The Glass Menagerie- nonrealistic drama

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

Nonrealistic Elements

This play is far from realistic as it includes several elements that would make it nonrealistic. One of the main elements is that some of the scenes are from a memory. For example, “The scene is memory and is therefore nonrealistic. Memory takes a lot of poetic license. It omits some details; others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart,” (Williams, 1235). Scenes that use memory in The Glass Menagerie include scene one where Tom recalls his mother talking about the many gentlemen callers she had. In addition, Laura recalling her high school experience and her crush Jim O’Connor. Other nonrealistic elements include a transparent forth wall that the audience must imagine. Moreover, music spontaneously plays to evoke the feelings of characters in their memories and in the situations they face in the present. A narrator is another nonrealistic element in The Glass Menagerie. At the very beginning of the play, Tom states that he is the narrator. Lastly, the Wingfield family’s portrait of their father lights up in certain scenes, which contributes to the nonrealistic drama of The Glass Menagerie.