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How is The Glass Menagerie a tragedy?
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The Glass Menagerie is a tragedy because each member of the Wingfield family suffers from unfulfilled dreams, loneliness, and emotional scars. Amanda's plan for Jim O'Connor to court Laura fails, leading to further disappointment and Tom's eventual abandonment of the family. The play's ending is tragic as it signals the emotional devastation and broken relationships within the family.
"The Glass Menagerie" is a tragedy because the Wingfields are all living with disappointment, loneliness and a sense of abandonment.
Amanda abandoned by her husband, struggles with her loneliness and barely keeps her disappointment contained. The crushing blow, of course, is the news that Jim is engaged and that Tom did not know it. Amanda's expectations are never met in this play. She is constantly turned away, first when she tries to sell magazine subscriptions on the telephone, then by her son, who can't understand his demanding, controlling mother beyond her obvious displays of a past that is probably exaggerated. Tom and Amanda never really communicate. There is no real sense of family between the Wingfields. They are hollow, just going through the motions of being a family.
Amanda is so lonely, more so than Tom or Laura, because they have each other. Tom and Laura are both dreamers not doers....
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Amanda is locked in the past, the only place where she is welcome.
The end of this play is also tragic, not because someone dies, but because it signals the death of a relationship, between Tom and Laura. Tom is then set adrift in the world of his choosing, haunted by the memory of his sister.
Dictionary.com defines tragedy as "a dramatic composition, often in verse, dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person destined through a flaw of character or conflict with some overpowering force, as fate or society, to downfall or destruction" ("Tragedy"). In The Glass Menagerie, we definitely have somber themes and serious themes of family strife, resentment, anger, etc. There is clearly dysfunction in this family and Tom has been held back from being able to do the things he wants to do because of his feelings of being obligated to support his family since he is the only male. Although he is able to "escape" the oppressive environment that he has lived in with Amanda and Laura, he doesn't really seemed destined for greatness. He has only been able to distance himself from them, but he still feels guilty about leaving Laura, his sister. He will not forget this:
When he functions as narrator at a time several years after the action of the play, readers understand that he has escaped physically but not emotionally. (eNotes)
References
Is The Glass Menagerie a modern tragedy? Why or why not?
The answer depends to a large degree on how one uses the term "modern tragedy." In one way, the term can be considered an oxymoron as a tragedy is a genre of ancient Greek drama. According to Aristotle, a tragedy portrays a noble protagonist who possesses a flaw (usually "hubris") that leads to his or her ultimate downfall. The main effect of tragedy is to evoke fear and pity in the audience. This is accomplished by having a fundamentally great or admirable protagonist whose downfall evokes empathy.
One could argue that Amanda Wingfield is a tragic protagonist since she is a southern belle whose imprudent marriage and abandonment by her husband have led to her downfall, although much of that occurred before the actual action of the play. On the other hand, she may be more flawed than a traditional tragic heroine. Laura does not follow a tragic trajectory nor does Tom, who escapes the main tragic situation of the play. Although the play could be considered tragic in the sense of portraying human suffering and evoking fear and pity, it does not really follow the narrative trajectory of a tragedy, but instead is a fully modern drama.
The Glass Menagerie is a modern literary tragedy. Here's the definition of tragedy from the eNotes Guide to Literary Terms:
In literature, tragedy refers to any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusion.
The tone of Williams' play is certainly somber, a "memory play" that captures the disintegration of the Wingfield family and the individual sufferings of Amanda, Laura, and Tom. Each of the Wingfields is trapped by circumstances. Laura is crippled, emotionally as well as physically, unable to function in the world outside the family's shabby apartment. Amanda finds herself abandoned by her husband during the Depression, lacking the education or skills to support her family. Tom lives each day with the anger and frustration of unfulfilled dreams, going to a job he detests in order to buy another week's survival for his mother and sister.
Enter Jim O'Connor, another of Amanda's schemes to find security for Laura--and by extension, for herself--and the drama descends into its "disastrous conclusion." Laura's brief moments of happiness with her engaged "gentleman caller" end for her in heartbreak and further emotional withdrawal. Tom leaves home for good after a bitter argument with his mother, and Amanda is left to manage alone without Tom, always her worst fear. The family, as troubled as it was, is broken. The tragedy is further emphasized by Tom's life after storming out of the apartment. He finds he can't escape by running away. There will never be an escape for him. No matter where in the world he travels, he forever will be tied through memory and emotion to the sister he abandoned.