The Analysis of Narration Aspects and Plot in the Narrative of "The Glass Menagerie"

Defining the concepts of Narratology and a Discursive –semiotics approach, this paper analyses the narration aspects and plot in the narrative of “The glass menagerie. By linking these two methods together, the paper pursues two interwoven aspects of this narrative text: 1) Analysing the relationship between narrator and audience: the narrator of this play talks directly with the audience. Hence, he blurs the fictional audience and all the spectators in the real world. Considering the pattern of “narration aspects” which is developed by Jepp Lint Velt, this paper studies this particular relationship between the narrator and the audience in the play. 2) Analysing the plot of “The glass menagerie” by applying Algirdas Julien Greimas’s “actantial model” and the “grand-structure” plot model. This paper challenges the common belief about “The Glass Menagerie” among critics who believe this play bears a lack of complete plot. Considering two main plot lines, it is concluded that the play has a complete narrative plot.