A discussion into the ways in which Williams explores memory in 'The Glass Menagerie'

Tennessee Williams has shown memory as a distortion of what really happened. The 'Glass Menagerie' is all Tom's memory. If seen from another characters view point or memory, the situations shown may have appeared very different. Williams has explored memory by showing how you can exaggerate certain things in your memory, and also how imagery, symbols and music can play a large part in creating the illusion of memory. Williams has used visual effectiveness of …

…bad things. We then do not get a true idea of how things were. Tennessee Williams has used many features in his play to put across the illusion of memory to the audience. He has achieved this through use of music, imagery and language. Within the play he has explored the ways in which memory can be distorted, exaggerated or idealised therefore memory may not be a true account of the actions that took place.