The Best of Josh Comune

  On the week before winter break, Our class watched  The Glass Menagerie.  There were notable similarities, and differences between the 1973 movie adaptation of The Glass Menagerie , directed by Anthony Harvey, and the original play script by Tennessee Williams. The movie starts out with no opening monologue. Tom is silent throughout the entire opening scene. He never enters the house, but  instead we see him walking down an alley outside. He sits down to smoke, and reads a newspaper. This is the present day. The flash back then starts, and we are brought into the first scene of the play. This is the same in both the movie and book. Tom, Amanda, and Laura Wingfield live in poverty together in St. Louis, Missouri. Tom, and Laura are both Amanda's children, and their father had walked out on them. Tom is forced to become the breadwinner of the family. He has been providing money from his job at the shoe warehouse for the family to get by. But Tom ha...

NO opening monologue we see Tom walk from the down a flight of stairs outside, and reads a newspaper. This is the present Then starts the flashback Amanda looks young Laura looks old Amanda is still annoying Tom doesn't seemed to be too annoyed of Amanda's habits The scenes were very well lit Amanda finds out that Laura stopped going to business school Amanda had hopes when Laura said she liked a boy, but then got disappointed when she finds out it was back in high school Jim says I’ll treasure this souvenir and memory when he leaves Laura gives him the whole horse We then see Tom in the present again, smoking a cigarette After Tom and Amanda's big argument he breaks Laura's glass menagerie, and then looks are Laura sadly Laura seems a lot more comfortable in the adaptation with Jim than in the text of the original Jim is very upbeat, with Laura Jim lifts Laura up and kisses her Laura and Tom seem to be very close, and he is drunk when he comes h...

December 1, 1931 I thought about a lot of things when I go on my walks. I think how my world is very limited. I only go to the park so my mother doesn't become aware of the fact that I dropped out of business school. When I walk in the park, I fear that people will say something to me. I think about what they are thinking. When they see me walk the way I do. December 2, 1931 Tom and Mother got into another fight. But more importantly Tom almost broke my glass menagerie. I remember it clearly. My heart skipped a beat, and my eyes immediately turned to my unicorn glass piece. If he ever broke, I think I would die. Glass is very fragile, and you need to be very careful when you are around it. I keep reminding Tom how important my collection is to me, but I think he gets consumed in his own rage sometimes. I wish this wasn't the case. Later he stormed out saying he was going to the movies again. December 3, 1931 Tom came home drunk last night. My mother, and him had a b...

     6.  Tom is often seen smoking in the play. Why do you think this is? What does this signify about his character and his situation?         answer: He is stressed. Every time his mother says "You smoke too much" pushes him to smoke even more. The constant stress that Tom feels of being the bread winner, is further exploded by Amanda's constant criticism of her kids. Tom is done with being the provider, ands wants a life of his own. His smoking is a temporary way to relief some of his tension.         10.    If you were to stage this play, how might you use lighting and color to show the difference between the present and the past. Be specific about the choices you would make and explain what you hope the effect it would have on the audience.              answer: In present of the play, There seems to be no hope after Tom left the family. The lighting would n...

1 Amanda always hopes Laura to find gentleman caller, Why does she think that having marriage is really important for Laura? Amanda thinks that it’s really important for Laura to get married is because eventually when Tom will leave they need to have supplies and they; need someone who can give them that. .So Amanda can give Tom a permission to leave the family, and Laura’s husband will take care of both Laura and her mother. 2. Which character faces life more realistically? What affected them to be like that? -Tom faces life most realistically; he owns all responsibility to earn money and to support family since no one works other than Tom. Therefore he has to give up his dreams, which are becoming as a poet and writer, and adventure. He spends all his time to working in the warehouse. He gives up his life, and puts all effort to work. Tom is exhausted and faces to the reality the most compare to Amanda and Laura who always stay in home. 3. How would laura's personal...

1. How do you think Laura’s development would be if Amanda didn’t play such a big role in her life. 2. Tom loves adventures, when he leaves the family do you think he is satisfied? Why did he return to the house at the end of the play? 3. How do you view Jim O’Connor? Was he doing Laura good or harm by coming to dinner even though he was already engaged. 4. Amanda wants Laura to find a gentleman caller. Does Amanda want becuase becuase of her selfishness or does she really want Laura to have a husband? 5. How would you stage the dance scene? Be sure to provide examples such as lighting, the song that playing, how each character is dressed, and where they are in the House. 6. If you were to write an ending of the play to see how Laura and Amanda made off without Toms support, what would it look like? 7. When Laura was in high school how did she feel? Be sure to give examples 8. How does Tom feel? Why does he feel this way? What does Tom want in his life? 9. Why do you t...

Amanda: Privilege childhood She had a lot of gentlemen callers falls in love, married and had two kids moves to St. Louis Its as if she had the American dream then her husband left, which felt her family in poverty Tries to find Laura a gentelmen caller This gives her tension with Tom Tom is ready to leave, but Amanda needs a replacement for Tom, thats why she wants a gentlemen caller for Laura Amanda asks Tom to find a gentlemen caller, when Jim decides to come to dinner, she is very happy Amanda wears her dress from when she was a kid trying to find a gentlemen caller She finds out that Jim left and is engaged She loses all her hope, then turns her anger back to Tom This is the biggest fight She tells him to leave but she may not want him to actually leave Laura : pleurosis- left her with a limp, and made her very insecure even when she was in high school In music class she had a classmate Jim O’Connor She h ad crush on Jim O'Connor, but never approached...