“Portrait of a Girl in Glass” and The Glass Menagerie – Reading Guide

For the drama unit, these are your suggested “write” assignments for your reading log. If you chose to respond to these questions, try to always find and mark at least two specific examples to support your claims. Record them in your reading log along with the page numbers. This will help make your reading and note taking more effective.

“Portrait of a Girl in Glass.” pp. 1614-21 Many of the themes that are raised in this short story will again be raised in The Glass Menagerie. While many features of the play are different from this short sketch, reading carefully through this sketch should help you prepare for reading the play. Pay special attention to the first two paragraphs of this piece, as they provide some excellent exposition. Read and re-read those paragraphs carefully.

1. “We lived in a third floor apartment on Maple St. in St. Louis, on a block which also contained the Ever-ready Garage, a Chinese laundry, and a bookie disguised as a cigar store” (1614). If you had to describe the third floor apartment that had neighbors like a garage, Laundromat, and a bookie, what would it look like?

2. “Mine was an anomalous character, one that appeared to be slated for radical change or disaster, for I was a poet who had a job in a warehouse” (1614). What do these self-observations tell us about the narrator? If you compare him to his setting, what kinds of conflict do you imagine could arise?

3. Carefully review this metaphor: “She made no positive motion toward the world, but stood at the edge of the water, so to speak, with feet that anticipated too much cold to move” (1614). What does the narrator reveal about his sister by comparing her to a person who is too afraid to swim for fear the water may be too cold? (You might think about all of the sayings associated with water: You’ve just got to jump in the deep end and learn to swim!)

4. What does the narrator reveal about this mother when he remarks that she “was a relatively aggressive sort of woman”? (1614).

5. Based on your knowledge of the narrator’s dreams and lifestyle, the sister’s personality, and the mother’s personality, what kinds of conflicts do you predict might happen in this short sketch?

6. What is the failure that Laura keeps in “secret for a while”? (1614). Who is she keeping it secret from? Why do you think that she would keep this failure a secret?

7. When mother learns of Laura’s duplicity, what is her reaction? How does Laura in turn react? Does this exchange seem “normal”?

8. How do you think being shut in a room next to “Death Valley” would affect a person?

9. Why would the narrator digress into the conflicts of the alley cats? Do the cats’ conflicts reflect any of the other character’s plights?

10. What is the setting of Laura’s room like? What kind of world does Laura live in? What, by default, is the world that she is not living in?

11. We are introduced to a family member who has been conspicuously absent. The narrator describes his father as a “man whom we barely remembered,” and a man “whose name was spoken rarely” (1615). Using your own knowledge of nuclear family dynamics, what kind of impact do you think “his sudden and unexplained disappearance” had on the family? (1615).

12. Why would Laura only love the music “she had always heard”? (1615).

13. What about the setting and the conflict causes the narrator to “always [write] such strange and sorrowful poems”? (1615). What do you think his topics were?

14. How do Laura’s reading habits reflect her music listening habits? Is this consistent with her character?

15. What is Laura’s favorite novel about? What is your favorite film, novel, or TV show about? What do you think that this says about your person?

16. What is the new conflict that arises when Laura is twenty-three? Who does it seem the most awful too? How do you think that this conflict will play out in the future?

17. Who is Jim? Describe his character using as many specific examples as possible. With your knowledge of this family, what are the possible conflicts that could arise with the narrator bringing over “a big red-haired Irishman who had the scrubbed and polished look of well-kept chinaware” to a house with an overbearing mother and a nervous shut-in?

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18. What do we learn about the narrator’s work habits as he describes Jim?

19. Again, our narrator treats us to some delightful language: “I had a curious feeling of guilt and apprehension as I led the lamblike Irishman up three flights of cracked marble steps to the door of Apartment F” (1617). Why would the narrator feel guilty and anxious to bring his friend over to dinner? Why does the narrator call Jim “lamblike”?

20. How is Laura dressed for dinner? Is she dressed appropriately?

21. What is the dinner like? How do each of the characters behave? How does this add to the tension?

22. What is the “ghost of an implication” that Jim does not sense? (1618).

23. Do Laura and Jim feel the same way toward one another when they are dancing?

24. What does Jim’s revelation do to the tone in the room?

25. How had the narrator changed since he lost his job at the warehouse?

The Glass Menagerie. Scenes One and Two 1. Tom's opening speech sketches the social background of the play and introduces the main characters. What basic information does Tom provide in this speech about his family? About the gentleman caller? About the nature of the play itself?

2. In Scene One, what indications are there that there is tension in the family? Who seems to cause the tension?

3. A play is put in motion by some element that upsets the situation at the beginning of the story. The element that sets this play in motion arrives in Scene Two. What is it? How does it upset the opening situation, and how does it set the play in motion?

4. In Scene Two, what does Laura say and do to reveal that she is "set apart" from the real world?

5. What is the significance of the "blue roses" that appear on the screen at the start of Scene Two?

6. At this point in the play, does Amanda seem to be a weak or a strong character? Does she arouse your sympathy, or do you think Williams wants you to dislike her? Explain.

7. How is it shown that the boy in the yearbook was important to Laura? Why doesn't Amanda seem particularly interested in this young man?

8. In "The Glass Menagerie," Tennessee Williams has created "theater poetry" by using various arts besides language. For example, he uses the two transparencies at the beginning of the play to enhance the idea that this is a memory play. Check through the stage directions and dialogue to find other uses of visual and sound effects, which, combined with words, help to create "theater poetry." Do any of these effects add a touch of humor to the play?

9. Few people have Laura's specific physical handicap. Do you think most people can identify with her? Why or why not?

Scenes Three and Four 10. In Scene Two, Amanda is in conflict with Laura. Who is in conflict in Scene Three? What starts the conflict, and what is it about?

11. Each of the Wingfields escapes from unpleasant reality into a comforting, private world. In Scene One, Amanda escapes from her present circumstances by remembering and talking about her past youth, her beauty, and her romantic successes. How does Laura escape from the real world? What does Tom do to escape from his unhappiness?

12. What part does Laura play in the angry argument between Tom and Amanda?

13. What does Amanda ask Tom to do?

14. In the conflict between Tom and Amanda in Scene Three, which character do you sympathize with, and why? What do you think Williams wants you to feel about Amanda?

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15. How is Laura's relationship with Tom different from her relationship with Amanda? How can you tell that Tom is truly fond of Laura?

16. Amanda often refers to her absent husband, and his grinning picture is highlighted at various times during the play. What does the photograph represent to Amanda? To Tom? How is the photograph a constant threat to Amanda and Laura's survival?

17. The outburst of anger that ends Scene Three marks the emotional peak of the play so far. How has the playwright prepared you for Tom's anger and Amanda's accusations?

Scenes Four, Five, and Six 18. In Scenes Four and Five, Tom displays an attitude toward his mother that he has not shown before. Describe that attitude, and find the lines of dialogue that reveal it. Cite two lines of dialogue that show that Amanda is also trying to behave differently toward Tom.

19. What does Amanda ask Tom to do at the end of Scene Four?

20. In Scene Five, Tom gives his mother two realistic warnings to counter Amanda's pleasant fantasy of the gentleman caller. What are these warnings? How does Amanda react to them?

21. How does Amanda transform herself for the gentleman caller? How is her attitude about their guest different from Laura's?

22. What is Laura's reaction when she learns the identity of the gentleman caller? How does Amanda respond to this reaction?

23. At the beginning of Scene Four, both Tom and Amanda try to make peace. Why do they begin to argue again?

24. The basic dramatic situation from which a play can grow involves a person or persons whom viewers care about, who are in more or less desperate situations with a great deal at stake. Such characters decide to act and then actually take steps to achieve their "wants." Discuss how these dramatic elements are used up to this point in "The Glass Menagerie."

25. In most plays, suspense is preferable to surprise. If a person reaches the top of a hill and looks down to see two trains at the moment they crash, it is a surprise and it is shocking. But dramatically, it would be more effective if, as the person neared the top of the hill, he saw the trains approaching each other on the same track from perhaps a mile apart. This would be suspense. How has Tennessee Williams used suspense in the play up to now?

26. Amanda is a complex character: not easily described as either "good" or "bad." What aspect of her character do you see in Scenes Five and Six? Do you feel sympathetic toward her? Explain.

27. What are your feelings for the gentleman caller at this point in the play? How do you feel about Tom?

Scene Seven 28. What does Williams achieve in the way of “theater poetry” by having Tom neglect to pay the light bill?

29. What happens to make you think at first that Jim O’Connor’s visit may work out as Amanda hopes? Explain how the evening ends in disappointment for Laura and Amanda.

30. The gentleman caller scene is a perfect little play within a play. Tell how the basic dramatic elements are used in this scene: characters you care about placed in a situation where much is at stake, taking steps to get what they want.

31. One of the basic elements of drama is progression, or change. Trace the progression of the relationship between Jim and Laura in this scene.

32. How did you feel about Jim O’Connor in this scene?

33. Why does Laura say about the broken horn on the unicorn: “Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise”?

34. What does Tom mean at the end when he talks about Laura blowing out her candles?

The Play as a Whole

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35. Discuss the symbolism of the glass menagerie in relation to Laura. How, for example, does Laura resemble the glass animals? What does the unicorn represent at first, and what does it represent once its horn has been broken?

36. Discuss the way Williams uses the following motifs in the play as symbols. What does each one represent? How do they relate to the play’s theme?

The movies The fire escape The Paradise Music Hall Laura’s leg brace

37. The climax of a play is the high point of the story-its most intensely emotional moment. What scene do you think marks the climax of “The Glass Menagerie”?

38. In any story, complexity makes for interesting characters. Good drama rarely pits a “good guy” against a “bad guy.” The best drama often occurs when both people in a conflict are right. Do you sympathize with Amanda, even though she causes her children to suffer? Do you think Tom and Laura are both wrong and right? Explain. 39. One critic has said that “The Glass Menagerie” shows a series of contrasts between (a) the dreamer and the doer, (b) the past and the present, (c) fantasy and reality, (d) psychological and physical handicaps, and (e) the desire for escape and the awareness of responsibilities. Choose one of these contrasts, and trace the way it is developed in the play.

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