Representing The Impossible World:Unnatural Narrative Time And Space In The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie reveals Tennessee Williams' s ambitious vision of a new,“plastic theatre”,which must take the place of the exhausted theatre of realistic conventions.This plastic theatre incorporates the use of lights,music,sets,and any other forms of nonverbal expression that would complement the textual version of the play.Most studies of the play focus on symbolism,themes,imagery and characterization,but seldom explore the narrative strategies in the play.In The Glass Menagerie Williams has created an unnatural memory world in which unnatural narrative time and space shape an overall dream-like plastic theater.Temporally,the character/narrator Tom has disrupted the timelines both in the narrative and narrated worlds,leading to the fusion of two distinct temporal realms.The narration presents collages of images from the past and future to create meaningful “chronomontages” that invite audience's observation and interpretation.The narrator has also filtered the information and altered the narrative speed to convey his subjective time experience.Spatially,the boundaries between the narrative and narrated worlds are constantly transcended by the identity-shifting Tom.He tells the story in an expanded spatiality where characters' inner states are materialized and projected onto objects.The physical and psychological spaces are connected to construct an impossible world where the absent-present characters have influence on others.The unnatural narrative time and space highlight the inescapability in this impossible world despite characters' struggle and resistance.From the perspective of unnatural narratology,this paper sets to examine the impossible world in The Glass Menagerie.In Introduction,previous research works concerning The Glass Menagerie are evaluated.In Chapter One,three features are examined to analyze the ways unnatural narrative time deconstructs audience's knowledge of real life temporal progression and generates meaningful interpretations.Multi-temporalities first shock the audience who is more accustomed to a mimetic story world(Realist Theater),yet they create new theatrical expressions of reality.At the same time,images and memories from different temporal realms form a unique time experience altered by the narrative rhythms and speed.Chapter Two argues that transcending the story world boundaries bears more significance in the psychological level where characters' inner states are explored and explained.Their inner feelings are materialized and projected onto the physical objects to create a larger stage space where the physical and psychological are blurred and blended.The limited physical world reflects the oppressed psychological world.In this expanded new world,the absent-present characters continue exerting influences on others.Chapter Three sets to scrutinize the interaction of unnatural narrative time and space in the play.Narrative time and space do not always progress in the same pace and this asynchronicity complicates readers' comprehension.At other times,narrative time and space co-function to develop the plot and complete meanings.Through unnatural narrative time and space,William's ideals of “plastic theater” that “approaches closer truth” to the inner feelings are fully achieved.The memories from different timelines hinder characters' concepts of reality and prevent them from full independence.The narrative space has been expanded to include the physical and psychological worlds where the characters have no autonomous power and no way out.This impossible world with unnatural narrative time and space defies the exhaustions of mimetic theaters.It creates a masterpiece where audience can contemplate the nature of truth and reflect their own life by witnessing the inescapability of characters.