In "The Glass Menagerie," what are the 3 time spheres during which the Wingfield drama plays and the significance of each? Explain.

"The Glass Menagerie" was first staged in 1945.

Tom as the narrator clearly indicates the three time spheres:

1. In Sc.1 Tom the narrator remarks,"To begin with I turn back time. I reverse it to that quaint period the thirties....a dissolving  economy." So to begin with, Tennessee Williams takes his audience to the past-the economic depression of the 30s.

2. In Sc.5 Tom the narrator again reminds the audience of the time: "Adventure and change were imminent in this year...In Spain there was Guernica." The specific historical incident of the present scene took place on 26th April 1937 when Nazi war planes bombed the Basque town of Guernica in Spain. So, the incidents from  Sc.5  onwards take place after 1937 and just before the second world war  breaks out.

3. Tom's future: In Sc.7 at the end of the play Tom addresses the audience and informs them what he did from 1937,when he left home  to 1945 the beginning of the play: "I didn't go to the moon, I went much further-for time is the longest distance between two places."

Thus the plot structure of the play is circular-it begins in 1945, goes back to the 3os, and more specifically to 1937 and back to 1945.