Williams' Glass Menagerie and Streetcar Named Desire (Cliffs Notes

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Summary: The Glass Menagerie was a well written play.
Review: Some people did not think much of the play, but I thought it was an excellent play. The charecter laura in the play is a crippled girl who feels that she is unable to do anything because she is crippled. Laura keeps a glass menagerie and is very attached to it because she feels they are like her, fragile and transparent. One of the glass charecters resembles her because it is different from all the other animals. Tom, who is Laura's brother wants to leave his house and do something adventurous with his life, but can't until his sister finds a suitible match. Amanda is their mother, who feels self-pity because her husband left her and she has to take care of two children. She keeps reminding Laura of how she always had so many gentelmen callers and Laura has none. This play ended sadly but made a good point.

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Summary: Both of these books are terrible.
Review: These two books were a waist of my time and money. I highly recommend that you not buy these. I did not like them because it was about nothing. I read and read (waisting time and time) trying to find something. "Did I?," you ask....NO! these are horrible books. Thank you.

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Summary: I have always depended on the analysis of Cliffs Notes...
Review: This review is of James L. Roberts' Cliffs Notes for "The Glass Menagerie" and "A Streetcar Named Desire," and not the plays by Tennessee Williams. Roberts begins with a look at the Author's Life and Background to explain how Williams' personal life and experiences are directly related to the subject matter of his dramas. His look at "The Glass Menagerie" offers a Synopsis and a list of Characters, as well as an introductory section of Structure Through Memory teachers/readers will find useful before they start reading the play. The Scene Summaries & Commentaries make a point of signposting the analysis (A, B, C, etc.), which is also quite useful. As always, those dealing with these yellow books with the black stripes can make the best use of the analysis if they look at it after they have read the corresponding section in the play. This is a tad difficult with Williams since he does not use traditional "scene" divisions, leaving it to Roberts to make those divisions. A Character Analysis of all four characters follows.

Roberts follows the same format in looking at "A Streetcar Named Desire," setting the play up in terms of Structure Through Contrasts. I do want to point out that his Character Analysis on this particular play shows as much depth as you will find in any Cliffs Notes. Even thought he has to deal with two plays in this one volume, Roberts presents a lot of useful analysis that underscores the importance of character in these classic plays by Williams. "The Glass Menagerie" is almost a forgotten play at this point, but "Streetcar" remains a classic drama of the American theater. A minor complaint is that Roberts does not deal with the "happy" ending tacked on the celebrated film version, but that will just be another fascinating class discussion you can have if you screen the film (the "restored" version, of course). Give your students the opportunity to see Brando's performance, the finest in cinema history.