Sunday, November 11, 2007

Question on "The Glass Menagerie" Due Friday, November 16

The play has unusual qualities, with Tom, for example, addressing the audience directly. What is your personal reaction to Tennessee Williams' choice of narration?

Answer in a short, 100 word paragraph.
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11 comments:

Lola said...

Tom, as a narrator in “The Glass Menagerie,” tells his family’s story to audience directly. In the first of the play, his miserable face let me enter the story immediately. Being a normal and healthy and full hope guy in his age, he has no alternative but to bear the abandon from a suffer mother and a disability and extremely shy sister. Standing his position to see this family, his complicated emotion gives a strongly sorrowful impression to the play. I feel sympathetic to Tom’s life, pain but no way out, finally escape in body but never release in the mind. Tennessee Williams arranges Tom to be a representation of him, tells his feeling about his similar sister. No body can avoid the arrangement of fate. (126 words)

November 15, 2007 at 8:18 PM
Victoria said...

Tennessee Williams' choice of narration caught my interest right from the first line. Tom appeared as a friend who is telling the story directly to me. Because his speech is focused on me it helps to feel empathy to him, and to understand him better. I felt it even more than I watched the move. I was peering into his face. When he looked at me I wanted to find answers to my questions. He was real; however his steady tone was scary. He was telling the story of his life with a blank voce full of pain, but unemotional. Sometimes I wanted to shake him up and scream “WHY? This is your life, SHOW us your pain!” He did it in the end of the play, though. That was a relive for me. (134)

November 15, 2007 at 9:38 PM
KERI said...

It’s a smart choice for Tennessee Williams by virtue of Tom’s addressing directly to audience; and we can understand the play more easily and clearly. Unlike films or TV plays, which can describe a thing through quickly changes of scenes and ceaselessly conveying of perspectives, the play has a huge limitation by the fixed stage. However, in “The Glass Menagerie” our narrator Tom makes up for this. He helps us shrink time and space on a small stage and tells us the backgrounds of the story. His protean expression and voice guide me into his “memory world” and share his dreams and painfulness. From the beginning to the end, narrator contributes to me not to feel confused and prosaic about the play. (122)

November 15, 2007 at 10:25 PM
zara said...

In my opinion, narrating the story with Tom makes the play more believable and realistic. When he narrates the story at the beginning, he makes a good connection within the audience and the play because of his character and role. In other word the audience believes his story more due to his personal experiences of pain and misery. The other positive point about that technique I think Tennessee Williams’ makes a good connection within the past and the present of the story too. However; by telling the story with this method besides all today’s technologies makes play simple and unique and I think is one the reasons why still playing in the theater after many years.(116 words)

November 15, 2007 at 11:14 PM
Margaret said...

For my understanding, Williams chose one of the play character Tom, as the narrator, to underline the meaning of the memory play. He wanted us to know, that the lack of realism, the drama, and the symbols had their origin in reminiscence. The narration gave me the feeling, that there was something else than just the characters’ drama. Tom, still remaining in the reality, described not only his memories, but others’ characters as well. He demonstrated the power of memory and its exert on his life. Generally, the narration connected with music and lights, gave me the impression of memory in action. (102 words)

November 15, 2007 at 11:41 PM
Ken J said...

Tom, one member of the family, a narrator, an actor, he say “ I am not a stage magician”, but he
show us tricks in his pocket and things up his sleeve. He bring us a family story and his feeling about his sister Laura and his mother Amanda. Tennessee William's profoundly use 4 persons to introduce us a story of Laura's tragedy. After Laura lost his love and his brother. What will happen to this lonely and helpless, fragile Laura, I wonder? Will she die as the candle been blowing off in the ending? “She blows the candles out”. Tom is the beginning of the story. But Laura is the ending of the story not Tom. Laura touch my heart, so does T. W.

November 16, 2007 at 4:35 AM
Claudia said...

Tennessee William uses “Tom”, as a narrator in the play “The Glass Menagerie”, is sensational. For example, it makes the play more engaging and credible, from the first minute when “Tom”, begins to narrate until the end. Moreover, I believe William uses this type of technique to portray his own life. Because it may help him to enhance his confidence, and not to be shy about his own story. I highly trust William uses narration to make the audience to fly through their imagination to emphasize feelings and reactions in each individual even thought the difficulty of this method. It definitely creates a live picture of that decade.
(108 words)

November 16, 2007 at 11:11 AM
Jane said...

In the play "The Glass Menagerie",Tennessee Williams applies the manner of narration to tell the memory story; moreover, Tennessee chooses Tom who is a main character in this play as a narrator to address the audience directly, so I can pay more attention to Tom, and I can identify and understand why Tom falls in the dilemma, and why Tom is usually sad and hesitant, and why Tom wanders between the reality and the illuion. I am profoundly impressed by his miserable face and sorrowful sound, so I feel empathy in his life. I really reach the significant meanings of this play, and I want to reminisce my early life.

November 16, 2007 at 11:17 AM
Jane said...

In the play "The Glass Menagerie",Tennessee Williams applies the manner of narration to tell the memory story; moreover, Tennessee chooses Tom who is a main character in this play as a narrator to address the audience directly, so I can pay more attention to Tom, and I can identify and understand why Tom falls in the dilemma, and why Tom is usually sad and hesitant, and why Tom wanders between the reality and the illuion. I am profoundly impressed by his miserable face and sorrowful sound, so I feel empathy in his life. I really reach the significant meanings of this play, and I want to reminisce my early life.

November 16, 2007 at 11:19 AM
Zhi said...

An Easy Way
Tennessee Williams' choice of narration in the play “The Glass Menagerie” maybe was very special even though today it is very familiar. It is obvious that Tom’s narration can let audiences quickly enter the situation of the play. At the same time, as a narrator, Tom shows to audiences his opinions about this memory story many years later, and the opinions seems more dispassionate and external. The most important reason is that it makes the arrangement of the play in a small stage simpler and more clearly. I feel the narration chosen by Tennessee Williams let me easily understand the play.

November 20, 2007 at 11:52 PM
vic''ky said...

It is sensible to choose Tom as a narration. He is Amanda’s son, Laura’s brother and Jim’s friend. Laura likes Jim. As Jim’s friend, Tom invented Jim to his place naturally. Amanda, Laura and Jim, these three characters are all related to him. Another reason, he is a kind of selfish guy. When he is telling the story, he is neutral and emotionless. He lives in his dreamy life. Whatever happened, he doesn’t care about. There is no subjective judgement from him. Therefore, he is qualified to be a narration.

November 22, 2007 at 11:13 PM

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