“A unicorn, huh? Aren't they extinct in the modern world. I know! Poor little fellow, he must feel sort of lonesome” (83) this quote is said from Jim and Laura, in this scene Laura informs him to be careful with the glass figurines because they are easily broken. At this point the reader is aware that the glass menagerie symbolizes Laura. Since the glass figurines shatter easily, her soul can be broken easily as well. This can foreshadows that something or someone will destroy her emotionally. Moreover, Laura continues and displays her unicorn in the light. Therefore, delightful visions are produced. Essentially, she describes herself, she is delicate and will only glow when there is light. In addition, the glass unicorn is her favorite figurine, the unicorn is unlike any of the other horses, just as Laura is different from people. Moreover, unicorns do not exist, at first Jim had a hard time realizing what this creature was, like Laura she is not compatible in the world she lives. Furthermore, Jim detects the loneliness in her like her lone …show more content…
The horn was removed to make him feel less—freakish” (86) this quote was said by Laura, Jim accidentally bumps on the table while dancing with her. This misfortune foreshadows his misuse of Laura because soon breaks her heart by announcing that he engaged with another. In addition, Jim’s clumsiness makes her feel like an ordinary girl, and his uncoordinated dancing transform her unicorn into a regular horse. As a result, she feels optimistic about the change because the unicorn should be content and feel less out of place. Similarity, to herself because Jim makes her feel less like an outcast. Perhaps Laura predicts her fate when she implies that even being extremely careful Jim might be with the unicorn, all her hopes with him will end up being shattered. This quote can relate to people in general because everyone wants to fit in society because individuals yearn for support in
...ring for him he has to find something to care for and by talking to the horse he is, in a nutshell, caring for it. So, as the reader can see, desire is a recurring theme that permeates the novel.
...nto the girl, no one recognizes her and she is left all alone. Once Jim sees that Miss Foley’s life will be miserable because no one knows who she is, he then decides not to ride the carousel because he is fine the way he is now. The carousel is a symbol showing self acceptance.
Laura unable to survive in the outside world - retreating into their apartment and her glass collection and victrola. There is one specific time when she appears to be progressing when Jim is there and she is feeling comfortable with being around him. This stands out because in all other scenes of the play Laura has never been able to even consider conversation with a "Gentleman Caller."
Additionally, a young man appears in Laura’s life that sings outside her bedroom window, writes poems to her, and follows her around town to demonstrate his passionate love for her. Porter states, “She tells herself that thro...
It is said in the character description that Laura “[has] failed to establish contact with reality” (Glass 83). This illustrates how Laura is childlike and naive, in that, Williams literally says that she has not established contact with reality. Laura is naive because she refuses to face life and all that comes with it, she is also childlike because she has sheltered herself and is unaware of her surroundings much as a child would be. Early on in the play the reader discovers that Laura had affections towards Jim when they were in high school. This, of course, will prove to be part of Jim’s easy manipulation of Laura. Shortly after this discovery, Laura’s gentleman caller, Jim, is invited over for dinner with the family. After having completed their evening meal, Laura and Jim go to another room and being
He soon realizes that the boarding of a wild stallion upon the Drake causes the excitement in the air. With much struggle, the stallion is placed in a makeshift stall within the ship and it causes quite a ruckus as its hooves crack against the wood and its whistle pierces the air. Alec has an immense love for horses and one night he gets a chance to visit the stallion up close. He witnesses the horse with its head out the window of the stall staring at the expanse of the ocean, but once it sees him it whistles once more and retreats into the darkness. The boy leaves a sugar cube on the windowsill for the stallion and then returns to his cabin for the night. Each night after, Alec continues to leave a sugar cube for the horse to eat once he has retreated to his cabin for the night.
how society forced them to change and Laura to lose her status in order to fit
In one of the scenes, Jim is caught between trying to prove his masculinity or staying home and being the good son that his parents have yearned for. He struggles emotionally and physically, mainly because his parents do not live up to society’s expectations of
When he asks what she gives it to him for, she replies, “A—souvenir.” Then she hands it to him, almost as if to show him that he had shattered her unique beauty. This incident changed her in the way that a piece of her innocence that made her so different is now gone. She is still beautiful and fragile like the menagerie, but just as she gives a piece of her collection to Jim, she also gives him a piece of her heart that she would never be able to regain. Laura and her menagerie are both at risk of being crushed when exposed to the uncaring reality of the world.
Jim was confident about himself all throughout high school. Laura was not. Evidence to prove Jim's confidentiality in himself is when Tom is telling us about Jim, "He seemed to move in the continual spotlight...He was always running or bounding, never just walking."(pg.61)
The Glass Menagerie is a play written by Tennessee Williams in 1945. The play takes place in the Wingfield’s apartment in St. Louis. Tom is the protagonist in the play and he stays at home with his mother Amanda and his sister Laura. Tom’s Father left the family when he was younger leaving him as the man of the house. His mother Amanda expects him to do everything a man would do. This included working, paying bills, and taking care of herself and Laura. Laura is disabled and she doesn’t work therefore Tom is left providing for his whole family. Being abandoned by Mr. Wingfield left the family distraught. No one seemed to be able to cope with the fact that he was gone even though he left many years ago. Amanda is constantly treating Tom like a child. She tells him how to eat, when to eat, and what he should and should not wear. Tom eventually gets fed up with everything. He can’t stand his factory job, the responsibility of being the man or being treated like a child by his mother. Tom decides to follow in his father’s footsteps and leave the family. It seems as if Tom thinks that running away from his problems will make them go away but things didn’t turn out that way. Although the play was written many years ago, young adults in this day and age can relate to Tom and his actions. The main theme in the play is escape. All of the character use escape in some way. Laura runs to her glass menagerie or phonographs when she can’t handle a situation, Amanda seems to live in the past, and Tom constantly runs away when things aren’t going his way. Escape is a short term fix for a bigger problem. Running away may seem like the easiest thing to do, but in the end the problem is still there and it may be unforgettable. As time goes on esc...
Scene seven in The Glass Menagerie is critical for the audience to fully understand Laura. In this scene, Laura begins to show a different side...
Laura has a physical handicap with one leg being shorter than the other. With this handicap Laura was picked on and led to having high anxiety and stress. The anxiety and stress led to her not going to business college as stated when Amanda went to Laura’s class and talked to Laura’s teacher. To escape from the stress, Laura has a collection of glass sculptures. This is stated in the scene information of Scene II with “She [Laura] is washing and polishing her collection of glass” (Williams 1251). In Scene III when Tom and Amanda are fighting Tom through his jacket and broke a sculpture “With an outraged groan he [Tom] tears the coat off again, splitting the shoulders of it and hurls it across the room. It strikes against the shelf of Laura’s glass collection, there is a tinkle of shattering glass. Laura cries out as if wounded” (Williams 1257). Laura has one piece in her collection that wasn’t broken till later and means the most to her and that is the unicorn, Laura states this with “I shouldn’t be partial, but he is my favorite one” (Williams 1282). The unicorn represents her because the unicorn is different from a normal horse just like how she is different from other women, she then allows her gentleman caller Jim O’Connor to hold the unicorn and saying “Go on, I trust you with him”
In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the glass figurine of the unicorn plays an inherently important role as a representation of Laura's self esteem. The collection of glass figurines is used by Laura to escape from the dangers of the outside world. The unicorn is the central piece to her collection and is important because it directly symbolizes Laura. The unicorn represents Laura's obsession with her handicap and also represents the uniqueness in her character. As the play develops, the fracture of the unicorn's horn represents a change in Laura's perspective of self and also gives a reason to why she parts with the figurine in the end.
Wiliam’s use of symbolism in The Glass Menagerie adds a lot of meaning to the play. The fire escape has important meanings for each of the characters. For Tom, the fire escape is the way out of the world of Amanda and Laura, and an entrance into a world of adventure. For Amanda, the fire escape is perceived as a way for gentlemen callers to enter their lives. She is also trying to escape her own vacant life. And for Laura, the fire escape is a way into her own world where nobody else can invade. The fire escape portrays the escape from reality into a world of illusion for each character.