THE GLASS MENAGERIE

JIM: “No Laura I can’t (he rises from the sofa.) As I was just explaining, I’ve – got strings on me. Laura I’ve- been going steady! I go out all the time with a girl named Betty. She’s a home-girl like you, and catholic, and Irish, and in a great many ways we- get along fine. I met her last summer on a moonlight boat trip up the river to Alton, on the Majestic. Well- right away from the start it was love! Being in love has made a new man of me! The power of love is really pretty tremendous! Love is something that- changes the whole world, Laura! It happened that Betty’s aunt took sick, she got a wire and had to go to Centrailia. So Tom- when he asked me to dinner- I naturally just accepted the invitation, not knowing that you- that he- that I- (he stops awkwardly) huh- I’m a stumblejohn!” (page 88-89)

I chose this passage from the novel, The Glass Menagerie, a play by Tennessee Williams. This was a pivotal scene in the novel because it ruined Amanda’s and Tom’s hopes for Laura. Amanda (Tom’s and Laura’s mother) wants the best for her children. She hoped to get Laura married and requested Tom to bring a gentleman for Laura to dinner. Amanda always boasts about the 17 gentleman callers she had when she was Laura’s age and how she met their father. Their father later left them to travel the world. Tom agreed to bring Jim, a guy who works with him in the factory. Laura had known Jim from high school (he was the boy she had a crush on). Everything was going smoothly. Jim and Laura talked for a while and danced. While waltzing, Jim broke Laura’s favorite glass piece (a unicorn) from her glass collection, which she loved very much. Towards the end of their conversation, Jim kisses Laura. Afterwards, Jim mentions that he is in a hurry and has to go meet his fiancée, Betty (quote above). When I read this, the only thing going through my head was….. “noooo, why?!” I thought, “why would he kiss her and provoke her into liking him if he was already engaged?” Laura said nothing. She gave Jim the unicorn that he broke (which became a horse after the horn broke off) in order for Jim to remember her. Amanda went through all that trouble cleaning the house, cooking, and dressing up Laura and nothing worked out. This scene is imperative because it contributed to the tragedy of the play. Laura, who is crippled had finally been set up with a gentleman, and it turned out that he had a fiancée.