The Glass Menagerie - Question 7

Unlike most plays I have read, time is never an established factor in Tennessee Willaims' The Glass Menagerie. Because Tom is recalling everything from memory, the sequence of events is not necessarily in chronological order. This play also seems like it takes only a few days when in reality it could have been much longer. Amanda asked Tom to find Laure a gentleman caller. What seemed to be the next day could have really been days or even weeks in reality. I believe time was changed so greatly because Tom was trying to justify his own actions of leaving his family. With each scene in the play, the audience perceives Tom and Amanda as near rivals with one another. They were constantly arguing or Amanda was nagging at him. This makes the audience side with Tom in his decision to leave. But in reality, each moment that passed between Amanda and Tom could not have been so angry and spiteful. The audience only sees what Tom chose to show them. There is another side to every story. In the final stage directions, Amanda is described as having "dignity and tragic beauty." Her gestures are also described as "slow and graceful." In this final portrayal of Amanda, she does not seem quite like what Tom was describing. She was comforting her daughter lovingly; she was not nagging or making Laura feel inferior by any means.