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277608

A Marxist analysis of disability in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie

Article

Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Theater
Theater techniques

Abstract

Drawing on Karl Marx's theory of Marxism and Kirsty Johnston's Theory of disability, this paper attempts to read Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie by examining how Laura, the disabled protagonist, struggles to uncage herself from the shackles of disability at the time of the Great Depression. In the 1930s, American society was divided into many strata by the Great Depression which drove every family to take action. The Wingfields, likewise, decided to fix Laura in an arranged marriage with the help of her brother Tom but to no avail.  Laura is the center of attention here and her setbacks, loneliness, and excessive shyness due to her disability are investigated through the lens of Kirsty Johnston's disability theory, as expounded in her book Disability Theatre and Modern Drama: Recasting Modernism. The paper attempts to find answers to the questions: How did the economic recession become the main motivator of the action in the play? What did Laura do to resist the materialistic conditions and uncage herself from the shackles of disability? In addition, the paper examines how the techniques used to magnify the harsh economic conditions and the numerous attempts by Tom and Amanda to get Laura out of her psychological cage.

DOI

10.21608/jltmin.2023.277608

Keywords

Disability theatre, Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie, the Great Depression, Kirsty Johnston

Authors

First Name

Marwa

Last Name

Yadak

MiddleName

Abd El-Baeth

Affiliation

Department of English, Faculty of Al-Alsun (Languages), Kafr El-Shiekh University, Egypt

Email

marwa_yadk@lan.kfs.edu.eg

City

Kafr El-Shiekh

Orcid

-

Volume

10

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

38569

Issue Date

2023-01-01

Receive Date

2022-08-17

Publish Date

2023-01-01

Page Start

101

Page End

115

Print ISSN

2735-4520

Online ISSN

2735-4539

Link

https://jltmin.journals.ekb.eg/article_277608.html

Detail API

https://jltmin.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=277608

Order

7

Type

مقالات بحوث مبتکرة

Type Code

1,567

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Journal of Languages and Translation

Publication Link

https://jltmin.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

A Marxist analysis of disability in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie

Details

Type

Article

Created At

23 Jan 2023