Exercise 9
Based on “The Glass Menagerie,” Answer the following questions in 175-word paragraphs.
1. What does it mean that Jack kept trying to put the paper animals away and they kept returning?
2. Early in the story, when Jack’s father tells him about finding his mother in a catalog and the lies about her, Jack wonders, “What kind of woman puts herself into a catalog so that she can be bought?”
Later, he is focused on the on-campus recruiting season, and tells us, ” schemed about how to lie to the corporate recruiters most effectively so that they’ll offer to buy me.”
Why do you think the story draws this parallel between Jack and his mother both lying in order to be “bought”?
3. How does the paper menagerie function as a symbol in the story?
4. Why do you think Jack’s anger was directed at his mom and not his dad? Why do you think Jack’s dad didn’t stand up for his mom when Jack asked her to speak English?
5. How does the menagerie function as a mirror for Jack’s mother?