Essay Topics for Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie



Essay Topics for Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie

An ! indicates a Challenge Prompt and students will earn an extra 5 points for these essays.

Students must staple their outlines and other planning to the final copy.

Papers should be typed in MLA format or, as a last resort, should be written in blue or black pen, skipping lines in MLA format.

Due:

1) Make an argument that every member of the Wingfield family is “crippled” in some way and defend your position using support from the text.

2) What is each member of the Wingfield family missing from his/her life and how does each member attempt to fill that void. Support your answer with specifics from the text.

3) Who is the most responsible for the dysfunction in the Wingfield household and defend your position with evidence from the text.

!4) Identify two major settings in the novel and explain the significance of each one when it comes to the central theme of the play.

!5) Identify two symbols from the play. Explain each symbol and how it is used to relate to a central theme.

!6) Jim is said to be the link between the Wingfields’ fantasy world and reality. Do you agree or disagree and defend your answer using specific support from the text.

!7) One critic has said that this play shows us a series of contrasts between… a) the doer and the dreamer, b) the past and the present, c) fantasy and reality, d) psychological and physical handicaps, e) a person’s right to be happy and his/her responsibility to others.

Choose one of these contrasts and explain the way it is developed in this play.

!8) Explain how the settings and/or characters which exist on the periphery of the action play a significant role in the motivations of the characters and in the theme of the play.

!9) Go back to the Ee Cummings line, “Nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands.” Explain the significance of this quote in relation to the play.

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