Character Analysis in the Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie
The play, The Glass Menagerie was published in 1945, but the actual play takes place in the early 1900’s. To be more specific it takes place 1937, which was actually the time of the great depression. This contributes a lot to the setting of the play. It starts off in a little apartment that should be seen as a cozy little place. There is a picture of a man in a World War I uniform, and a typewriter. The Glass Menagerie is a play solely based on the memory of the character Tom. However, each character seems to have their obsession with time and memory itself.
To start us off here, a memory play is a play that captures an entire act or experience. So when the writer discusses that this play is a “memory play,” they are saying that it is all based off the memory and experiences of the narrator. In this case, the narrator is Ton Winfield. It’s all a recall of his life. The character of Tom makes it very clear that the entire play is based off of memory and he says the memory, is selective and is not always remembered to its fullest. Because this is a memory play, Tom can actually form his play however he wants. After all, it is his memories. In terms of how this play is defined as a memory play, many times during the play music starts to play when a new scene is coming up. This is an automatic sign that it is a memory. The audience is supposed to understand the trigger of a memory when music plays. For example, “Ave Maria,” plays when Amanda and Tom are in a fight, this song triggers the memory of the fight for Tom. Another example is when the song, “The Glass Menagerie,’ plays a lot of the time that the audience is focusing on Laura. This is because of the fact that Laura can often be compared to glass figures she often finds comfort in playing with.
Looking into the four main characters, Tom's character represents an obsession with the past, present, and the future. The writer says this because Tom is the narrator of this play. Therefore,
The play, The Glass Menagerie was published in 1945, but the actual play takes place in the early 1900’s. To be more specific it takes place 1937, which was actually the time of the great depression. This contributes a lot to the setting of the play. It starts off in a little apartment that should be seen as a cozy little place. There is a picture of a man in a World War I uniform, and a typewriter. The Glass Menagerie is a play solely based on the memory of the character Tom. However, each character seems to have their obsession with time and memory itself.
To start us off here, a memory play is a play that captures an entire act or experience. So when the writer discusses that this play is a “memory play,” they are saying that it is all based off the memory and experiences of the narrator. In this case, the narrator is Ton Winfield. It’s all a recall of his life. The character of Tom makes it very clear that the entire play is based off of memory and he says the memory, is selective and is not always remembered to its fullest. Because this is a memory play, Tom can actually form his play however he wants. After all, it is his memories. In terms of how this play is defined as a memory play, many times during the play music starts to play when a new scene is coming up. This is an automatic sign that it is a memory. The audience is supposed to understand the trigger of a memory when music plays. For example, “Ave Maria,” plays when Amanda and Tom are in a fight, this song triggers the memory of the fight for Tom. Another example is when the song, “The Glass Menagerie,’ plays a lot of the time that the audience is focusing on Laura. This is because of the fact that Laura can often be compared to glass figures she often finds comfort in playing with.
Looking into the four main characters, Tom's character represents an obsession with the past, present, and the future. The writer says this because Tom is the narrator of this play. Therefore,