Tennessee Williams's autobiographical memory play centers on the Wingfield family in Depression-era St. Louis: domineering, faded-belle mother Amanda; her painfully shy, physically fragile daughter Laura, who retreats into a collection of glass animal figurines; and her restless son Tom, who narrates the play from years later and longs to escape the cramped apartment for a life of adventure. When Tom brings home a gentleman caller for Laura, the fragile hope of a normal life briefly flickers before being crushed, driving Tom to finally abandon his family, though he remains haunted by guilt for the sister he left behind. Told through Tom's fragmented, poetic memory rather than straightforward realism, the play is regarded as one of the great works of American drama for its tender, aching portrait of a family unable to escape its own illusions. Its central symbol, Laura's glass menagerie, has become one of the most enduring images in American theater.

​