The Glass Menagerie Group

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orangewoodchristian
orangewoodch...

What is the meaning of the title "The Glass Menagerie?"

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Posted by orangewoodchristian on Wednesday September 23, 2009 at 7:47 AM and tagged with gentleman caller, glass menagerie, inferiority complex, jim, laura, tennessee willaims.

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  1. lit24
    lit24 Teacher
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    Tennessee Williams staged his play "The Glass Menagerie" in the year 1944 in Chicago.  The word 'menagerie' means a collection of wild animals kept privately or for the public to  view.

    In the play Laura has her own private collection of glass animal dolls and the play is called "The Glass Menagerie" after Laura's collection of glass animal dolls. In Scene 7 Laura shows Jim the Gentleman Caller this  collection and remarks,

    "most of them are little animals made out of glass, the tiniest little animals in the world. Mother calls them a glass menagerie!"

    These glass dolls are of symbolic importance in the play. They are a source of comfort to Laura who is a cripple and suffers from an inferiority complex because of this. Whenever she is upset or nervous she plays with these dolls to cheer herself up.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/glass-menagerie/characters
    http://www.enotes.com/glass-menagerie/essays-criticism
    http://www.enotes.com/glass-menagerie/themes

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    Posted by lit24 on Wednesday September 23, 2009 at 8:05 AM