, but I didn't understand what "menagerie." After I flipped a few pages, I notice
how dysfunctional, yet almost normal, family the book portrayed. In a way, many people can relate the situation with their personal life.
During the 1940's and after the World War II, many people were in desperation trying to find jobs and create a better life. However, as a result of this mindset, some did not succeed and ended up living in a life of disaster. Such calamity resulted in not only financial misfortune, but also social and mental failure. Everyone seemed to scramble to quickly find a great life, but little did they know, the truth of the reality was that not everyone could succeed at the same time. As a result, many hoped for too much, plunging in a world of delusion. Avoiding reality, several other were just assuming fortunes would find them, creating self-fulfilling prophecies.
In Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams wants to depict exactly that tragedy resulted from constant escapades to fantasy by employing Amanda as the typical woman who just lost her grip on reality. Amanda has lost control ever since her husband had left her, destroying the family. Unable to cope with that reality, she just drifted onto another world. She refused to believe that fact and tried to impose her ideals onto her daughter, Laura. Amanda has always boasted that she was the most popular girl attracting all the find young men. She lived a life of glamour, while everyone stared enviously at her success. However, success took a u-turn and even a crash into the wilderness of failure. Amanda was distraught, devastated by the fact that her husband had left her and her family was filled with shame and quirk. Unable to get a grip of reality, she loses her control and drifts into a fantasy, where everything seems to work out perfectly. She puts too much emphasis on being popular and attracting all the rich suitors. She superimposes all her ideals onto her daughter, Laura, so she could be just like her mother. Unintentionally, she forces her daughter to achieve exactly what she has. Despite Amanda's genuine push, she actually forces Laura off the edge, but she changes and matures into a woman, more open to the world around her. Although Laura grown to be less inclusive and more open to the world, the family has broken apart as a result of Tom's escape. Ultimately, as a result of Amanda's fantasy world, the family has been torn apart into bits and pieces, revealing the notion that the escape to fantasy would only ruin one's life.
Tennessee Williams argues that fantasy is only a false depiction of the world in its most rudimentary image, which causes one to lose control of the complications of reality, inevitably resulting in a disaster.
 hits all the right notes June 12, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
3 things make this play stand out as truly spectacular: 1. the stellar plot, 2. the engaging and interesting characters, 3. it's ability to move the reader with its sadness and despair without asking for it. this play is truly a mus read for anyone who loves American literature.
In the story, Tom is a young man given the burden of caring for his mother and sister, Laura. Working at a dead-end job in a warehouse, Tom longs for the day he can be like his father and desert the family, to go on the quest for his own dreams and ambitions. he often writes literature during work and attends the movies every night as a way to escape from his otherwise monotomous life. Tom refuses to accept reality for what it is, and instead dwells in his own wishes, having no regard for his family. Laura, a shy girl who is crippled at the leg, does not interact with anyone outside of her family.
now, i must resist the temptation to say anymore, because i do not want to give away the ending, thus keeping any of you from reading this spectacular play. Set during the Great Depression, Williams oes an excellent job of placing the plot in historical context, because it was a time during which people were depressed and wanted to get out of "the hole", such as Tom. There are many symbols to be found throughout this play, such as the glass menagerie and the unicorn, which makes the play that much more engaging and interesting to read, as you try to decipher them. Williams' tone and style are also very appropriate with each changing character, giving the reader a better view of the characters. All while Williams achieves his rhetorical brilliance in the play, there is an underlying message of the dangers of dwelling in memory and fantasy rather than accept reality and deal with the present. I must recommend this book to anyone who is literate.
A sad story that preaches family unity and self sacrifice June 12, 2007
This story is a must read! Despite the boring title, it's a true eye opener that questions your ethics and provokes you to contemplate on the troubles of society. Throughout the book, the characters struggle to come to terms of their reality.
One of the main characters is Laura, who is handicapped and is constantly nervous about what society thinks about her and her condition. Her poor understanding of who she is as a person and the exaggerated difference believes she has between others prevents her from ever being fully comfortable around others and even herself .Although Laura believes that society has shunned her from the acceptance that she deserves, Laura has actually shunned herself from the possibility of retaining friendships because of the paranoid thoughts in her own mind. Amanda and the pressure she places on Tom is also a large issue in the play which ultimately leads to Tom's tragic abandonment of the family at the end of the story. Because of her dependency on Tom's paycheck, she placed a huge burden on Tom who soon comes to the conclusion that if he would ever want to achieve his dreams, he would have to completely abandon his family. So, read the book and watch the predicaments unravel in the Wingfield family from Amanda's refusal to accept reality of Tom's dreams , Tom's desperate plea to be free from his obligations as breadwinner of the family, and Laura's personal struggle with being comfortable with her disability. Will Laura ever break out of her shell and lead the normal life she deserves? Read the book and contemplate on the effects of a judgmental society and the dangers of holding on to the past being ignorant of the present.
more than just readable material June 12, 2007
This book focuses on the individual struggles of the three main characters of the book, but I personally enjoy the story of Tom and Laura who have to cope with problems that many can relate to.
Tom is a young man who has great dreams. This is not hard to imagine because many of us or many of the people we know dream of pursuing great goals in life. This is how we are programmed, what we are taught. But as a young man with a father who has abandoned the family, he must decide between pursuing his dreams or staying home and supporting his mother and sister. Such an interesting situation made me want to sit down and read to see what choice he would make.
Laura is the typical shy girl. However, because she is so self conscious about her crippled legs, she has grown to isolated herself so much that her mother has to worry whether or not she will marry since she refuses to talk to even other women. Instead, she turns to a glass collection for friends and company. Pretty crazy. Now when his hermit of a lady suddenly is forced to meet and converse with a normal human being outside of the household, the conclusion is waiting for you to read and find out. It is not your typical type of ending but it is nonetheless something that was satisfying and compatible.
The play is filled with symbols, which is a real good plus because it make the book all the more interesting to read and dig through. You will notice things like the glass collection, the fire escape, and the unicorn all representing something more than what they are. These are what makes the play more than just a browse through a story--it is more like an adventure or a mystery waiting to be torn apart.
the power of memory June 12, 2007
This play enters a new realm of thinking and perception on Tom and the reader's part and examines the difficulty in telling a story purely from memory. When someone remembers something, they tend to alter its meaning to cater to their own intentions in their heart, such as Tom does, showing that memory alone cannot be trusted, ultimately altering the entire perception of the play to be tailored to Tom's specific desires.
Tom starts the play admitting that some events he will recount may not be told exactly as they have happened but rather as he remembers them, this proving to be somewhat devoid of reality. Since Tom is both the narrator and a character in the actual play, his intentions are not at first clear. The readers do not know whether or not he is telling this story out of pride for his actions, dismay for his family or to examine his past actions that have led up to a probable mistake. It is not known and this causes need for speculation. It is also not known whether or not any of these events have ever happened or if they are simply a figment of Tom's imagination. The entire play takes on a dreamlike state when the screen is used to display what will happen next or with the picture illustrations to aide in comprehension. These elements, combined with the habitual playing of the Glass Menagerie song make the play seem more a distant memory than an actual report of events now passed and gone. Tom also appears to be stuck between the past, present and future because his thoughts are constantly consumed in the past events of his life. He only rarely comes out of the past to his present state, almost as if he were afraid to do so--that his life were so unbearable that he would not be able to do so without causing much pain and suffering on himself. These are the conflicts that govern the mindset of all those listening to his story throughout all of the events that are shown.
With this sense of doubt and uncertainty eating away at the minds of the audience, the rest of the plot of the story cannot be fully comprehended as reality, altering the meaning of the intended story. When Tom recounts this story, he makes it seem as if all of his actions were provoked, almost as if he were trying to escape a sense of guilt he has bestowed upon himself. He makes his mother seem all powerful and controlling, possibly stretching reality in the process. When this is seen as his "memory" it can be understood why he would want to leave his family. His family does not give him anything in return for all his hard work and suffering that he is forced to spend the gray hours of the morning who knows where doing who knows what. The entire play is enveloped in a sense of mystery and self doubt when the facts presented are too closely pertaining to reality. In this sense, not even the truth can be seen. Nothing and no one can be trusted, which is in fact the likely intention of Williams' style of play.
Memory. So many vast possibilities to be explored where anything can be anything else and the truth is often disguised as a fantasy itself. Nothing is perceived as it should be. This is seen when Tom leaves his family at the end and finally reveals why he has told this story. He shows how hard it is for him to leave at the end of the play because he is so close to Laura, even though no emotional attachment is shown earlier in the play. This is when it is clearly revealed that he has not been honest about everything and maybe not about anything at all. He tries to hide his feelings of remorse for leaving his family deep within his memories, not knowing that nothing can stay hidden forever. As long as it is kept in the heart, it will come through no matter what.
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