<P> The delighted Amanda spruces up the apartment, prepares a special dinner, and converses coquettishly with Jim, almost reliving her youth when she had an abundance of suitors calling on her . Laura discovers that Jim is the boy she was attracted to in high school and has often thought of since--though the relationship between the shy Laura and the "most likely to succeed" Jim was never more than a distant, teasing acquaintanceship . Initially, Laura is so overcome by shyness that she is unable to join the others at dinner, and she claims to be ill . After dinner, however, Jim and Laura are left alone by candlelight in the living room, waiting for the electricity to be restored . (Tom has not paid the power bill, which hints to the audience that he is banking the bill money and preparing to leave the household .) As the evening progresses, Jim recognizes Laura's feelings of inferiority and encourages her to think better of herself . He and Laura share a quiet dance, in which he accidentally brushes against her glass menagerie, knocking a glass unicorn to the floor and breaking off its horn . Jim then compliments Laura and kisses her . After Jim tells Laura that he is engaged to be married, Laura asks him to take the broken unicorn as a gift and he then leaves . When Amanda learns that Jim is to be married, she turns her anger upon Tom and cruelly lashes out at him--although Tom did not know that Jim was engaged . In fact, Tom seems quite surprised by this, and it is possible that Jim was only making up the story of the engagement as he felt that the family was trying to set him up with Laura, and he had no romantic interest in her . </P> <P> The play concludes with Tom saying that he left home soon afterward and never returned . He then bids farewell to his mother and sister, and asks Laura to blow out the candles . </P> <P> The Glass Menagerie opened on Broadway in the Playhouse Theatre on March 31, 1945, and played there until June 29, 1946 . It then moved to the Royale Theatre from July 1, 1946, until its closing on August 3, 1946 . The show was directed by Eddie Dowling and Margo Jones . The cast for opening night was as follows: </P> <Ul> <Li> Eddie Dowling as Tom Wingfield </Li> <Li> Laurette Taylor as Amanda Wingfield </Li> <Li> Julie Haydon as Laura Wingfield </Li> <Li> Anthony Ross as Jim O'Connor </Li> </Ul>

What is the meaning of the glass menagerie