The Glass Menagerie Lesson Plan

What does Williams achieve with the sound cues in these scenes?

Scene 4 opens with a symbolic use of sound cues. As Tom comes home at the top of scene 4, a church bell tells us the hour while Tom "shakes a little noisemaker or rattle as if to express the tiny spasm of man in contrast to the sustained power and dignity of the Almighty." Sound in this case serves to form a link between human and divine and between Tom and the institutions that shape his surroundings. When the bell strikes six a little later, it effectively conveys that an hour has passed in the action, though minutes have passed on stage. The dovetail between the church bell and the alarm clock, coupled with...