The Glass Menagerie as an Autobiographical Play

A detailed Summary of The Glass Menagerie as an Autobiographical Play


"The Glass Menagerie" as an Autobiographical Play

"The Glass Menagerie," a very poignant and moving play, tells the story of Tom Wingfield and his attempt to escape his family. Tennessee Williams' descriptions of the Wingfield family are strikingly similar to his descriptions of his own family, and therefore the play can be interpreted as an autobiography.

Perhaps most obviously, the character Laura helps support the argument that the play is autobiographical. Williams actually had a sister named Rose, and when she was upset she would retreat to her room and her collection of glass animals. In the play, Tom's sister, Laura, also escapes to her glass menagerie. Throughout the play Laura limps slightly and is described by herself as a cripple; her character description explains that "a childhood illness has left her crippled, one leg slightly shorter than


the other, and held in a brace." When Tennessee Williams was six years old he contracted diphtheria and it left him with a limp. As he called Laura crippled he also called himself crippled, even though both of them were able to get around and function perfectly well. Williams' sister Rose eventually ended up in a mental institution, and Williams' always felt guilty that he hadn't looked out for her more when they were growing up. Perhaps the reason he has Tom desert Laura at the end of the play is Williams' attempt to express the fact that he felt he too deserted his sister.

The ending of the play was also similar to a period of Williams' life. The play ends with Tom miserably living an empty life of movies and alcohol and unfamiliar faces and unfamiliar cities after having tried to leave his mother and sister behind him. Tennessee Williams also live

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Approximate Word count = 582
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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