The Glass Menagerie Lesson Plan

The Glass Menagerie was the first major success for Tennessee Williams, one of the most important American playwrights of the 20th century. Williams began working on Menagerie during a brief stint as a scriptwriter for MGM in the 1930s and 40s. The play follows the three members of the Wingfield family—restless young adult Tom, his physically disabled and probably mentally ill younger sister Laura, and their fading southern-belle mother Amanda—and their conflicted hopes for the visit of a "gentleman caller" named Jim. Laura, who struggles to hold a job while Tom supports the family with warehouse work and Amanda longs to relive her own glory days, keeps and is almost obsessed with a...