Reviews

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

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dyno8426's review against another edition

4.0

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

This memorable line from Tolstoy comes to my mind when I think about this classic play which brought Williams' name into the limelight. Unhappy, dysfunctional families have been the subject matter for so many fictional authors and poets, as it is with this work. The unit of family is the quantum of human civilisation and man's evolutionary as a social being which survives to this day and will survive probably forever in some way or the other. But this symbiosis of identity and function is well-known to be far from perfect. As we grow up and become conscious of the imperfections in us, in our families and other families around us, there comes an awareness of the circumstantial happiness in all of this. Our happiness depends on some chance of being part of a nurturing or inhibiting family. It has already shaped our lives before we could ever be aware of it and will probably affect our lives beyond this awareness. This bundling of fate and lack of control in this matter is imprisoning, often time psychologically and pathologically. Family is a universal trait regardless of culture, an almost biological part of our DNA. Familial problems and a desire to escape - to be free from all unhappiness that results from this collective fate - is undoubtedly universal as well.

The Glass Menagerie is also a story of such desire to escape from the unfulfilled, restricting existence of family members who find it difficult to live with each other. But we also see this instinctive human trait of staying together and sharing each other's fears and dreams in them that control their happiness. The characters of all such unhappy families find themselves in a restless limbo between dissatisfying reality and some unreal happiness that they seek, either in the past, or somewhere totally outside the fabric of their familial society. The introduction by Robert Bray in my edition goes over the subject matter of this play very immaculately in the following paragraph:

"As the fractured world of the Wingfields unfolds, the first apparent fissure is the societal anonymity into which they have fallen, for they live in ‘one of those vast hive-like conglomerations … as one interfused mass of automatism’. Collectively marginalized, as individuals in search of identity they fare even worse. Amanda, Laura, and Tom live out secret horrors, all the while unsuccessfully trying to conceal or repress their respective demons from each other. As a result, Menagerie reveals the story of family members whose lives form a triangle of quiet desperation, each struggling with an individual version of hell, while simultaneously seeking escape from the gravity of each other’s pathologies."

Another highlight for me, actually having read this edition, was The Catastrophe of Success - a kind of short, auto-biographical note written by Tennessee Williams himself. It talks about how the viral popularity of this play brought him the public love as a playwright and a feeling of self-satisfaction as an artist that he always desired. But catastrophe plagued him after summiting the mountains of success when he reached this plateau of comfort and complacency. He talks about the struggles of an artist to maintain that desire to create and the spout of creativity that matters the most to a true artist. He suffered that ironical detachment from realities of life, the very stuff he always tried to observe, capture and express that brought out his successful endeavour from obscurity. He briefly explains his journey as a wake-up call for all those who feel either a dissolution of ambition after any recent success or who are still trudging that path and are being warned of the dangers to come.

irene_marchiori's review against another edition

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4.0

Questa brevissima lettura è uno dei pochi testi teatrali che, anche senza vederne la rappresentazione, mi ha dato una grande suggestione. Una famiglia di ceto medio-basso americana composta da una madre del Sud abbandonata anni prima dal marito e due figli, maschio e femmina e ormai giovani adulti, vive in una situazione caotica e insieme fatta di ripetitività nelle parole, nei gesti, perfino nei litigi.
Sembrano tutti vivere nel loro mondo a parte, dalla madre Amanda che fantastica sui pretendenti che ha avuto da ragazza, a Tom che ogni sera afferma di andare al cinematografo perché nel suo lavoro in magazzino non vive alcuna avventura, a Laura, personaggio forse più complesso, caratterizzato da una fragilità e un'insicurezza che le impedisce di muoversi, la costringe a rimanere ferma come il suo zoo di vetro, perché un minimo movimento o scossone potrebbe portarla in frantumi. Tra realismo e quel velo di irrealtà dato dalla malinconia, si sviluppa una narrazione piccola, delicata, proprio come il nome dell'opera.

pilicreads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

what a great foray into reading more plays! i saw bit and pieces of my mother reflected in Amanda, and saw pieces of myself reflected throughout.

i have the Definitive Text version, and i enjoyed all of the additions (introduction by Robert Bray, “The Catastrophe of Success” essay).

after reading the play, i am still curious about Laura — how does she really see herself? how is she distorted through Tom (and Williams’) eyes?

meg_abe's review against another edition

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3.0

The Glass Menagerie is about a mother who lives in the past, a daughter who lives in a fantasy world and a brother who is struggle to get by and support his family. Amanda Wingfield is the mother of two kids who can’t help but share all the wonderful stories of her past and all them men who called on her. Now she is a single mother of two whose husband left her. All she wants from life is for her daughter to find a gentleman of a young man and her son to be successful in his job. When Tom--the son--mentions there is a nice man he is friends with at work Amanda insists he invite his friend over for dinner. Hoping to make a match of this man and Laura. Painfully shy Laura--the daughter--makes herself sick worrying so much about the boy that is coming. This is a tragic story about the realities families face, the lack of money, the social awkwardness, the partying and drinking, the worried mother, etc. This play is a wonderful rendition of the struggles of life. Tennessee Williams is a phenomenal writer and this is a great work of his.

When looking at the ATOS® Reading Level it is about a 5.3. This means that students as young as third-fifth grade could read this play. I think some of the difficulties that they would face is the layout first of all, trying to understand that not everything written is said. THe idea that Tom is the narrator and a character so sometimes he's talking to the audience and other times he is in the play. Also some of the material would be hard to relate to and understand at that young of an age. The socially awkward Laura might be reachable but the fed-up, partying Tom would be a tough character for students so young to relate to or see his side of the story. I think this book would be better suited for high school students based off the content and the formatting being a play. I think anyone that has read A Streetcar Named Desire and enjoyed it should also read this play. Also if you like reading plays this would be a great recommendation. This book could be used as a whole class text to look at different family scenarios or to look at what life was like during a certain time and what was expected of you. I also this this would be a great novel to look at symbolism, word choice, reality vs. fantasy, and setting and how all these factors play a role or have an impact on the play.

Being that I had read A Streetcar Named Desire I was intrigued to read another play by Williams and it didn’t disappoint. He also incorporates that feel of fantasy/dream-like to mix with reality. There is always a character that isn’t fully stable in this world and prefers to live in their memories, the past or create a fictional world. The word choice/text wasn’t very difficult so that was simple and created for a quick read, there was tension that made me want to read faster but there were also things that slowed me down. Sometimes I didn’t always understand the setting or scene, something about the description would confuse me and the whole scene would therefore be hard to understand or picture in my mind creating a disconnect with the story and what is taking place.