The Glass Menagerie

The 1920’s, also called the “Roaring Twenties,” was a decade of change throughout the entire country. Although cultures among the United States vary, the wide spread of technology is something all regions of America can relate to. From East to West, changes in entertainment, sports, and radio were major contributions to the change of pop culture. The 1920’s was the beginning of a new era that shaped the way the United States forever viewed the media. A chain reaction was built throughout the twenties, making the country closer from coast to coast.

The American Century’s first change resulted from U.S. involvement in World War II. The United States was brought out of the Great Depression following this war. The entertainment industry also took off at this time. Movies and new types of music were gaining in popularity. Eventually, the U.S. entered the Cold War. Americans at home were not initially

When World War I ended, 10 million soldiers were dead. Although American casualties accounted for only 1 percent of the total, the Great War had taken only a costly toll on American culture. This war was one of the bloodiest events in American history. A revolution in world politics was influenced in the arts, with the emergence of exuberant new forms of literature, dance and music. But the agitation and freedom of the “roaring” twenties were quickly stopped in one day, with the stock market crash of October 29,1929, forever known as “Black Tuesday”.

In the 19th and 20th century, realism in theatre was a common occurrence. Realism is presenting a person, thing, or event in its true colors (“Realism”). Even throughout the Great Depression, Broadway and theaters managed to stay afloat. Its popularity began to surge, and there were 200 to 275 new shows coming out per year (Early 20th Century Theatre). Most of these shows were strictly for entertainment. Themes were often romantic, about happy endings and true love. However, some productions began to turn away from the stereotypes of shows during this time. In the 1920s and ’30s, shows became more extravagant and helped influence some of the most iconic American productions (Theatre of the 20th Century and Beyond). As a result, shows like

Have you wondered how different the 1920s was from today's modern society? Well, during this decade life was filled with cultural innovation and liberation. Much of that is in modern society. Likewise, it was filled with cultural innovation and liberation due to the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, and the 19th Amendment. First, the 1920s marked the beginning of a new era because of World War 1.

The Roaring Twenties was a time of change and innovation with the rise in new technology. Even though electricity was available to Americans before the 1920s only a small percentage of American household had electricity. By the height of the Roaring Twenties about two thirds of American households had electricity. With the rise of electricity came the popular household items such as the electric vacuum cleaner and the automatic washing machine. As the twenties proceeded the automobile because extremely popular. The young generation used the automobile to escape from the watchful eye of the older generations. Often, the automobile was used for scandalous meetings between lovers. Another innovation of the Roaring Twenties is film. Film became one of the main sources of entertainment for Americans during the 1920s. “By the mid-1920s movie theatres were selling 50 million tickets each week, a sum equal to roughly half the US population” (Zeitz). The movies theatre not only served as a source of entertainment, but the theaters also served as a classroom for the young generation. The young adults learned about love and sex is scandalous movies such as Flaming Youth. Movie theatres also served as a source of news and a place for propaganda and advertisements. Radio also experienced a vast expansion during the 1920s. Radio sparked a radical change the country’s awareness. News such as election results could be broadcasted live across the nation so that citizens could be more aware of what was going on in the country. Radio also provided a source of entertainment by broadcasting sporting events like the World Series. Radio contributed to liberalism by broadcasting “‘race music’, ‘hillbilly’ sounds, and ethnic recordings” into

After World War I ended, the 1920’s brought on dramatic political and social changes. For most people, the 1920’s brought them more conflict. They did not like the new changes and were trying to keep them from happening. However, for a small group of young people the 1920’s was a great time to make progress and move forward from the conservative norm. After women got suffrage, they pushed through the double standards and tried and got jobs in factories and offices, instead of only doing domestic work. African Americans pushed through the discrimination they were facing and moved to the northern states, where they got better jobs and better opportunities to pursue their dreams in literature, art, music, and stage performance.

Did you know the nickname for the 1920s was “The silent era and pre talkies?” (1920s film history). That was a period of prosperity and social change. From the new fashion statement of short skirts and hair, to the growth of sports and the start of the Jazz era of music. The 1920s was one of the most important decades of time. A lot of things happened and started to trend, But the one that stood out to me the most is the historical, political, and social events in theatre, film, and television in the 1920s.

Tennessee Williams, born Thomas Lanier Williams, wrote The Glass Menagerie, a play which premiered in Chicago in 1944. This award winning play, autobiographical in nature, represented a time in which Williams felt the obligation of his responsibilities in regards to the care of his family. Robert DiYanni, Adjunct Professor of Humanities at New York University, rated it as, “One of his best-loved plays...a portrayal of loneliness among characters who confuse fantasy and reality” (DiYanni 1156). Alternatively, The Glass Menagerie, a play set in the era of the Great Depression and written from the narrator’s memory, was meant to teach us the how our relationships with one another can alter our futures, for better or worse. Everything about this particular play was a direct and clear symbolization of Williams ' life growing up. Williams uses characterization to depict several people from his real life in this play; his sister, himself, his overbearing mother, absent father, and a childhood best friend. Williams does a splendid job transforming his personal life into a working piece of art. In Tennessee Williams ' play, The Glass Menagerie, his character, Laura, is central to the structure and focus of the story due to her individual ties to all of the supporting characters throughout the seven scene play.

The best example from this time would have to be the classic, The Wizard of Oz. This movie showed a little girl and her dog get sucked up by a tornado and taken to a magical land. The girl has to try to go home and ends up going on an adventure meeting many strange things on the way. This type of movie really took people out of their lives. The other movies like The Roaring Twenties just put the people in the shoes of others, but this movie and other movies like it took you on a real adventure away from your life. People could sit and just imagine they were in a different world for the 2 hour runtime of the movie. This movie not only took people away from their life, but did it better than many other movies by amazing their audiences because it was the first major movie to be done in full color. These movies effectively took their audiences away from their lives and The Wizard of Oz specifically amazed audiences by being the first major movie with full

Throughout the era of the roaring 20s, there were several impacts that vastly influenced and altered America from the beginning of the 1920s to today. One of the several impacts that influenced America drastically in the 20s to today, was the boom in feature movies/the movie industry. Things that it greatly impacted, was our culture, lifestyle, career field, and our technological innovation. The creation of motion pictures, movies with sound, and talkies had an immense alteration on society’s entertainment.

The 1920s was a very ridiculous declared to be alive. There were so many advancements in business, fashion, equality, and many other wonders of the time.Today I will talk about the Political social economical of the 1920s and want was the importance of filming or framing in the past and what this has to do with learning.

     The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams contained well-characterized characters. The "Dead Poet’s Society" also contained a great set of characters that were similar to those in The Glass Menagerie. It is fair to say that the characters of The Glass Menagerie and the characters of "Dead Poet’s Society" are more similar than different.

The early twentieth century was undeniably one of the most exciting and momentous time frame in American history – especially the 1920s. During this eventful decade, the United States went through a series of changes and modifications; as the nation changed, the people also changed. There were also many positive feelings during this era and these feelings changed the way people thought and lived. The Roaring Twenties was a time period that revolutionized the United States because it brought radical changes to society and the daily lives of Americans.

The 20th century changed dramatically due to the silent films, war, and fashion magazines. I will give you a brief description of each decade of the 20th century up to the 21st century.