"The Glass menagerie" celebrates above all, the human need to dream. How far do you agree?

Essay by 02279High School, 12th gradeA, April 2005

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Tennessee Williams celebrates the human need to dream in his play, 'The Glass Menagerie', with the use of dramatic techniques such as the music motif and the lighting effects, and the actions and thoughts processes of the characters themselves.

The dramatic techniques used in this play emphasize and contribute to the importance of dreaming; The stage directions used such as the musical motif contribute to this idea. The music celebrates the human need to dream in various scenes of the play. Calm, music can be heard while Amanda dreams of her glorious past and her hypothetical future. Music can also be hear during the play when a character's dream is realized; this is the case for Amanda in scene 5 when her dream for Laura's success, ie a gentlemen caller, is realized when Tom announces that a gentleman caller will arrive. Music of celebration is heard in this care and this implies the celebration of dreaming-the music celebrates the satisfaction of Amanda's dream.

The imaginative lighting effects also contribute to the celebration of dreaming; the stage is lit with dim-lighting when Amanda reminisces her glorious past and dreams of a future in which she relives her Blue Mountain days, where she had won the cake-walk twice at sunset hill, attended the Governor's Ball at Jackson, and was visited by seventeen gentlemen callers. The dim-lighting in this case, emphasizes the dream and illusions of Amanda and, therefore, implies that the human need to dream is important.

Presented with the dim-lighting effects are the characters, who share their dreams with the other characters of the play and the audience. The dreams which they attempts to satisfy, gives the character a goal which they try with great effort to achieve, and therefore , gives a meaning, of life. This is the...