Gillian Ong
English A1 HL
The Glass Menagerie Essay
Words Complete our Image: Speech in The Glass Menagerie
They say actions speak louder than words, but do they really? The Glass Menagerie tells the story of the life of a lower-middle class family consisting of three members, Amanda the loud and boisterous mother, who just wants the best for her children, Tom the narrator, and son who also is the main provider for the family, and Laura the shy ‘crippled’ daughter who lives in her fantasy world with her glass menagerie. The family is formed with each member taking up responsibility, and obligations. As the play unfolds, the family comes across different obstacles that affect their relationship with each other. The story line is represented mostly by speech, which brings us to the power of speech. Speech plays an important factor in most plays, and Tennessee Williams does use visual action to present many ideas, however speech is the most important dramatic feature within The Glass Menageries as presented through the characters.
The definition of Visual Action, in the case of The Glass Menagerie are used to emphasize motion and acts by enhancing each , which can bring use to partially understand the idea that needs to come across, but dialogue lets us understand fully what each idea or act can mean, and also brings us to the complete understanding of the play. This is used numerous times in the dialogue of Tom in The Glass Menagerie. Tom’s rebellious and depressed state, lead him to abandon the family is best conveys through speech. A sign of Tom wanting his life to be changed which is represented through his rebellion, is in the quote ‘This was the compensation for lives that passed like mine without any change or adventure. Adventure and change were imminent this year’ (Page 265) This conveys to us the dull and bland feeling Tom feels his life is expressing, and this is a significant step towards the event of him running away later on in the play. The quote ‘I’m going to opium dens! Yes, opium dens, dens of vice and criminals’ hang-outs, Mother.’ (Page 252) and ‘I’ll rise – but I won’t shine’ (Page 256) is used to put across the fact that Tom’s rebellion has been taken to an extent where Amanda is scared, as shown in the quotes like ‘Promise, Son, you’ll – never be a drunkard!’ and ‘That’s what frightened me so…’ (Page 258) and this is highly significant, as it also relates to when Tom leaves his family later on in the play. Another quote would be ‘I haven’t enjoyed one bite of this dinner because of your constant directions on how to eat it. … Sickening - spoils my appetite – all this discussion of – animal secretion – salivary glands – mastication! (Page 236) This quote is early on in the beginning of the play, and already shows us Tom arguing with his family, which is relevant as to foreshadowing his leave at the end of the play. Tom’s constant unhappiness has caused complications in the family when he leaves them without electricity
