The Glass Menagerie

Read “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams, Scenes I-II (Google “The Glass Menagerie pdf.”  The play is available on a few sites. Read the play at debbiejlee.com so that we are on the same page when we discuss the play. When you answer each of the questions, use a short quotation from the page, note the page numbers, and explain.) Scene I 1. Tom refers to “a fifth character” in this scene. Who is he? According to Tom, what happened to him? What impact did his action have on the family? 2 What does Amanda’s directions on how to eat say about Amanda’s personality? 3. Is Amanda’s story about her seventeen gentlemen callers a real story, a fantasy, or an exaggeration? What evidence can you point to to support your interpretation? 4. What does Amanda’s insistence that Laura stay fresh for a “flood,” or “tornado” of gentlemen callers say about Amanda’s mental state? Scene II 5. Why did Laura drop out of Rubicam’s Business College? 6. What did Laura do to make Amanda believe that she was still going to college? 7. In what way is the “Jewel Box” Laura visited symbolic of Laura’s personality? 8. What advice does Amanda give Laura in response to Laura describing herself as “crippled”? How does this advice show another side of Amanda’s personality?