Transitional Objects and Illusory Experiences in U.S. Modern Drama: A Study of Tennessee Williams’TheGlass Menagerie

ABSTRACT: LainerTennessee Williams (1911-1983), one of the most celebrated dramatists and play wrights in the world of American dramaturgy, and D.W. Winnicott (1896-1971), one of the famous British moralists and psychoalalysts, delinate in urgent voice the existence of the intermediate, in-between area. They have utilizedcertain transitional objects either to emblematize definite points or to portray some perspectives on illusoryexperience and objective reality. This paper brings into focus the “glass menagerie,”the descriptive title ofWilliams’ play The Glass Menagerie (1944), as atransitional object that hascertain dramatic aspects ofsignificant importance. By zeroing in on this specific object, I will attempt to bring about a conclusion thatthepsycho-moralistDonald WoodsWinnicott’s theory of“Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena” in hisPlaying and Reality (1952-1971) and Tennessee Williams’s practical theory of transitional(inanimate)characters in The Glass Menagerie are structurally and thematically complementary and affinitive. Mycontention is determined on the basis of some valuable passages from both works.

Keywords:external world, intermediate, internal world, transitional object, transitional phenomena