The Glass Menagerie-Scenes 1-6

In Tennesse Williams', The Glass Menagerie, the reader first has the Winfield apartment described. The apartment seems to be small and in an urban area. The fire escape and narrow alleys are constantly noted in Williams stage directions. As far as I could see this could come from the fact Tom may be trying to escape the home he is use to, as explained later on. A picture of their father also hangs on the wall, almost like he still watches over them. The audience can also see a collection of Laura's "glass menagerie". Once the play begins, Tom shows himself, and establishes himself as the narrator of the play. The audience learns more of when the play takes place, -the 1930's. Tom describes that during this era war was in Spain, and a new kind of America was unfolding. In other words America was falling apart. "Here there were disturbances of labour, sometimes pretty violent, in otherwise peaceful cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, Saint Louis", the audience gets a direct feel of what the 30's were like. There was lack of constant work, sometimes violence, yet in cities that seemed to offer so much more. At the beginning of the play, Tom also describes the characters, his mother Amanda, his sister Laura, a gentlemen caller and his father.
In the first scene, the audience immediatly feels the tension between Amanda and Tom. Amanda constantly telling him to do something a certain way, whether how to eat a certain way,"..human beings are suppose to chew their food before they swallow it down" or about his attitude, "Temperament like a Metropolitan star". Amanda also begins to tell a story about her past and how she had plenty-gentlemen callers, wanting the same for Laura. This is a reccurring theme throughout the play, Amanda constantly returning to the past. The audience also learns about Laura and how she is "crippled", a very strong word, in which Amanda did not want anybody to say about her daughter. This alone shows Amanada's denial about her own daughter's physical state. Amanda wants a lot for her daughter and wants Laura to find love and happiness, yet Laura is constantly sick and almost lifeless. In scence two the reader begins to see a mother really questioning her daughter's own abilites and her future. In this scence Amanda finds out Laura never went to her classes and dropped out of college. Instead Laura would walk around the park. Once again the audience feels the lack of influence Amanda has on her daughter yet, Amanda insists she is right every time."So what are we going to do the rest of our lives? Stay home and watch parades go by?", here the audience can see Amanda strictness towards laura. Amanda never really questions herself as a Mother, and neither of the children do either. Amanda needs to look and step back a bit and let her children enjoy themselves a bit. The reader begins to feel utter annoyance from the way a mother could bash her children literally every time they sit at the dinner table.
Yet even though Amanda and Laura have tension, Tom and Laura get along very well and are very good friends. That being said, the audience can easily reconginze the real tension is between Amanda and Tom. The whole third scence is dedicated to this fight about a book and how Amanda , brought the book back to the library, and the argument only escaltes from there. Also Amanda begins to bash Tom on how he constantly goes to the movies, and doesn't directly say it but implies, he is living in somewhat of a fantasy world."Nobody goes to the movies night after night. Nobody in their right mind goes to the movies as often as you pretend to." Tom ends the fight with saying he is going to the movies aas well as breaking some of Laura's glass menagerie. This breaking of menagerie could symbolize that nobody is perfect and that Tom wants to break away from the household. Scene four basically shows how Tom and Amanda get over their fight. In the beginning the audience sees more interaction between Tom and Laura, solidifying their friendship. Once Amanda and Tom come to terms, the audience finally sees a mother's heart come forth. She cares for Tom and doesn't want him to abandon the family, for example, "...but it's not good for you. We have to do all that we can to build ourselves up." The reader finally sees them come to terms with eachother and what they want form eachother. Scence five shows Tom doing a favor for his mother in which he wants him to bring someone home for Laura. Tom ends up bringing a man from his work in which, Laura liked previously in high-school. Tom may have done this on purpose, he knew his friend would not remember Laura, but Laura would. In Tom's mind Laura is too shy and innocent to approach his friend. Tom wants his sister to stay innocent and young, yet his mother wants her to grow-up and find a man. In this case Tom plays the father figure, almost everytime he sees his father's picture, or at least he feels abligated to do so. In scene six Laura finds out who Tom plans on bringing, and begins to be shaken up. "All I know is I couldn't sit at the table it it was him!", the audience sees Laura hidding herself from reality once again, and her mother just denying the fact. Once Tom brings Jim home, Laura begins to feel sick and ends up sitting out of dinner.
In these first six scences of The Glass Menagerie, the reader sees almsot a huge metaphor of the lives the wingfield's live and how American society was during the 30's. For example Laura is crippled, this could symbolize immigrants coming over and really not knowing what to do with their lives. The tension between Amanda and Tom could be the horrible times American were facing, the Great Depression.