1a. What does the narrator, Tom, say a stage magician does? Why does Tom say the play is "not realistic"?
2a. What does Amanda tell Tom and Laura to do?
3a. What memory from her past does Amanda relate? What question does she pose to Laura after dinner?
4a. In what ways does Amanda Wingfield live in a world of illusion? How accurate is her memory and her assessment of the present?
5a. Do you agree with Laura that it is a good idea to let Amanda recount the memory of her seventeen gentlemen callers? Why, or why not?
1b. How does Tom differ from a stage magician? What are Tom's roles in the play?
2b. What kind of mother is Amanda?
3b. About what is Amanda nostalgic? What does she want for her daughter?
4b. Summarize Amanda's socioeconomic status as it was in the past and as it is in the present.
5b. What strategies have you seen people use to escape a present that does not live up to their wishes?
Stage Directions. Reread the stage directions at the opening of the play, before the entrance of the narrator. What is the social class of the people who live in the "overcrowded urban centers" described in those stage directions? What "poetic truth" is expressed by the term fire-escape ?
Expressionism. Complete the chart below. On the left, list several significant elements of setting in the play that are calculated to create emotional responses in the audience. On the right, explain the meaning the elements are intended to convey. One example has been done for you.
The Wingfields enter their apartment from a fire escape.
The fire escape, a physical symbol, is used to represent various aspects of being trapped or of having a method of escape.
1a. What does Amanda discover when she stops by the business school? Why is she distraught?
2a. According to Amanda, what alternative to having a career does a young woman have?
3a. After expressing her worries about Laura's future, what does Amanda ask her daughter? How does Laura respond? Why did the boy call Laura "Blue Roses"?
4a. In what ways has Amanda changed since scene 1?
5a. What relationship in Laura's high school years seems to have had the most impact on her? Why?
1b. What happened to Laura when she went to the business college? Why did she drop out? What does she spend her days doing? What do these details reveal about Laura's personality and character?
2b. Does Laura seem capable of finding a husband?
3b. What does the nickname "Blue Roses" signify? What does it underline about Laura's personality?
4b. Predict what Amanda might do to find a husband for Laura.
5b. If you were Laura, how would you prepare for a gentleman caller?
Irony. At the end of the scene, Amanda mentions her husband. What became of this man? What makes it ironic that Amanda should pin her hopes on Laura's having a gentleman caller and then immediately think of her husband's picture? What does this sequence of events suggest about the fulfillment of Amanda's hopes for Laura?
Character. Complete the chart on the next page describing Laura's character traits. Use information from scenes 1 and 2 of the play. One example has been done for you.
physical disability
What do Laura's pastimes at home reveal about her character?
1a. What new job does Amanda undertake?
2a. What does Tom do for a living? What is his role in the financial stability of the family? About what do Tom and Amanda argue?
3a. What happens at the end of the scene to Laura's menagerie?
4a. Analyze why Laura is physically present in this scene even though she hardly speaks.
5a. Which character possesses the most determination—Amanda, Tom, or Laura? Why?
1b. How does Amanda intrude on Tom's privacy?
2b. What does Tom want to do with himself? What does he fear will happen if he continues working at Continental Shoemakers?
3b. How would Tom's plans for his future harm Laura?
4b. What is the significance of the shattered glass animals?
5b. What could Tom and Laura do to equal their mother's determination?
Symbol. Of what is the glass menagerie in the play a symbol? What similarities do the menagerie and Laura have?
Conflict. Complete the chart below. On the left, write examples of Tom's conflicts in scene 3. On the right, identify whether each example demonstrates an external or an internal conflict. One example has been done for you.
Tom is trying to write but is interrupted by his mother.
1a. How does Tom behave when he returns home?
2a. According to Tom, what was "the wonderfullest trick of all" performed by Malvolio the Magician?
3a. What lights up at the end of this scene?
4a. Identify Tom's feelings for his sister, Laura, and tell how he demonstrates those feelings.
5a. Tom treats Laura as a child and does not reveal his intentions to her. How would the scene be different if Tom confided in Laura his plans of going away?
1b. Why does Tom drink?
2b. Why is Tom so impressed by the magic trick of escaping from a coffin without removing a nail? What similarities are there between the trick and what Tom would have to do to get himself out of his current situation?
3b. What event does this illumination foreshadow?
4b. Summarize how Tom resembles his father.
5b. If you were Laura, how would you be affected by Tom's strange behavior in this scene?
Symbol. What does the coffin of which Tom speaks symbolize for him? What "trick" does Tom want to be able to perform? What "nails" would he have to remove in order to perform this trick? Why does Tom think that it would take magic for him to be able to do that?
Character. Using information from scenes 1 through 4 of the play, complete the chart below to assess Tom's character traits. One example has been done for you.
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merchant sailor uniform
How do Tom's dreams contrast with his mother's?
1a. What does Laura want Tom to do? How is Amanda acting toward Tom at the beginning of this scene? Why?
2a. Amanda is afraid that Tom is becoming like someone else. Who is that person? How did she feel about him?
3a. What does Amanda want Tom to delay doing? What specific request does she make of him at the end of the scene?
4a. How do Amanda's and Tom's views of human nature differ?
5a. Do you think Tom is justified in wanting to leave home? Why, or why not?
1b. How does Amanda treat Tom once they are talking to each other again?
2b. What similarity does Amanda see between Tom and her husband?
3b. What is Amanda's plan for her family?
4b. Does Laura seem to subscribe to Tom or Amanda's vision of human nature? Explain.
5b. How do other characters in fiction, on TV, and in movies oppose their parents' world? What risks do they take? How often are they successful?
Setting. The Glass Menagerie is a play about people's dreams for the future. From what realities are the characters in the play escaping? What must Tom do if he is to confront reality and realize his dreams, rather than simply continuing to escape by going to the movies?
Cliché. Complete the chart below. On the left, list clichés that Amanda uses. On the right, paraphrase the clichés. One example has been done for you.
rise and shine
get up and greet the day with enthusiasm
1a. What news does Tom give his mother at the beginning of the scene?
2a. What plans does Amanda make?
3a. What warning does Amanda give Tom?
4a. Identify what Tom reveals about Jim O'Connor to Amanda.
5a. Who sees Laura more realistically, Tom or Amanda? Explain.
1b. Why is Amanda excited about Tom's news?
2b. What is irrational about Amanda's plans to refurbish the apartment?
3b. Why would these words of Amanda's be better spent on Laura than on Tom?
4b. Why does Amanda set all her hopes for Laura on Jim O'Connor?
5b. How might Laura react if she ran into Jim O'Connor on the street?
Dialogue. How does Tom talk to Amanda after she learns a gentleman caller will be coming? Then how does Amanda talk to Tom? Does the dialogue reveal that Tom, or that Amanda, is more realistic about the gentleman caller's visit?
Symbol. Complete the chart below. On the left list the symbols in act 1. On the right explain the meaning of these symbols. One example has been done for you.
Laura's tripping and falling on her way out to Garfinkle's Delicatessen
Laura's tripping and falling symbolizes her inability to operate on the most minimal level in the real world; she is unable to secure even the most basic of her needs.
