History Theatre / TheGlassMenagerie

* LikeBrotherAndSister: Jim keeps bringing up "If you were my sister" to Laura.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Jim remarks with starry-eyed glee on how wonderful the future in America is going to be, coming off as a daydreaming WideEyedIdealist- but considering the unprecedented prosperity of the US in the 50's and 60's, it could be argued that he turned out to be somewhat correct.

* RomanAClef: The play is very strongly based on Creator/TennesseeWilliams' own life - he takes the form of [[AuthorAvatar Tom]], Laura stands in for his mentally disabled sister Rose (who he also felt guilty over not being able to help, especially after she suffered a botched lobotomy), Amanda, his mother, and Mr Wingfield his [[AbusiveParents abusive]], often-absent salesman father.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Tom doesn't tell Jim that the dinner is supposed to introduce Jim as a suitor to Laura. [[spoiler:Jim is already engaged. Amanda is suspicious that tom [[{{Troll}} did this on purpose]] but there's no clear indication of this.]]

* DysfunctionJunction: The Wingfields have something approaching the complete opposite of a healthy family dynamic. [[MyBelovedSmother Amanda]], after being abandoned by Mr. Wingfield, is paranoid about her children's lives, spends most of her time living in the past and is ''extremely'' controlling, leading to clashes with the independently-minded Tom who is also resentful of his father's departure, forcing him to work an awful job to support the family, wheras Laura's [[AmbiguousDisorder anxiety]] isn't being made any better by the constant conflict nor Amanda's repeated, foolhardy attempts to model her daughter after herself.

* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: {{Parodied}}[=/=]{{Discussed}}: After Amanda questions Tom about what's ''actually'' happening when he's "[[BlatantLies going to the movies]]" every night, he goes on a long angry rant about his (fictitious) double life as crime boss "Killer" Wingfield, who lives this trope to the full. This is all done to obfuscate the ''[[DrowningMySorrows real]]'' reason he keeps going out.

* BrotherSisterIncest: The {{subtext}} was definitely there in the movie remake, although very nonexistent in the original play.

Williams based the Wingfields on his own family; he himself was the basis for Tom, his mother Edwina for Amanda, and his sister Rose--who was diagnosed with schizophrenia in real life, and had undergone a lobotomy a year before the play's debut--for Laura.

Williams based the Wingfields on his own family; he himself was the basis for Tom, his mother Edwina for Amanda, and his sister Rose -- who suffered from schizophrenia in real life -- for Laura.

Williams based the Wingfields on his own family; he himself is the basis for the character of Tom, his mother for Amanda, and his sister (who suffered from schizophrenia in real life) for Laura.

Set in UsefulNotes/StLouis, Missouri during the 1930s, the play centers around the Wingfields ([[MyBelovedSmother Amanda]], [[AloofBigBrother Tom]], and [[ShrinkingViolet Laura]]), whose relationship has become strained since [[DisappearedDad Mr. Wingfield]] abandoned them. While Tom works in a shoe warehouse to support the family, he dreams of leaving home and frequently goes out to the movies as an escape. Amanda obsesses over finding a suitor for Laura, who's so shy that she locks herself up in her room and admires the eponymous collection of glass animal figurines she keeps.

''The Glass Menagerie'' is a 1944 play by Creator/TennesseeWilliams. His first major work, it is an important part of the American theatrical repertoire and continues to be performed successfully by both professional and amateur theatres.