Teacher Guide

The Glass Menagerie Lesson Plan

Relationship to Other Books

The Glass Menagerie shares much both thematically and stylistically with Williams's other plays, in particular A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. To situate this play in the broader context of mid-20th century American theater, much of which was similarly dealing with the interplay of realist and expressionist techniques on stage, students might also look at plays by Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, such as Long Day's Journey Into Night and A View from the Bridge.

Williams was also a poet and his style in his theatrical work is famously lyrical. Because he makes two direct references to the work of E.E. Cummings, it might be interesting for students to read both...

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