2. The Glass Menagerie

7. What amount of time is covered in the action? How much of the action is presented as a report rather than dramatized on stage? Is there a meaning behind the selection of events to be dramatized?

Time is a very interesting concept in The Glass Menagerie. Because the play is a memoir, there seems to be an absence of time. However, it is impossible for time itself to be absent. The events played out on the stage, as shown, relatively occur over a few day period. Because this is Tom's memories though, the actual events most likely did not occur in that time span. Instead, like he addresses at the beginning this play being his point of view, they were most likely memories put together in order to make the plot flow. There were scenes that had to be placed in the play like why he and his mother did not get along, and the invitation of Jim O'Connor. All of these scenes reflect back to the purpose of the play, Laura. If Tom and his mother would have gotten along, there would be less worry of him being like his father, which possibly would have lightened Amanda's view on a gentleman caller for Laura. The disagreements between Tom and his mother bring the father into the play. Without Jim O'Connor Laura would have never had the chance to be taken out of her environment. Thus, the events chosen, though maybe not in the exact time frame, help to make the play flow and create a plot.