TGM: Nonrealistic, but not Unrealistic

The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams

 

Although stated in the stage directions of the play, the audience is soon able to understand that The Glass Menagerie is a nonrealistic play. The first hint is that "the play is memory" and the memory is Tom's (Williams, 1236). The second, more noticeable, hint is the music that plays in the background of the action. Even though it would make life more entertaining at some points, our reality does not include the pleasure of a nice composition to accompany our moods. The music, played during several points throughout the play, helps the audience to empathize with the emotions that Tom connects with his memories.

However, the action in the play is not unrealistic. A middle-aged crippled woman who is unlikely to find a suitor if she spends most of her time locked away in her apartment, a man working at a dead-end job and craving adventure, an engaged man who slips to his desires, but regains his senses, and a mother who only wants the best for her daughter are all very real characters. Therefore, the realistic nature of the characters allows the audience to connect with the play even though it is unrealistic both in production and the manner in which it is written.