Glass Menagerie

            The Glass Menagerie was an interesting play with interesting characters. Throughout the play I found the most unique character to be Laura, who was very shy and the sister of Tom.  In scene six when her brother Tom brings home a friend named Jim,  Laura’s mother Amanda asks her to get the door for her, but she did not want to at first because she was nervous. As Tom and Jim were at the door in the pouring rain Amanda asked Laura, “Will You let them in, darling?” (56).

            Laura responds, “Mother- you go to the door! Please, Please! (56)

            Amanda yells, “What is the matter with you silly thing?” (57)

I found it kind of funny as to why Laura was acting this way and being afraid to let her brother and some man into their home. In a way I can relate to her though because I get nervous sometimes when I have company over that I have not seen in a long time or am meeting for the first time. As soon as I hear that door bell ring my heart beats and the tension builds up as I approach them and answer the door.  In Laura’s case I think that she is either very shy or not very social or she likes this man that is with her brother. Whatever the reasons were I found Laura’s behaviors and excuses given to her mother about not opening the door for him was a bit strange. I mean it was pouring rain and they must have been freezing standing outside waiting for her to let them in.

            I was surprised in scene five when Jim convinced Laura to dance with her when she at first was hesitant because she was not confident that she could dance. I was also a little shocked that they were dancing because they barley met and Laura is a shy girl. However, I was impressed that Jim knew so much about dancing. He would tell her, “Let yourself go, now, Laura, just let yourself go…. Loosen th’ backbone! There now, that’s a lot better” (85). Jim showed that he was a trustworthy and gentle guy and I thought that was nice of him to show her how to dance.  There are not many guys that are that sweet and spend the kind of time that he did working with someone and teaching them how to dance for free. Most would charge for lessons.

            After they danced I found it funny that they crashed into the table that had a glass unicorn. It seems like whenever people start having a lot of fun things can get out of hand or something shocking could happen. In their case it was dancing until they crashed into the table with the glass unicorn on it.