Love

The Glass Menagerie is a memory play, and its action is drawn from the memories of the

narrator, Tom Wingfield. Tom is a character in the play, which is set in St. Louis in 1937.

He is an aspiring poet who toils in a shoe warehouse to support his mother, Amanda, and

sister, Laura. Mr. Wingfield, Tom and Laura's father, ran off years ago and, except for one

postcard, has not been heard from since.

Tom Wingfield - Amanda's son and Laura's older brother. An aspiring poet, Tom works at a shoe

warehouse to support the family. He is frustrated by the numbing routine of his job and escapes

from it through movies,literature, and alcohol.

Amanda Wingfield - Laura and Tom's mother. A proud woman, Amanda clings fervently to memories

of a vanished, genteel past. She is simultaneously admirable, charming, pitiable, and laughable

Mr. Wingfield - Amanda's husband and Laura and Tom's father. Mr. Wingfield was a handsome man who worked

for a telephone company. He abandoned his family years before the action of the play and never appears onstage.

His picture, however, is prominently displayed in the Wingfields' living room.

Jim O'Connor - An old acquaintance of Tom and Laura. Jim was a popular athlete in high school and is now a shipping

clerk at the shoe warehouse in which Tom works. He is unwaveringly devoted to goals of professional achievement and ideals

of personal success.

Laura, a very frail and insecure character from the play, lives in a world of illusions. Crippled with one leg shorter than

the other from a childhood illness, she lives her life through her collection of glass animals. They provide Laura's refuge

from reality.

One particular glass animal the fragile and rare unicorn symbolizes