CHAPTER ISUMMARY OF THE GLASS MENAGERIE

Scene OneThe Wingfield apartment faces an alley in a lower-middle-class St. Louis tenement. There is a fire escape with a landing and a screen on which words or images periodically appear. One character, Toms father, does not appear onstage: he abandoned the family years ago and, except for a terse postcard from Mexico, has not been heard from since. However, a picture of him hangs in the living room.Tom enters the apartments dining room, where Amanda, his mother, and Laura, his sister, are eating. Amanda calls Tom to the dinner table and, once he sits down, repeatedly tells him to chew his food. Laura rises to fetch something, but Amanda insists that she sit down and keep herself fresh for gentlemen callers. Amanda then launches into what is clearly an oft-recited account of the Sunday afternoon when she entertained seventeen gentlemen callers in her home in Blue Mountain, Mississippi. At Lauras urging, Tom listens attentively and asks his mother what appear to be habitual questions. Oblivious to his condescending tone, Amanda catalogues the men and their subsequent fates, how much money they left their widows, and how one suitor died carrying her picture.Laura explains that no gentlemen callers come for her, since she is not as popular as her mother once was. Tom groans. Laura tells Tom that their mother is afraid that Laura will end up an old maid.

Scene TwoLaura is polishing her collection of glass figurines as Amanda, with a stricken face, walks up the steps outside. When Laura hears Amanda, she hides her ornaments and pretends to be studying a diagram of a keyboard. Amanda tears up the keyboard diagram and explains that she stopped by Rubicams Business College, where Laura is supposedly enrolled. A teacher there informed her that Laura has not come to class since the first few days, when she suffered from terrible nervousness and became physically ill. Laura admits that she has been skipping class and explains that she has spent her days walking along the streets of winter, going to the zoo, and occasionally watching movies.Amanda wonders what will become of the family now that Lauras prospects of a business career are ruined. She tells Laura that the only alternative is for Laura to get married. Amanda asks her if she has ever liked a boy. Laura tells her that, in high school, she had a crush on a boy named Jim, the school hero, who sat near her in the chorus. Laura tells her mother that once she told Jim that she had been away from school due to an attack of pleurosis. Because he misheard the name of the disease, he began calling her Blue Roses. Laura notes that at graduation time he was engaged, and she speculates that he must be married by now. Amanda declares that Laura will nonetheless end up married to someone nice. Laura reminds her mother, apologetically, that she is crippledthat one of her legs is shorter than the other. Amanda insists that her daughter never use that word and tells her that she must cultivate charm.

Scene ThreeTom addresses the audience from the fire escape, telling us about Amanda's determined preparation for a gentleman caller. Mention of the gentleman caller pops into every conversation in the Wingfield apartment, and the stage is haunted by the gentleman caller's projected image. Because it will take money to make their home presentable, Amanda takes a job searching for subscribers to The Homemaker's Companion, a magazine for women. We see Amanda speaking on the telephone to a woman whose subscription is about to run out. Amanda tells the woman that she needs to renew her subscription, trying to convince her with the prospect of a new serial novel that has just begun. Amanda alludes to Gone with the Wind, comparing the new serial to the famous story of Scarlett O'Hara. Eventually, the potential subscriber hangs up on Amanda.We then cut to a very different scene, of Tom and Amanda locked in a vicious argument, which is already in progress. A horrified Laura watches as Tom and Amanda scream at each other. Tom expresses outrage that Amanda confiscated his books. Amanda is not cowed, saying that she will not allow any books by "Mr. Lawrence" in her home. Tom responds that he is the one who pays the rent, and that he is the one who has given up his dreams to support their family. Stage directions indicate that the upright typewriter is surrounded by manuscripts in a state of disarray, and that the battle between Tom and Amanda was probably instigated by Amanda's interruption of Tom's writing. Amanda is also outraged because she does not know where Tom goes at night. She does not believe his claim that he spends his nights out at the movies, and she is angered by the drunken state in which he often returns home. She fears that his nights out jeopardize his day job, and that if he loses his job their security will be threatened.Tom fires back with anger and frustration that he goes to work every morning even though he hates it. And to Amanda's doubt about where he goes every night, Tom answers with a sarcastic speech that is one of the play's most famous and memorable moments. With bitter sarcasm, he warns her that by night he is a czar of the underworld and that his enemies plan to dynamite the Wingfield apartment. He calls his mother a witch. As he is trying to leave the apartment, he accidentally knocks over the glass menagerie. Amanda storms off, enraged, and Tom remorsefully helps Laura pick up pieces of her collection.

Scene FourAs the church bell strikes five am, a drunken Tom stumbles home. The script does not make clear exactly how much time has passed between Scene Four and the argument that ended Scene Three, but it has been no more than a few days. Laura, who sleeps on the couch, hears him and opens the door for him. Tom insists that he has been at the movies all night. When Laura expresses doubt that her brother could really have been at the movies all this time, Tom tells her about the length of the program and the magician that he went to see. He gives her a rainbow colored scarf as a souvenir from the magic show. The magician's most impressive trick was to escape from a coffin without removing a single nail. Tom is awestruck by the trick, and shares his wonder with Laura: "You know it don't take much intelligence to get yourself into a nailed-up coffin, Laura. But who in hell ever got himself out of one without removing one nail?" Cut to one hour later. After the church bell strikes six times, we hear Amanda calling out "Rise and Shine!" After just an hour of sleep, an exhausted Tom stumbles out of bed for another day of work at the warehouse. Laura, who has been sent to wake him, begs Tom to apologize to Amanda. Meanwhile, Amanda is calling out from the kitchenette for Laura to go get butter from the grocery store. Laura, exiting on the fire escape, slips and cries out. The noise gives Tom and Amanda a scare, but Laura seems to be fine. Awkwardly, Tom tries to apologize to Amanda as he takes his morning coffee. Amanda feels that she suffers and struggles for the sake of her children, and that her efforts go unappreciated by Tom. Tom tries to tell her that he doesn't hate her and that he understands her feelings. Amanda also tells Tom he cannot fail; without him, she cannot keep the family together. She believes that if Tom applies himself he will succeed; the idea of her children's success is an exhilarating one for her, and she becomes breathless just speaking about it. Amanda also asks Tom to promise that he will never be a drunkard. She exhorts him to eat, but he refuses everything except for black coffee, implying that he is hangover. Amanda is concerned. She tells Tom that Laura thinks he is unhappy. She asks why - and if - he goes to the movies every night. Tom responds that he likes lots of adventure, and that his job at the warehouse does not provide any. Amanda is worried that Tom will abandon them. Fearful for Laura's future, Amanda tells Tom that he can leave if he can find a replacement - a gentleman caller for Laura, who will eventually marry her and provide for her. Amanda exhorts Tom to overcome selfishness. An increasingly frustrated Tom tries to break off the conversation and go to work, but not before he begrudgingly agrees to look for a gentleman caller for his sister.

Scene fiveAmanda and Laura clear the table after dinner. Amanda nags Tom about his disheveled appearance and his smoking habits. Tom steps onto the fire-escape landing and addresses the audience, describing what he remembers about the area where he grew up. There was a dance hall across the alley, he tells us, from which music emanated on spring evenings. Rainbow refractions from the halls glass ball were visible through the Wingfields windows, and young couples kissed in the alley. Tom says that the way youth entertained themselves at the dance hall was a natural reaction to lives that, like his own, lacked any change or adventure. He notes, however, that his peers would soon be offered all the adventure they wanted as America prepared to enter World War II.Amanda joins Tom on the landing. They speak more gently than before, and each makes a wish on the moon. Tom refuses to tell what his wish is, and Amanda says that she wishes for the success and happiness of her children. Tom announces that there will be a gentleman caller: he has asked a nice young man from the warehouse to dinner. Amanda is thrilled, and Tom reveals that the caller will be coming the next day. This information agitates Amanda, who is overwhelmed by all the preparations that will need to be made before then. Tom tells her not to make a fuss, but he cannot stem the tide of her excitement. As she leads Tom back inside, Amanda frets about the linen, the silver, new curtains, chintz covers, and a new floor lamp, all the while despairing the lack of time to repaper the walls.Amanda proceeds to brush Toms hair while interrogating him about the young gentleman caller. Her first concern is that he not be a drunkard. Tom thinks she is being a bit hasty in assuming that Laura will marry the visitor. Amanda continues to press him for information and learns that the caller, who is named Jim OConnor, is a shipping clerk at the warehouse. Tom reveals that both sides of Jims family are Irish and that Jim makes eighty-five dollars a month. Jim is neither ugly nor too good-looking, and he goes to night school to study radio engineering and public speaking and is a proponent of self-improvement. Amanda is pleased by what she hears, particularly about his ambition. Tom warns her that Jim does not know that he has been invited specifically to meet Laura, stating that he offered Jim only a simple, unqualified invitation to dinner. This news does not matter to Amanda, who is sure that Laura will dazzle Jim. Tom asks her not to expect too much of Laura. He reminds Amanda that Laura is crippled, socially odd, and lives in a fantasy world. To outsiders who do not love her as family, Tom insists, Laura must seem peculiar. Amanda begs him not to use words like crippled and peculiar and asserts that Laura is strange in a good way.Tom gets up to leave. Amanda demands to know where he is going. He replies that he is going to the movies and leaves despite his mothers objections. Amanda is troubled, but her excitement quickly returns. She calls Laura out onto the landing and tells her to make a wish on the moon. Laura does not know what she should wish for. Amanda, overcome with emotion, tells her to wish for happiness and good fortune. Scene SixTom leans against the rail of the fire-escape landing, smoking, as the lights come up. He addresses the audience, recollecting the background of the gentleman caller. In high school, Jim OConnor was a star in everything he didan athlete, a singer, a debater, the leader of his classand everyone was certain that he would go far. Yet things did not turn out according to expectations. Six years out of high school, Jim was working a job that was hardly better than Toms. Tom remembers that he and Jim were on friendly terms. As the only one at the warehouse who knew about Jims past glories, Tom was useful to Jim. Jim called Tom Shakespeare because of his habit of writing poems in the warehouse bathroom when work was slow.Toms soliloquy ends, and the lights come up on a living room transformed by Amandas efforts over the past twenty-four hours. Amanda adjusts Lauras new dress. Laura is nervous and uncomfortable with all the fuss that is being made, but Amanda assures her that it is only right for a girl to aim to trap a man with her beauty. When Laura is ready, Amanda goes to dress herself and then makes a grand entrance wearing a dress from her youth. She recalls wearing that same dress to a cotillion (a formal ball, often for debutantes) in Mississippi, to the Governors Ball, and to receive her gentlemen callers. Finally, her train of memories leads her to recollections of Mr. Wingfield.Amanda mentions Jims name, and Laura realizes that the visitor is the same young man on whom she had a crush in high school. She panics, claiming that she will not be able to eat at the same table with him. Amanda dismisses Lauras terror and busies herself in the kitchen making salmon for dinner. When the doorbell rings, Amanda calls for Laura to get it, but Laura desperately begs her mother to open it instead. When Amanda refuses, Laura at last opens the door, awkwardly greets Jim, and then retreats to the record player. Tom explains to Jim that she is extremely shy, and Jim remarks, Its unusual to meet a shy girls nowadays.Jim and Tom talk while the women are elsewhere. Jim encourages Tom to join him in the public speaking course he is taking. Jim is sure that he and Tom were both meant for executive jobs and that social poise is the only determinant of success. However, Jim also warns Tom that, if Tom does not wake up, the boss will soon fire Tom at the warehouse. Tom says that his own plans have nothing to do with public speaking or executive positions and that he is planning a big change in his life. Jim, bewildered, asks what he means, and Tom explains vaguely that he is sick of living vicariously through the cinema. He is bored with the movies and wants to move, he says. Unbeknownst to Amanda, he has taken the money intended to pay for that months electric bill and used it to join the Union of Merchant Seamen. Tom announces rather proudly that he is taking after his father.Amanda, Jim, and Tom sit down at the table, where Amanda glances anxiously at Jim while Tom says grace. Laura, in the living room alone, struggles to contain a sob.

Scene SevenA half hour later, dinner is winding down. Laura is still by herself on the living-room couch. The floor lamp gives her face an ethereal beauty. As the rain stops, the lights flicker and go out. Amanda lights candles and asks Jim to check the fuses, but of course, he finds nothing wrong with them. Amanda then asks Tom if he paid the electric bill. He admits that he did not, and she assumes that he simply forgot, as Jims good humor helps smooth over the potentially tense moment. Amanda sends Jim to the parlor with a candelabra and a little wine to keep Laura company while Amanda and Tom clean up.In response to his question about what she has done since high school, Laura starts to tell Jim about her glass collection. He abruptly declares that she has an inferiority complex and that she low-rates herself. He says that he also suffered from this condition after his posthigh school disappointment. He launches into his vision of his own future in television production. Laura listens attentively. He asks her about herself again, and she describes her collection of glass animals. She shows him her favorite: a unicorn. He points out lightly that unicorns are extinct in modern times.Jim notices the music coming from the dance hall across the alley. Despite Lauras initial protests, he leads her in a clumsy waltz around the room. Jim bumps into the table where the unicorn is resting, the unicorn falls, and its horn breaks off. Laura is unfazed, though, and she says that now the unicorn can just be a regular horse. Extremely apologetic, Jim tells her that she is different from anyone else he knows, that she is pretty, and that if she were his sister he would teach her to have some self-confidence and value her own uniqueness. He then says that someone ought to kiss her.Jim kisses Laura on the lips. Dazed, Laura sinks down onto the sofa. He immediately begins chiding himself out loud for what he has done. As he sits next to her on the sofa, Jim confesses that he is involved with an Irish girl named Betty, and he tells her that his love for Betty has made a new man of him. Laura places the de-horned unicorn in his hand, telling him to think of it as a souvenir.Amanda enters in high spirits, carrying refreshments. Jim quickly becomes awkward in her presence. She insists that he become a frequent caller from now on. He says he must leave now and explains that he has to pick up Betty at the train stationthe two of them are to be married in June. Despite her disappointment, Amanda bids him farewell graciously. Jim cheerily takes his leave.Amanda calls Tom in from the kitchen and accuses him of playing a joke on them. Tom insists that he had no idea that Jim was engaged and that he does not know much about anyone at the warehouse. He heads to the door, intending to spend another night at the movies. Amanda accuses him of being a dreamer and rails against his selfishness as he leaves. Tom returns her scolding. Amanda tells him that he might as well go not just to the movies but to the moon, for all that he cares about her and Laura. Tom leaves, slamming the door.Tom delivers his passionate closing monologue from the fire-escape landing as Amanda inaudibly comforts Laura inside the apartment and then withdraws to her room. Tom explains that he was fired soon after from the warehouse for writing a poem on a shoebox lid and that he then left the family. He says that he has traveled for a long time, pursuing something he cannot identify. But he has found that he cannot leave Laura behind. No matter where he goes, some piece of glass or quality of light makes it seem as if his sister is at his side. In the living room, Laura blows the candles out as Tom bids her goodbye.

CHAPTER IITHE ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN CHARACTER

In this chapter, I identify the main character and analyze the social setting in the novel The Glass Menagerie.

2.1 Identification of Main CharacterAs I mentioned before, a character is someone in a literary work that has some sorts of identify that is made up by apperance, conversation, action, name, and possibly thought on the head.According to their function, characters can be divided into two: the main character and the subordinate characters. In this chapter, I would like to identify only the main character, that is Amanda Wingfield.

Event 1: Amanda, Tom and Laura get dinner.Tom enters the apartments dining room, where Amanda, his mother, and Laura, his sister, are eating. Amanda calls Tom to the dinner table and, once he sits down, repeatedly tells him to chew his food. Laura rises to fetch something, but Amanda insists that she sit down and keep herself fresh for gentlemen callers. Amanda then launches into what is clearly an oft-recited account of the Sunday afternoon when she entertained seventeen gentlemen callers in her home in Blue Mountain, Mississippi. At Lauras urging, Tom listens attentively and asks his mother what appear to be habitual question ns. Oblivious to his condescending tone, Amanda catalogues the men and their subsequent fates, how much money they left their widows, and how one suitor died carrying her picture.Amanda:(calling). Tom?Tom:Yes, mother,Amanda: We cant say grace until you come to the table!Tom: Coming, mother. (He bows slightly and withdraws, reappearing a few moments later in his place at the table)Amanda: Honey, dont push with your finger. If you to push with something, the thing to push with is a crust of bread. And chew- chew! Animal have section in their stomachs which enable them to digest food without mastication, but human being are supposed to chew their food before swallow it down. Eat food leisurely, son, and really enjoy it. A well-cooked meal has lots of delicate flavors that have to be held in the mouth for appreciation. So chew your food and give your salivary glands a change to function.

Event 2: Amanda get quarrel with Tom

Tom and Amanda locked in a vicious argument, which is already in progress. A horrified Laura watches as Tom and Amanda scream at each other. Tom expresses outrage that Amanda confiscated his books. Amanda is not cowed, saying that she will not allow any books by "Mr. Lawrence" in her home. Tom responds that he is the one who pays the rent, and that he is the one who has given up his dreams to support their family. Stage directions indicate that the upright typewriter is surrounded by manuscripts in a state of disarray, and that the battle between Tom and Amanda was probably instigated by Amanda's interruption of Tom's writing.Amanda: Presence! Have you gone out of your sense?Tom:I have, thats true, driven out!Amanda:What is the matter with you, youbigbigidiot!Tom:Look!Ive got no thing, no single thingAmanda:Lower your voice!Tom:In my life here that I can call my own! Everything isAmanda:Stop that shouting!Amanda:You will hear more, youTom:No, I wont hear more, Im going out!Amanda:You come right back inTom:Out, out, out! Because ImAmanda:Come back here, Tom Wingfield! Im not through talking to you!

Event 3: Amanda criticize Toms habit.Amanda doesnt like a bad habit of his son, Tom. Because of that, she always criticized every time Tom did such a bad habit, as in the following quote:Tom often went out at night to watch a movie. This makes Amanda angry and hurt. Amanda really doesnt like when her son went out just to watch a movie.Amanda:But, whywhy, Tomare you always so restless? Where do you go to, nights?Tom:Igo to the movies.Amanda:Why do you go to the movies so much, Tom?Tom:I go to the movies becauseI like adventure. Adventure is something I dont have much of at work, so I go to the movies.Amanda:But, Tom, you go to the movies entirely too much!Tom:I like a lot of adventure.

(Amanda looks baffled, then hurt. As the familiar inquisition resumes he becomes hard and impatient again. Amanda slips back into her querulous attitude toward him)

Another bad habit of Tom is smoking. This habit also makes Amanda angry. She doesnt like her son smoke because it can affect the health of Tom.Amanda:Where are you going?Tom: Im going out to smoke.Amanda:You smoke too much. A pack a day at fifteen cents a pack. How much would that amount to in a month? Thirty times fifteen is how much, Tom? Figure it out and you will be astounded at what you could save. Enough to give you a night-school course in accounting at Washington U! Just think what a wonderful thing that would be for you, Son!Tom:Id rather smoke. (He steps out on landing, letting the screen door slam.)

Event 4: Amanda want Tom getting another jobTom joined the Hogan gang, a hired assassin, hes carry a tommy-gun in a violin case. Its very dangerous job. One day, Amanda said to Tom that she doesnt like his job right now. She invited Tom to discuss about his job. She wanted Tom to have a decent job, so that he can be successful and can bring the good name of the Wingfield family.Amanda:Most young men find adventure in their careers.Tom:Then most young men are not employed in a warehouse.Amanda:The world is full of young men employed in warehouse and offices and factories.Tom:Do all of them find adventure in their careers?Amanda:They do or they do without it! Not everybody has a craze for adventure.Tom:Man is by instinct a lover, a hunter, a fighter, and none of those instinct are given much play at the warehouse!Amanda:Man is by instinct! Dont quote instinct to me! Instinct is something that people have got from! It belongs to animals!

Event 5: Amanda knew that Laura skipped schoolAn image of blue roses appears on the screen as the scene begins. Laura is polishing her collection of glass figurines as Amanda, with a stricken face, walks up the steps outside. When Laura hears Amanda, she hides her ornaments and pretends to be studying a diagram of a keyboard. Amanda tears up the keyboard diagram and explains that she stopped by Rubicams Business College, where Laura is supposedly enrolled. A teacher there informed her that Laura has not come to class since the first few days, when she suffered from terrible nervousness and became physically ill. Laura admits that she has been skipping class and explains that she has spent her days walking along the streets of winter, going to the zoo, and occasionally watching movies.Amanda: Laura, where have you been going when youve gone out pretending that you where going to business college?Laura: Ive just been walking.Amanda: Thats not true.Laura:It is. I just went walking.Amanda:From half past seven till after five every day you mean to tell me you walked around in the park, because you wanted to make me think that you were still going to Rubicams Business College?Laura:It wasnt as bad as sounds. I went inside place to get warmed up.Amanda:Inside where?Laura:I went in the art museum and the bird houses at the Zoo.

Event 6: Amanda asks Tom to find a man for Laura Amanda calling Tom to talk about Laura. She wants make some plans and provisions for Laura. Laura is a home girl and shes 2 years older than Tom, not yet married. Amanda wants Laura to immediately get a good man and not a drunken to become her husband. She wants someone keeping well for Laura. She doesnt want Laura to be a home girl forever. So, Amanda asking for help to her son, Tom, that he helped her find a mate for Laura.Amanda:You have five minutes. I want to talk about laura.Tom:All right! What about laura?Amanda:We have to be making some plans and provisions for her. Shes older than you, two years, and nothing has happened. She just drifts along doing nothing. It frightens me terribly how she just drifts along.Tom:I guess shes the type that people call home girls.Amanda:Theres no such type, and if there is, its a pity! That is, unless the home is hers, with a husband!Tom:What?Amanda:Find out one thats clean-livingdoesnt drink and askhim out for sister!Tom:What?Amanda:For sister! To meet! Get acquainted!Tom:(Stamping to door) Oh my go-osh!Amanda:Will you? (He opens door. Imploringly.) Will you? (He starts down) Will you? Will you, dear?Tom: (calling back) Yes.

Event 7: Amanda prepare everything to welcome the arrival of a man.Amanda is preparing for the arrival of a gentlemen caller, she dressed her daughter to look beautiful when she meet him. Amanda didnt want her daughter look bad with a flat chest, so she made something to tuck into Lauras chest, it looks more beautiful and attractive. Laura:What is it now?[Amanda produces two powder puffs which she wraps in handkerchiefs and stuffs in Lauras bosom]Laura:Mother, what are you doing?Amanda:They call them Gay DeceiversLaura:I wont wear themAmanda:You willLaura:Why should I?Amanda:Because, to be painfully honest, your chest is flat.Laura:You make it seem like we were setting a trap.Amanda:All pretty girls are a trap, a pretty trap, and men expect them to be.Now look at yourself, young lady. This is the pretties you will ever be!Amanda is also preparing the food to welcome the arrival of a gentleman caller. The quote would seem obvious that Amanda was busy in the kitchen, so when the doorbell rang she told her daughter to open the door.Laura:[Panicky] Oh, Motheryou answer the door!Amanda:[Lightly] Ill be in the kitchenbusy!Laura:Oh, Mother, please answer the door, dont make me do it!Amanda:[Crossing into kitchenette] Ive got to fix the dressing for the salmon. Fuss, fusssilliness! over a gentleman caller!Event 8: Amanda knows that the man will getting marriedAfter Jim spoke with Laura, then he decide to speak with Amanda. With very serious face, he slowly explained about the relationship between Laura and him, and also another girl.After Jim tells the detail from the beginning to the end, he said that he would get married soon with a girl named Betty. Amanda is very surprised with the Jims statement. However, she cant do anything and just say congratulation for Jim. Amanda:Why, Laura! You look so serious!Jim:We were having a serious conversation.Amanda:Good! Now youre better acquainted!Jim:(Uncertainly) Ha-ha! Yes.Jim:I have a couple of time-clocks to punch, Mrs. Wingfield. One at morning, another one at night!Amanda:My, but you are ambitious! You work at night, too?Jim:No, Maam, not work butBetty!Amanda:Betty? Betty? WhosBetty?Jim:Oh, just a girl. The girls I go steady with! (He smiles charmingly)Amanda:(A long-drawn exhalation) Ohhh Is it a serious romance, Mr. Oconnor?Jim:Were going to be married the second Sunday in June.Amanda:Ohhhhow nice!

Event 9: Amanda was very disappointed with the quest of a man to LauraAmanda actually deeply regrets with the decision of Jim, will be married soon. She was very upset because her daughter marry off with her mothers choice. She was disappointed to Tom, because the men that he chose was engaged. Actually, Tom doesnt know if Jim was engaged and married soon.Amanda:Tom!Tom:Yes, Mother?Amanda:Come in here a minute. I want to tell you something awfully funny.Tom:Has the gentlemen caller gotten away already?Amanda:The gentlemen caller has made an early departure. What a wonderful joke you play on us!Tom:How do you mean?Amanda:You didnt mention that he was engaged to be married.Tom:Jim? Engaged?Amanda:Thats what he just informed us.Tom:Ill be jiggered! I didnt know about that.Amanda:That seems very peculiar.Tom:Whats peculiar about it?Amanda:Didnt you call him your best friend down at the warehouse?Tom:He is, but how did I know?Amanda:It seems extremely peculiar that you wouldnt know your best friend was going to be married!

After I analyzed of events in this story, the figure which is build the whole story, from the beginning until the end, it is true that Amanda was a central figure (main character) in this story. This is apparent because she always plays a role in each sequence.

CHAPTER IIITHE DESCRIPTION OF AMERICAN FAMILY IN 20th CENTURY

Defining the typical U.S. family structure has never been an easy task. Early in the 20th century, idealized pictures of a typical U.S. family that portrayed a successful husband and a dutiful wife raising the children were very popular. The true U.S. family structure requires a broader description than this picture portrays. Regardless of structure, families are the primary social structure of society designed to equip children to become productive adults.

1. The Relationship of American FamilyRelatively fewer of us are living in family households, and particularly in traditional nuclear families, than did so earlier in the 20 century. The trend toward living in nonfamily household (usually alone) is associated with widowhood at older ages, the increased incidence of divorce among adults of all ages, and delayed married among young adults.Within marriage or marriage-like relationships, the appropriate roles for each partner are shifting as American society accepts and values more equal roles for men and women. The widening role of fathers has become a major agent of change in the family.Relationships between members of the family in modern American family life is revealed affected by kinship ties in 19th - century, but the relationship began to loosen the20th century. Ups and downs of modern American family life 20th century describe the change the aspects of the relationship between members' families. Relationships between family members who previously concerned family above personal interests turned into individualistic.2. The Reality/Fact of American FamilyAmerican families have changed in many ways in this century, as our population adapted to evolving technologies, economic conditions, and social trends; changes were particularly pronounced during the 1960s and 1970s, as the baby-boom generation reached adulthood.Economic roles within the family have shifted significantly in the post-World War II years. In particular, regardless of the presence of children, including infants, wives now are more likely to work outside the home than to work solely as homemakers.Clearly the American family, like all families in the Western industrial countries, is now profoundly different from what it had been in the recorded past. It typically is a household with few children, with both parents working, and with mothers producing their children at ever older ages. At the same time, more adults than ever before are living alone or with unmarried companions and more women than ever before are giving birth out of wedlock. These trends have profoundly changed the American family and are unlikely to be reversed any time soon.

3. Single ParentSingle-parent families are families with children under age 18 headed by a parent who is widowed or divorced and not remarried, or by a parent who has never married.One out of every two children in the United States will live in a single-parentfamilyat some time before they reach age 18. According the United States Census Bureau, in 2002 about 20 million children lived in a household with only their mother or their father. This is more than one-fourth of all children in the United States.Since 1950, the number of one-parent families has increased substantially. In 1970, about 11 percent of children lived in single-parent families. During the 1970s,divorcebecame much more common, and the number of families headed by one parent increased rapidly. The number peaked in the 1980s and then declined slightly in the 1990s. By 1996, 31 percent of children lived in single-parent families. In 2002, the number was 28 percent. Many other children have lived in single-parent families for a time before their biological parent remarried, when they moved into a two-parent family with one biological parent and one step parent.The reasons for single-parent families have also changed. In the mid-twentieth century, most single-parent families came about because of the death of a spouse. In the 1970s and 1980s, most single-parent families were the result of divorce. In the early 2000s, more and more single parents have never married. Many of these single parents live with an adult partner, sometimes even theunmarriedfather of their child. These families are counted by the Census Bureau as single-parent families, although two adults are present. Still other families are counted as single-parent families if the parents are married, but one is away for an extended period, for example, on military deployment.4. Status of ChildrenWhile there is little question that poverty rates have increased among U.S. children, living conditions for children have improved in many ways especially in the poorest households. Poor children are increasingly better So also with Laura, she was a submissive teen girl, sometimes skipping school and when he was not ready to get married, let alone an arranged marriage by her mother..without a complete bathroom, with leaky roofs, holes in the floor, no central heat, no electric outlets, or no sewer or septic system has declined substantially. Children are less likely to live in crowded housing conditions, though the safety and vibrancy of the neighborhoods surrounding these residences may have deteriorated over time.Poor children today are also more likely to receive medical attention than in the past. The percentage of children who had not visited a doctor in the previous year declined, especially during the 1970s. Poor children are more likely to be immunized than in the past. Children at the bottom of the income distribution became more likely to live in families that owned an air conditioner and had telephone service. The improvement in these indicators raises the possibility that trends in official poverty based on money income do not adequately capture trends in material hardship of children. Children's housing, health, and access to certain items such as telephones and air conditioning seem to have improved over time, even among those with the lowest one-fifth of income. The most dramatic improvement took place during the 1970s, but conditions have not deteriorated since then and some indicators (access to air conditioning, for example) suggest continued improvement.

5. Women RightsSpruill's lecture, based on her book in progress, highlighted the transformation of American political culture in the 1970s and the "origins of the highly partisan, deeply polarized political climate we now inhabit." She described the UN International Women's Year conferences that were held in the United States during 1977 and noted that they served to galvanize interest in gender issues among social conservatives as well as feminists.The capstone of the IWY conferences was the National Women's Conference, held in Houston in November of 1977. Influenced by widespread support among politicians for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), the conference drew an astonishing 20,000 people, ranging from elected delegates and students to homemakers and celebrities. Unaware that one outcome of the conference would be backlash, feminist leaders believed that the event would increase awareness of and inspire debate on family and gender issues.Although both feminists and conservatives at the conferences were confident in their respective arguments, Spruill believes the "IWY conferences produced no definitive victory for either side. Rather, the IWY conflict ushered in a new era in American politics." While opposition to the IWY by conservatives increased throughout the 1970s, women's rights issues became a leading topic on the national agenda as IWY participants "moved the movement" beyond its white middle-class base.By the 1980s, feminists began to encounter many political disappointments and challenges. The women's rights planks in Democratic and Republican Party platforms revealed the nation's extreme polarization. Conservatives found their "champion" in Ronald Reagan, who led the Republican Party to reverse its forty-year history of support for the ERA. The defeat of the ERA, Spruill noted, was a huge symbolic blow to the women's rights movement, leaving many people with the impression that the movement had failed."

CHAPTER IVTHE REFLECTION OF AMERICAN FAMILY IN DRAMA OF THE GLASS MENAGERIE

As I mention before, description of American family in 20th century is one part of extrinsic element in literature. According to their function, I have already explain about the detail of description American family in 20th century. I would like to analyze about the description of American family in 20th century contained in quote of The Glass Menagerie.

1. The Relationship of American FamilyA blown-up photograph of the father hangs on the wall of the living room, facing the audience, to the left of the archway. It is the face of a very handsome young man in a doughboys First World War cap. He is gallantly smiling, ineluctably smiling, as if to say, I will be smiling forever.The father left them a long time ago. He was telephone man who fell in love with long distance, he gave up his job with the telephone company and skipped the light fantastic out of town. .Amanda:(calling). Tom?Tom:Yes, mother,Amanda: We cant say grace until you come to the table!Tom: Coming, mother. (He bows slightly and withdraws, reappearing a few moments later in his place at the table)Amanda: Honey, dont push with your finger. If you to push with something, the thing to push with is a crust of bread. And chew- chew! Animal have section in their stomachs which enable them to digest food without mastication, but human being are supposed to chew their food before swallow it down. Eat food leisurely, son, and really enjoy it. A well-cooked meal has lots of delicate flavors that have to be held in the mouth for appreciation. So chew your food and give your salivary glands a change to function.

2. The Reality/Fact of American FamilyTom and Amanda locked in a vicious argument, which is already in progress. A horrified Laura watches as Tom and Amanda scream at each other. Tom expresses outrage that Amanda confiscated his books. Amanda is not cowed, saying that she will not allow any books by "Mr. Lawrence" in her home. Tom responds that he is the one who pays the rent, and that he is the one who has given up his dreams to support their family. Stage directions indicate that the upright typewriter is surrounded by manuscripts in a state of disarray, and that the battle between Tom and Amanda was probably instigated by Amanda's interruption of Tom's writing.Amanda: Presence! Have you gone out of your sense?Tom:I have, thats true, driven out!Amanda:What is the matter with you, youbigbigidiot!Tom:Look!Ive got no thing, no single thingAmanda:Lower your voice!Tom:In my life here that I can call my own! Everything isAmanda:Stop that shouting!Amanda:You will hear more, youTom:No, I wont hear more, Im going out!Amanda:You come right back inTom:Out, out, out! Because ImAmanda:Come back here, Tom Wingfield! Im not through talking to you!

3. Single ParentAmanda as a single parent, she had to take care of her own children. She wants the best for their children, and the attention only to her children. She wanted tom, her son became a good child and adult. She wanted Laura, her daughter became a young girl a good, obedient.

Tom joined the Hogan gang, a hired assassin, hes carry a tommy-gun in a violin case. Its very dangerous job. One day, Amanda said to Tom that she doesnt like his job right now. She invited Tom to discuss about his job. She wanted Tom to have a decent job, so that he can be successful and can bring the good name of the Wingfield family.

Amanda:Most young men find adventure in their careers.Tom:Then most young men are not employed in a warehouse.Amanda:The world is full of young men employed in warehouse and offices and factories.Tom:Do all of them find adventure in their careers?Amanda:They do or they do without it! Not everybody has a craze for adventure.Tom:Man is by instinct a lover, a hunter, a fighter, and none of those instinct are given much play at the warehouse!Amanda:Man is by instinct! Dont quote instinct to me! Instinct is something that people have got from! It belongs to animals!

4. Status of ChildrenAs eldest son, Tom had to help Amanda, replacing the figure of a father who has been gone. However, a child is still young, still has the desire to play, watch, and go out at night. even though it was bad though.Tom often went out at night to watch a movie. This makes Amanda angry and hurt. Amanda really doesnt like when her son went out just to watch a movie.Amanda:But, whywhy, Tomare you always so restless? Where do you go to, nights?Tom:Igo to the movies.Amanda:Why do you go to the movies so much, Tom?Tom:I go to the movies becauseI like adventure. Adventure is something I dont have much of at work, so I go to the movies.Amanda:But, Tom, you go to the movies entirely too much!Tom:I like a lot of adventure.(Amanda looks baffled, then hurt. As the familiar inquisition resumes he becomes hard and impatient again. Amanda slips back into her querulous attitude toward him)

So also with Laura, she was a submissive teen girl, sometimes skipping school and when he was not ready to get married, let alone an arranged marriage by her mother..When Laura hears Amanda, she hides her ornaments and pretends to be studying a diagram of a keyboard. Amanda tears up the keyboard diagram and explains that she stopped by Rubicams Business College, where Laura is supposedly enrolled. A teacher there informed her that Laura has not come to class since the first few days, when she suffered from terrible nervousness and became physically ill. Laura admits that she has been skipping class and explains that she has spent her days walking along the streets of winter, going to the zoo, and occasionally watching movies.Amanda: Laura, where have you been going when youve gone out pretending that you where going to business college?Laura: Ive just been walking.Amanda: Thats not true.Laura:It is. I just went walking.Amanda:From half past seven till after five every day you mean to tell me you walked around in the park, because you wanted to make me think that you were still going to Rubicams Business College?Laura:It wasnt as bad as sounds. I went inside place to get warmed up.Amanda:Inside where?Laura:I went in the art museum and the bird houses at the Zoo.

5. Woman Rights

CHAPTER VCONCLUSION

After I analyze the main character in the drama of The Glass Menagerie with method of identifying a main character, stating that Amanda as the main character in the drama.This can be evidenced by the analysis of events featured in the story as a whole. Amanda always involved figures of every event in the story and have a strong character.

27