The Glass Menagerie is a memory play by Tennessee Williams. It premiered in 1944. The term memory play was conceived by Williams, and it defines a play narrated by the lead character from his or her own memory.
The play is set in St. Louis in 1937 and is narrated by aspiring poet Tom Wingfield. Tom works in a warehouse during the day. He lives with his mother, Amanda, and sister, Laura. Mother and son argue frequently.
In Scene Three things come to a head for Amanda and Tom. Their relationship has been tense for a long time as Amanda believes that Tom should not be out of the house as much as he is. Tom is angry that his mother doesn’t respect his privacy. The argument begins when Tom says he is going out to the cinema. He sees the cinema as a means of escape whilst his mother believes that he is out doing something shameful. In a rage he says that she is right, he is out gambling and smoking opium. He ends by calling Amanda an “ugly - babbling old - witch…”
Although mother and son have fought before, the seriousness of this argument in scene three signals a breaking point between them. He throws his coat across the room where it lands on and smashes Laura’s menagerie of glass animal figurines.
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