"TOM: The play is a memory. Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic. In memory everything seems to happen to music. That explains the fiddle in the wings.
I am the narrator of the play, and also a character in it." pg. 1236
After having read Shakespeare's whimsical tales of love at first sight and duels between the respectable hero and the obvious antagonist, it is nice to read a play that touches on a more realistic portrayal of life. There are no magical creatures in The Glass Menagerie. The characters' relationships with one another are complicated, and their personalities have a lot of depth. The presentation of the play is mostly realistic. Although the play is a memory and that keeps it from being completely realistic, the play is presented in the same way that a memory happens in the mind of an individual. Certain characters and events are focused on more than others. There is soft music in the background to reflect the feelings and emotions that are occurring. There are other memories intertwined. However, though Tennessee Williams was a mostly realistic writer, some nonrealistic qualities exist in the play. The fact that Tom functions as a narrator speaking to the audience is obviously not true to life. There are no narrators in real life, and there is no audience that watches us as we live our daily lives. Real life does not take place on a stage either. Much of the scenery and setting must be imagined. While these qualities add a nonrealistic feel to the play, Williams's plays tend far more toward a realistic feel.
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