Fire place is a representation of burning desires—> a contrast with fire escape, a glimmer of escape which is not real.
Tennessee's sister was mentally ill he called her Blue Roses as well.
Tennessee's father also made him work at a shoe factory and was against his love for poetry.
Amanda is a rejected woman who can not accept her circumstances that why she talks about her many suitors so much. There is a tinge of regret as well.
Laura escapes reality with the glass, it takes her back to the happy past.
Legends help us understand the scene.—> When there are too many they cause a distraction.
Dark Humour—> literary device—> makes sentimentality mellow—> makes it more tragic—> makes it more life like.
'Where are the snows from yester-year'—> nostalgic tone—>yearning of rite past.
Sentimentality—> a good playwright tries to control too much emotion, over dramatic.
Images keep us involved.
DAR—> Daughters of the American Revolution—> an escape for Amanda. Earning for a normal life.
Amanda on the sofa is Laura's territory that she is invading.
Picture of the Father—> very dominant—> emphasises on denial of reality.
Lighting—> sad, dimmed atmosphere.
Apartment—> cramped foreshadowing difficult lives.
Sofa-bed—> Foreshadowing Laura's opening up—> earning to live.
Gentlemen callers—> represent delusion.
Amanda is compared to virgin Mary which we find ironic since she is selfish but in a way Williams is defending her as she is trying her best considering her circumstances and showing that her intentions are pure.
Laura's photo-book—> memory, earning of the past.
Laura's newspaper clipping of Jim's engagement: Presents how the characters are living a lie.
Movies, music, drugs, cigarettes—> Escape.
Imitation fur—> reveals Amanda's inferiority complex and earning to fit in to higher society.
Wingfield—> wings —> freedom.
Malvolio—> Shakespearian name—> connects to Tom's poetry —>literally means 'ill-will' in Italian which is a foreshadowing—> was invented by Shakespeare just like the characters' false realities.
Rainbow scarf—> reminiscent of rainbow light refracted from glass.
Coffin trick—> allusions—> resurrection—> the wish to escape without harming anything.
Social and historic front—> trick represents conditions of American Lower-Middle class families.
Religion has become a social force.
Tom is making his existence prominent by challenging the church bell.
Franco Triumphs—> a victory of defiance.
Rainbow—> leads to a pot of gold—> foreshadowing better day and also dreams. Temporary Earthly paradise.
Moon—> loneliness of Tom, Love for Laura, desires so far out of reach.
Sphinx is a mystery. Amanda's dreams are disproportional to reality.
Tom's love has not blinded him like Amanda's he sees Laura in a practical way but it can be said that he also underestimates her.
Important quotations:
All these buildings are always burning with the slow and impeccable fires of human desperation.
This scene is memory therefore not realistic.
Memory is seated predominantly in the heart.
' I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of an illusion' - Tom
'The play is memory...it is sentimental not realistic.' -Tom
'Where are the snows?' - French poet
Where are the snows from yeter-year?' -French poet( repetition is important)
'You be the lady this time and I'll be the darky.'- Amanda (racism)
'We had to send the nigger over...' -Amanda (racism)
'Eating the crust of humility all their life!' -Amanda (Laura not going to college)
'If self is what I thought of, mother, I'd be where he is- GONE!' -Tom
'I am old and don't matter' -Amanda
'Your'e a Christian Martyr!'
'Flooded the world with brief deceptive rainbows'-Tom
'All the world was waiting for bombardments!'- Tom
'I was valuable to hm as someone who remembered his former glory.' -Tom on Jim
'I am disappointed but I am not discouraged!' -Jim
'I am not made of glass.'- Jim
'Maybe it's a blessing in disguise.'- Laura
Now that we can not hear the mother's speech, her silliness is gone and she has dignity and tragic beauty.
Link to notes from Bloomsbury Edition:
https://www.dropbox.com/home/the%20glass%20menagerie
Link to summary and analysis:
https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-glass-menagerie
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English Literature 9695
No FicciónThis is a compilation of all the essays and notes I wrote while I was in ALevels. It must be noted that not all of of these are A* material (though none goes lower than a grade B) so they aren't meant to be copy pasted for your school assignments. U...
