The Glass Menagerie is a story that describes the experiences of large numbers of people who mature and strike out on their own but leave behind unfinished business with their family. Either the family needed their financial contribution, or they left a mother alone to raise siblings, or they left a beloved brother or sister to fend alone in a less than ideal situation. Many of us, to one degree or another, feel the emotions described in this play. On another level, and adding great poignancy to the play, are its autobiographical elements. The author left a situation in which his father was not at home. His mother was said to be controlling. His sister was mentally ill with schizophrenia, at that time an incurable disease. The genius of The Glass Menagerie lies in the fact that Tennessee Williams took these personal elements and made them into something universal.

Using memory as an organizing factor in the play gives Williams leeway to explore his story. In memory, events are often mixed up, exaggerated, symbolic, and melodramatic. The audience must sort out how much of what it is told is true or represents merely the memory of the narrator who, after all, was an actor in what transpired.