Class notes on Scene 1 Tom finishes talking to the audience directly and becomes a cast member.

member. Amanda nags Tom about his eating habits and his smoking. Laura acting as a peacemaker rises to bring in the dessert. Amanda becomes nostalgic for her time when single in blue mountain. She received 17 gentleman callers whereas Laura has not received any. As Amanda discusses the wealthy white society she used to mixed in it becomes clear that she is racist, classist, and has come down socially in the world because she married badly. Clearly, Tom and Laura have heard this story many times before. Laura becomes increasingly pressured to be like her mother. Music: The GM(title) tune played is associated with Laura and has a mocking effect. Scene 2 Scene 3 Laura's fragility is emphasized by the delicate ivory chair, the soft violet kimono, and the glass she is polishing. Amanda's clothes and her imitation fur collar show her desire to keep up appearances. The D.A.R. is the Daughters of the American Revolution. For upper class white women who could trace their family to that time (1776). The huge pocket book she carries symbolizes her desire to control or organize people and their lives. Amanda enters deliberately over-acting and rips ups Laura's typewriter and shorthand charts. Laura admits she stopped going to Secretarial School. When you cross the Rubicon means to make a step than you cannot take back. Compare Julius Cesar to Laura. Ironic contrast comparing her to Julius Cesar(Great man of history) to a quiet, shy girl that dropped out of school. Rubicon's Business College is used to create an ironic contrast between Julius Cesar crossing the Rubicon and Laura failing and dropping out. When stressed by her mother Laura puts a record on the Victrola symbolizing how she takes refuge on the memory of her father. Laura identifies with the penguins in the zoo as their pen (their cage) is a safe place for them. She is also associated with the tropical flowers inside the Jewel Box. Amanda's next plan is to marry Laura off. Amanda does not consult with Laura on this. Laura talks about Jim with whom she had a crush on in High School. He called her "Blue roses" suggesting that she is strange or different. Laura describes herself as crippled because she wears a leg brace, showing her insecurity. Amanda tells Laura to stop using that word and develop charm. Another unrealistic expectation Amanda reveals her husband's charm was what fooled her.

Amanda starts raising money to spend on Laura. She sells The Homemaker's Companions magazine to middle age women like herself by telephone, but fails. The pure white light on Laura emphasizes her innocence and purity. Tom and Amanda are arguing over her meddling/ interfering in his private life. Amanda returned Tom's novel to the library by D.H. Lawrence; a controversial writer who included sex between different social classes in his work. The red light on Tom and Amanda emphasizes the quarrel or argument. Tom claims to go to the movies every night, Amanda does not believe him. Tom calls Amanda " An ugly, babbling, old, witch", upsetting her. When Tom throws his coat and hits the Glass Menagerie he stops to pick up the fallen glass showing he loves his sister. Scene 4 Tom returns at 5 in the morning drunk, losing his key trying to enter. The shower of movie tickets show that he has been going to the cinema but the empty bottle shows that he has been drinking too. Tom gives Laura a magic scarf symbolizing her need of transformation When Tom explains the magic show he reveals he is an experienced drinker because he recognizes the Whisky in the show. The coffin trick reminds Tom of how trapped he feels at home and what his father did to escape. One hour later the apartment wakes up and Laura asks Tom to apologize to Amanda. Amanda intends to pay for butter on the local store on credit showing their difficult financial situation. When Laura goes to buying she trips on leaving the apartment symbolizing her difficulty in interacting with the outside world. Her fragility when dealing with the outside world. The top lighting on Amanda exaggerates the lines around her eyes making her look old and unsympathetic, not appealing. The Ave Maria music is to remember her sacrifice ironic contrast between the Virgin Mary's actual suffering and Amanda's imagined suffering. (Drama queen) Amanda wants to invite Tom's workmate for Laura, and he eventually agrees. Amanda alludes to Sparta suggesting they must be strong to survive in the world. When Tom says " Man is by instinct a lover, a hunter, a fighter" He, in tone, makes an allusion. This time to D.H. Lawrence because he wrote the first sex scene in literature. Amanda makes bargain with Tom if he finds someone for Laura he can leave. On leaving, Tom pulls his scarf tight symbolizing the way his mother is choking him. The scene ends optimistically as Amanda seems to be making a successful sale.

Scene 5

The screen image annunciation creates an ironic contrast between the gentleman caller and the Angel Gabriel message to virgin Mary that she would be carrying God's son. Amanda begins by nagging Tom about his hair and his smoking. The newspaper headline tells us the Spanish civil war is ending, it is 1939. WWII about to begin. Amanda wants Tom to give up smoking in order to train to be an accountant showing her desire to control showing that her mother does not him. She messes up her relationship to her children. Note Tom's close association with the fire escape. Whenever he smokes he goes there to escape. Across the alley is the ironically name Paradise Dance Hall. It adds dancing and sex as two more temporary escapes from reality. Others are going to the movies, drinking and smoking, associated with Tom. Non is lasting. Tom alludes to Berchtesgaden, Hitler's residence; Chamberlain, Britain's prime minister; Guernica, ; reminding us that WWII is on the way. When Tom alludes to the Sphinx, he says that Amanda is very obvious. Amanda has only one day to get the act ready but is impressed that the gentleman caller goes to night school. She is worried that the gentleman caller is Irish he may drink like her husband did. Tom is compared to an oyster because he speaks little. When Amanda invites Laura to wish on the moon Laura is unsure what to wish for suggesting either she is happy as she is or dominated by her mother o both. Note how Amanda thinks in stereotypes.