The Glass Menagerie is a memory play written by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944. It follows the lives of a family in St. Louis in the 1930s, comprised of a single mother, Amanda whose husband abandoned them, and her two adult children, Tom and Laura.
Laura is a socially anxious and physically disabled woman who rarely interacts with anybody outside of her family. The titular glass menagerie is a collection of small glass figurines of animals that Laura owns. They are her prized possessions, and deeply important to her and her comfort. Within the play, they symbolize Laura's fragility and passive lifestyle; she experiences life as an onlooker, but not as a participant.