Script Analysis: Glass Menagerie, Term Paper Example

Part One: The Setting

Through showing Laura engage in a childlike activity, like washing the glass ornaments, it is clearly visible for the audience that the character has no practical sense. However, when her mother appears, she engages in deceiving her: sits down by the typewriter. She pretends that she can be useful, even though she is weak and childish. Her mother tells her that she is not an adult in her opinion (80).

Part Two: The Fear “Please, Don’ Stare at Me, Mother”

Laura cannot face the anger of her mother, just like she is unable to face conflict and life’s difficulties. She is unable to see the consequences of her actions.

Part Three: The Truth

The mother tells Laura about her visit to the business school she was supposed to attend. Amanda tells her that she spoke to the instructor, who informed her that Laura has dropped out. Meanwhile, Laura does not react at all, simply sits and listens. She only answers when she is asked a direct question (65-68). Laura reveals that she passed her time at the zoo and the museum.

Part Four: “The Lesser of Two Evils”

For Laura, (76) hiding in the park and catching a cold was easier than going back to school after the humiliation. She simply could not go back. She is unable to face the truth and real life, and that is why he escaped to her own world. If she could not be among her glass ornaments, she chose to adore the birds, plants, and the art pieces. However, her statement that she chose the “lesser of two evils” can be also understood that it was better to pretend to go to school than to tell her mother the truth (3).

Part Five: The Idea: “Laura, Haven’t You Ever Liked Some Boy?”

Her mother has an idea, which further develops in the scene. The seemingly random question gains significance later, when she reveals her “alternative plan about her daughter. She does not even pay attention to her daughter’s story. She is not interested in emotions, only practical solutions that can get her family out of financial and social troubles. Unlike her daughter, she is a practical woman, and this is why the two characters do not understand each other at all.

Part Six: Blue Roses (Memory Play)

In this part, the memory play appears once again. A narrative within a narrative occurs, when Laura tells her mother about a boy who used to call her “blue roses”. The boy is possibly married now, and Laura is completely indifferent about him; does not know how to fight for something she wants.

Part Seven: Revealing the Plans “Sister, That’s What You’ll Do!”

Half-listening to the memories of Laura, her mother tells her that if she is “not cut out for business school”, she needs to marry. Her ears are closed to all objections, but Laura is not very quick in objecting, either. The only objection she makes is that she is not suitable for marriage.

The objection that Laura makes is that she is “crippled”, which is dismissed by her mother, saying: “nonsense”. By now, it is clear that Laura has no choice, and the mother has all the authority in the relationship. She does not consider the weakness of her daughter, and states that the simple solution for Laura is to “develop some charm” and be just like her late father. She does not even think that this would be a hard task for Laura.