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Sep 04, 2010

K.D. rated it:

Early this month, my 15-y/o daughter, Jillian. who is studying in an all-girls school, asked me to write a monologue for the 7-y/o Noli Me Tangere character, Crispin. Each of them in the class was given a character in the novel with the objective of introducing all the characters to the class.

I used to write drama scripts in high school (Alamat ni Mariang Makiling) and college (The Silent Mourner) but those were a 2-3 decades ago. So, to help out, I read that chapter in Noli and wro More...

10 comments like (14 people liked it)

May 09, 2011

Eric rated it:

The Glass Menagerie is a great domestic tragedy with three very distinctive characters--the strong, proud Amanda, the weak and innocent Laura, and the realistic dreamer, Tom. One finds in this play an elegiac portrait of misery, rather than a scalding enactment of taboo. There is no one tragic event here, but a general condition of pathos. Instead of a classic conflict, The Glass Managerie depicts a lack of cooperation. We find in the Wingfield home no crime, but a chronic, aching social and More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Feb 15, 2009

Nancy rated it:

A modern play, to me, about disillusionment. Main characters include Amanda (delusional, childish, dependent, desparate mother), Laura (inhibited, painfully shy daughter), Tom (restless, dreamer, poet, narrator/son), Jim (optimistic, hopeful, gentleman caller). A play about misdirected dreams and ambitions. Amanda places her dreams in her children. Tom places his dreams in adventure and traveling the world like his absentee father. Laura places her dreams of happiness in her glass menagerie More...

3 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2009

Vanessa added it

A window into the delicate and often tragic complexity of family dynamics.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 13, 2009

Anca rated it:

First, I've seen the play. That helped a lot in my figuring out Williams' detailed directions. I loved the play when I watched it, meaning I loved loved loved it. Although it added to the Tom-Amanda relationship a more ironical shade and left out the dramatic part in favor of the comic, it didn't (for me) left out possible mind-playing with the actors while reading (I'm probably not making much sense here). Anyway, I rarely meet a piece of writing whose characters' point of views I can totally u More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 20, 2008

Núria rated it:

Da toda la impresión que Tennessee Williams tenía que ser una persona muy pesada y muy cursi. Toda mi impresión proviene de las acotaciones de 'El zoo de cristal' que me han parecido las peores que he leído en mi vida, por plastas y por cursis. Yo estaba todo el rato en plan "¡Cállate ya y deja hablar a los personajes!" Si tantas ganas tienes de divagar, dedícate a la narrativa a tiempo completo (por cierto, después de esto no creo que nunca tenga ganas de acercarme a la narrativa del More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 04, 2007

Jennifer added it

My life has been a bit frought recently and I've been wanting to sit down and read something but haven't had the inclination to dive into anything too big. The Glass Menagerie was on my shelf - it's a short play by Tennessee Williams - it couldn't be more than 100 pages in paperback.

Anyone who knows of Tennessee Williams from seeing his plays will really enjoy reading his work. I thought he was extremely tuned into the characters - and the stage direction was really comprehensive. I More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Nov 08, 2008

Emily rated it:

I read this play in high school, and now that I'm preparing to student teach English at a high school, I reread it to make plans. I enjoy the play and feel like we can learn a lot from it about illusion, living in the present - even while learning from the past and planning for the future, the American Dream, etc. It IS kind of depressing - but I want to analyze/ teach it in a positive light, even if that light is simply: how can we learn to avoid the sadness these characters choose? Or how More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 19, 2009

Shannon rated it:

YOYA Code: 5Q 5P

A) Pre-Reading/Anticipatory Thoughts
Most teachers in the secondary English Language Arts classroom that I have observed do not teach plays. Rather, teachers tend to rely on the traditional novel and turn to Shakespeare when teaching a play. While I understand the benefits from reading a novel and teaching Shakespeare, I also notice the benefits from reading other genres from other authors. In fact, reading a play can be an easy way to bring the text to life More...

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Jul 28, 2011

jamileh rated it:

سرشار از احساس و کاملا رئال در مورد زندگی و احساسات آدمها، حتی تفکرات شخصیتها بر روی پرده ای پشت سرشان عینیت پیدا می کند (از آنجا که برایم جدید بود خوشم آمد). نهایتا در رویارویی رویا با واقعیت، حقیقت تلخ غالب می شود. ویلیامز در انتهای نمایشنامه اوج تلخی واقعیت را به تصویر می کشد. More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2012

Katie rated it:

The Glass Menagerie is a very unique play in the way it was set up and meant to be presented. There are only four characters and one setting in the story; this made it feel like an exceptionally quick read. What I got from it was that the author was attacking the American Dream, which is portrayed in the play as being success and happiness.
Basically, the mother Amanda was deserted by her husband, and wishes for nothing more than marriage, happiness, and success for Tom and Laura. They're b More...

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Dec 04, 2011

Kitt rated it:

With its miniscule cast and vague set, The Glass Menagerie doesn't seem like much at first. However, Tennessee Williams manages to transform this meager play into much more than just a story of a fragile girl and her first gentleman caller. With a little bit of background information, the purpose of the story is clear. Not only was Williams commenting on the themes apparent within the play, but he was also writing about his own youth in his own dysfunctional family in St. Louis.

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Nov 06, 2011

Melissa rated it:

"The Glass Menagerie" is a memory play, as told by the character of Tom. Williams' story has become a studied classic due to its continuous conflict. Characters are always on their toes and therefore, so are readers. The reason for this is probably the matriarch of the story, Amanda. Her nagging at Tom and her constant attempts to find Laura a man occur in every scene. The fact that Tom and Laura will never be what Amanda wants them to be is what makes the play so tragic. Tom's a More...

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Oct 06, 2011

Marian rated it:

I'm not certain that drama is really "my" genre, but I ended up enjoying this play a lot more than I thought I would.
The film version of A Streetcar Named Desire has been my only other exposure to Williams, and that, for me, was simply a bit too noisy and aggressive. Consequently, I wasn't sure how I'd like The Glass Menagerie.
One strength that struck me about the play is that each character is distinct and unfolds different aspects of his or her personality within a shor More...

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Sep 20, 2011

Erik rated it:

FUCK BOYS. Straight up.

Anyway, I remember in 9th grade English, my teacher told us to read this and I'm pretty sure not a single person did? So I decided to watch it tonight on Netflix. I think that watching plays counts? Learning stories, having insights, blah blah blah.

As for the play, it's sad. There's a shitton of daddy/mommy-issues, guilt, shame, some "you cheating bastard," and some "you broke my glass horse."

The glass menagerie was More...

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Aug 10, 2011

Reetta rated it:

Toivoin salaa, että Tennessee Williams -kauteni olisi mennyt huomaamatta ohi, mutta turha toivo.

Nimenomaisesti Turha Toivo. Elämän raakuus, ihmissuhteiden toivottomuus, rakkauden naurettavuus ja kaiken suuren sortuminen pieniksi -triviaaleiksi mutta satuttaviksi - sirpaleiksi saa ahdistuksen tuntumaan lievältä reagointitavalta tekstiin.

Loisteliaassa menneisyydessä elävä äiti, elämän lannistama tytär ja velvollisuuden ja vapauden välissä kamppaileva poika ovat raastavia ha More...

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Mar 27, 2011

Valerie J K rated it:

I read this play in high school and thought I'd give it another shot. It's a rather depressing play with only 4 characters. The Mother, Amanda, spends most of her time nagging her grown son and reliving memories of the 17 gentleman callers she had in her youth. She married a man who abandoned the family for travel. The daughter, Laura, has separated herself from human contact and spends her time focusing on her glass animal collection. Tom, the son, has been obligated to work in a warehouse More...

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Mar 23, 2011

Mariel rated it:

The Glass Menagerie is a weird one for me. There's a better word for it than weird. I'm a crap writer though. I'll leave it at that. There's no thesaurus/mindreader thing for what I'm feeling.

There are stories that we know every word of before we've ever read, seen or heard them. The Glass Menagerie is one of those for me. We'd act out scenes and make references like we actually knew what we were talking about. (My mom especially loved the "rise and shine" routine.) Remembe More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2011

Mohammed rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jan 18, 2011

Bruce rated it:

First produced in 1945, this play features the Wingfields, a tenement family consisting of the mother Amanda, her daughter Laura, and her son Tom, who narrates the story. Amanda’s husband has long since abandoned the family. Laura is 24 and slightly crippled, painfully shy and reclusive, spending most of her time with her collection of small glass animal figurines. Tom, who aspires to be a poet, works in a warehouse, supporting the family. Amanda is intent on finding a match for Laura becaus More...

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Jan 17, 2011

Jim rated it:

A small scale play, but it seems ambitious in what it tries to achieve. There are 4 very well delineated characters - Tom (narrator and one could see him as a doppelganger to the playwright), his shy sister, his overwhelming almost histrionic mother - and a guest who drops in later. Williams wrote that this was a memory-play and uses various devices to remove any naturalism from experiencing the play - music motifs, symbolism, a shadow play screen etc.

The memories being used in the pla More...

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Dec 25, 2010

Elliot rated it:

It's been far too long since I've read anything by Tennessee Williams, especially considering that I go to his former high school! (Unfortunately, though he graduated from my high school, ths play references another St. Louis school which he attended briefly, so the connection is more tenuous for this work than I'd like to think.)

This is a play of misdirection, of consuming illusions, of the thin fabrications through which men and women delude themselves from reality. Each of the fou More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 30, 2010

Laura rated it:

The Glass Menagerie was all good and well and, I'm sure, as is written, a great play for the time. I don't know whether to feel upset or honored that he named his Rose character Laura. But what I loved was The Catastrophe of Success. Oh, The Catastrophe. Granted, I have never tasted such The Catastrophe. But I can taste his sentiment as my own: "...that with conflict removed, the man is a sword cutting daisies, that not privation but luxury is the wolf at the door and that the fangs o More...

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Sep 21, 2010

Danny rated it:

Whenever I remark that I enjoyed this pretty wholeheartedly amongst my peers, I get funny looks. In high school advanced placement literature classes this seemed to be the book people spark noted and passed with, never actually delving in to see how good it actually was. I think its the way the characters are developed through their connections that I enjoy the most. Amanda's connection is the modern southern belle, a useless title in an industrialized city with no flowing dresses, fields of flo More...

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Jun 18, 2010

John rated it:

Williams play is the tragedy of the Wingfields; a feckless son, an overbearing mother, and a shy cloistered daughter who is ill-prepared to meet the world. Apart from these three, there is but one other character a gentleman caller, O'Connor. A poignant piece of work this play focuses on the three family members all of whom are trapped by one another. The mother, penniless after her husband left her relies on her son for income. Her son frequents the movies each night as an escape from hi More...

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May 26, 2010

aL rated it:

I love this play, but I hate it because I was that painfully shy girl who lived in her own world and it just felt like I was reading about myself that existed a few years ago, luckily I'm not like that anymore. The characters were great for the story Amanda, Laura and Tom don't seem like people who would come from the same family, but then you see how they interact and see why there is tension. The thing that I didn't like was how over the top descriptive Williams made it, sure it's great for vi More...

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Feb 10, 2010

Erik rated it:

A friend of mine is currently studying under Wynn Handman, the legendary acting coach. During class, someone did a monologue from this play, and Handman was enthralled, as he has been for over six decades, by the poetry of Williams. Handman knew Williams quite well, so he regaled the class with stories. He told of how the two attended a party in the Village that was so crowded that Tennessee was pressed against the wall while Handman was across the room. "I'm immobile, Wynn," Tennessee More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 26, 2011

Jay rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jul 17, 2011

Duffy rated it:

This was part of our required reading in high school, so I never read it. I had a little game then: the challenge was to continue to be a straight A student in English without ever reading any of the assigned work. I got caught only once. We were doing A Separate Peace. After one exam, the teacher was very disappointed with how the class had done as a whole. The day she handed back the exams, she also gave us a pop quiz: 20 multiple choice questions about events in the books. I got an A More...

7 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 13, 2010

jim rated it:

The Glass Menagerie is a play about the dysfunctional Wingfield family who all live in their separate fantasy worlds. The book takes you on a journey through the lives of Tom Wingfield, a frustrated, aspiring poet who is miserable working at the local shoe warehouse. Tom tries escaping his real life by excessively drinking and watching movies. Laura Wingfield, is Tom's sister. She has a disabliity in her leg and is very self conscious about her appearance. She turns to her glass figurines for co More...

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