The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
Published by Penguin
I KNOW, it’s a play, and I largely review novels, however, this one is so impactful even in its written form that I would recommend it as both.
Williams’s first greatly successful play is written with insightful and detailed stage directions, a unique choice that makes it feel almost as though by reading instead of only watching, you gain a greater understanding of these characters and their world.
For the next couple of weeks I’ll be reviewing some of the classics I think continue to be relevant to the experiences and emotions of young people to this day, those stories you’re taught in school and how they can still be enjoyed and read for pleasure.
Last week was the feminist classic with its acclaimed TV adaptation, The Handmaid’s Tale, this week, a play with many of the issues young people going into adulthood face, whether in the 1930s or the 2020s.
The play is introduced by one of its characters, Tom, as a memory play, a story told based on his own recollections of living in his youth with his mother Amanda and sister Laura in their modest Louisiana apartment. He recalls, in particular, a difficult time for all of them, and while rarely mentioned, the bitter memory of the father who left them hangs over the three central characters.
Tom is forced to work in a shoe warehouse, to be the primary financial provider for his family but truly longs to be a writer, or at least to travel beyond their seemingly inescapable residence and family.
His sister, Laura, is insecure due to her nerves around people and a limp she was left with after an illness and struggles to work or socialise, finding comfort almost solely in her collection of glass animals.
With two young adults so hesitant to stride into the real world, Amanda comes off, particularly under the influence of Tom’s recollections, intense and controlling, looking to recapture a youth in which she had wealth and few cares.
This unique cast of escapists confined to one small apartment creates an intense atmosphere as the three of them attempt to navigate their desires and dreams within a harsh financial situation.
Each of the three characters, despite their flaws, is relatable in some way, especially during periods of life filled with change, whether that’s the move from school to work or higher education or simply growing responsibilities. This is a play that not only shows the challenges faced when you are desperate to find balance in what you need to do under the culture or circumstances you live in and what makes you happy and comfortable, but also the strain a household filled with this feeling can put on relationships.
IN reading Tennessee Williams’ work, it’s hard to remember that Amanda is not the overbearing but also the overworked mother of a friend, that Tom and Laura are not your peers, dealing with the pressure of what is believed to be the responsible and correct path into adulthood, even if it doesn’t feel like it fits. While this works particularly well under the backdrop of a 1930s America, helping with a greater understanding of a time with many at their financial lowest looking forward to new jobs and hard work as a solution, the core emotions remain.
This play makes you hurt and laugh for the dreamers that populate it, taking sides in their day-to-day arguments and their biggest decisions, and, especially in the shy but quietly passionate Laura, how to retain identity in the face of pain and growth.
