The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

This play is a dramatic study of conflicting motivations and tortured memories. Tennessee Williams called The Glass Menagerie a “memory play.” Williams aptly titled it for the fragile world in which his characters live—a world as fragile as Laura’s collection of glass animals. He draws a sensitive 1944 portrayal of a young man’s recollection of life in a St. Louis tenement. Real and credible family members are trapped by the circumstances of their lives. Williams is Tom, the poet, who feels the struggle between love and guilt in wanting to be free of the responsibility of supporting his Southern Belle mother, Amanda, and his shy and crippled sister, Laura. Of necessity, Tom is caged in a lowly job because his father deserted the family. The play gives students a look below the surface of conflicts to see outcomes which cannot be foreseen by the immediacy of human existence. It promotes a closer look into personal goals, dreams, attitudes, and into the urgent need to separate reality from fiction.

About the Series:

Novel/Drama curriculum units contain complete lesson plans with preliminary and follow-up work, teacher notes with plot summary, background, and rationale, ready-to-use worksheets, and suggested answers for student questions. These study guides encourage the development of thinking, reading, speaking, research, and writing skills as well as critical thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.