We all love movies, but is it better to read a play or watch it? Most would prefer to choose a movie as an easier solution. Sitting down and reading a play can be a burden, a more entertaining option would be an easy to follow movie. However, a film may leave out important information that you would get from reading a play or it may simply do the opposite. In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, we will see the differences between the written play and the 1950s film directed by Irving Rapper. By looking in depth at why The Glass Menagerie was written, we understand why the play should or should not remain unchanged and which version best describes its meaning. The Glass Menagerie is about a single mother and her two adult children, Laura and Tom. . Characters surrounded by dreams that seem impossible in reality are held back by their strong personalities. Laura, crippled, dreams of her family remaining united and surviving with her glass figurines. Tom dreams of entrusting his paternal responsibilities to his sister and mother to pursue a career in poetry. Amanda dreams of her past beauty and especially that Laura is getting married and that Tom doesn't drink (Asian). The main character can be considered Laura since most of the conflicts surround her. As she is crippled, she cannot cope and therefore has no self-esteem. With a gentleman caller's only chance gone, the future looks bleak. After reading an article by Lahr, he showed that The Glass Menagerie was not randomly written by Williams. It's much more. It’s a reflection of Williams’ life. From Amanda to Laura to the eternal dream of writing like Tom, we see many similarities. Changing any part of the original writing would be a shame c...... middle of paper ......ver. September 4, 2012 Blog. April 6, 2014Cardullo, Robert James. “William’s Glass Menagerie.” The Explainer. March 22, 1997. Paragraphs 1-12. Web April 06, 2014Corbett, Bob. The Glass Menagerie. Webster. May 2012. the web. April 06, 2014Davis, Nick. Nicksflickpicks. January 2012. Web. April 06, 2014Imdb.com. Amazon. IMDb.com Inc.1990-2014. April 6, 2014 Lahr, John. “Telling things as if they weren’t” “The Glass Menagerie”. The New Yorker. April 5, 2010. the web. April 6, 2014Mohr, Nicole. Symbolism in Tennessee William's play, The Glass Menagerie. Yahoo! Voices. May 5, 2006. the web. April 6, 2014Sparknotes Ed. “SparkNote on the glass menagerie. » Sparknotes LLC. 2003. Internet. April 4, 2014 Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. Literature and the writing process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day and Robert Funk. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 2005. Pages 767-807. Print.