Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a play about the character Tom trying to escape his living situation that traps him. He is doing to best to cope with his dependent, demanding mother Amanda and take care of his quiet sister Laura. Amanda and Laura solely depend on Tom’s income from his warehouse job, but Tom is desperately wanting to leave both his mother and sister to lead his own adventurous life. Laura is mainly embodied by her precious glass menagerie and Jim O’Connor’s nickname for her, “Blue Roses.” Her livelihood revolves around taking care of her glass animals and protecting them, and in doing so, she isolates herself from the normal world around her. In Tennessee William’s play The Glass Menagerie, symbolism is use to uncover the unearthly beauty and delicacy of Laura and to portray Tom’s need to escape from his oppressive responsibilities.
The glass is synonymous with Laura’s attributes of being beautiful and
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transparent. The stage directions give Laura a glass-like beauty by saying, “A fragile, unearthly prettiness has come out in Laura: she is like a piece of translucent glass touched by light, given a momentary radiance, not actual, not lasting” (1678). Laura possesses a rare beauty that can only be seen at certain times with the right lighting, just like glass. Her beauty is revealed by her love and care for beautiful things that others do not seem to always appreciate like nature. However, Laura is also transparent like her beloved glass. The only times she takes her animals out of their shelf is to clean them and marvel at their unique beauty. At the beginning of Scene Two, Laura is polishing her glass when her mother walks in. Amanda says, “She took the attendance book out and there was your name, unmistakable printed, and all the dates you were absent until they decided that you had dropped out of school” (1660). Laura thinks she can hide the truth from her mother, but her deception catches up to her. Ironically, Amanda reveals how she sees right through Laura’s lie right after Laura has cleaned her menagerie to make them clear again. Amanda can see right through Laura’s deception of not going to class. Also like the glass, Laura is not completely belonging in the world, giving her an unique yet sad beauty. Laura hides herself away within her menagerie. She keeps them cooped up in a box so that nobody can hurt them, just like she keeps strangers out and surrounds herself with beauty. “She understands her limitations, and even as she escapes the business school that does not fit her psychological needs, she seeks refuge in places designed to showcase precious and exotic specimens” (Beattie, 1). She is also the only character in the play to understand the limitations of who she is because of her disability. The way she copes with her disability is by surrounding herself with the beauty she finds in uniqueness synonymous with herself. LAURA. I went in the art museum and the bird houses at the Zoo. I visited the penguins everyday! Sometimes I did without lunch and went to the movies. Lately I’ve been spending most of my afternoons in the Jewel Box, that big class house where they raise the tropical flowers. AMANDA. You did all this to deceive me, just for the deception? Why? LAURA. I couldn't face it (1661). Laura does not want to leave her comfort zone, and this is why she stopped going to classes at Rubicon. Even when Amanda confronts Laura about not going to class, she retreats into the Victrola music because it is part of her comfort. Whenever she becomes stressed or is confronted, she escapes into the Victrola. While Amanda is confronting Laura about not going to school, Laura, “crosses to the Victrola and winds it up” (1660). Also, when Jim comes to dinner, instead of answering the door, Laura, “returns through the portieres. Darts to the victrola and winds it frantically and turns it on” (1681). Laura’s reaction to new things it to run to her comfort zone of music, beauty, and glass. Instead of going to class, she indulges in the beauty of the nature in parks, the zoo, and museums. Like her glass, she does not seem to fit into the world around her. She has a unique and unearthly beauty that cannot be understood by those around her. Society’s foundation and meaning is rooted in advancement and money, so it cannot understand Laura’s love and devotion to seeking beauty in the world instead of insurance for a stable future. The oxymoronic existence of Laura Wingfield, a young woman of this world who, simultaneously, like the frail creatures of her glass menagerie, seem physically unfit for or adapted to an earthly life.
She is too good for the world, the Romantics might say (Cardullo, 162).
Since none can truly understand Laura, she possesses a unique but sad beauty.
Another symbol of Laura not belonging to the world is the nickname “Blue Roses” given to her by Jim. When she was young, she suffered from pleurosis, meaning she had to have a brace around her leg. Her leg never returned to normal, so she has a small limp. Jim misheard her saying pleurosis for “Blue Roses,” so he always called her by that phrase in high school. The nickname, “signifies her affinity for the natural—flowers—together with the transcendent—blue flowers, which do not occur naturally and this come to symbolize her yearning for both ideal or mystical beauty” (Cardullo, 161). Like blue roses, Laura is naturally beautifully but also mystical, meaning she seems not from this
world. Laura is also fragile and easily broken like the glass, and this fragility is due to her crippled state and low self-esteem. Taken out of her box of comfort, she mentally breaks. This is symbolized by Tom hitting her box of glass. The stage directions state, “It strikes against the shelf of Laura’s glass collection and there is a tinkle of shattering glass. Laura cries out as if wounded” (1665). She feels connected to the glass; it is a part of her. Her world and comfort is encapsulated in her menagerie, and any threat to her comfort mentally hurts her. The unicorn is the piece of glass that ultimately symbolizes Laura, and the breaking of the unicorn symbolizes her finally seeing reality. Laura keeps her animals out of sight, but she brings out the unicorn like she brings herself out to Jim. She always keeps them put away because she is scared that they will be broken or hurt. She trusts Jim with her most favorite piece of her menagerie, and he breaks her. The unicorn is the piece that most relates to Laura because it is unique, beautiful, and doesn't quite belong.When Jim and Laura are talking, he removes her from her inferiority complex. You dropped out of school, you gave up an education because of a clump, which as far as I know was practically non-existent!A little physical defect is what you have. Hardly noticeable even! Magnified thousands of times by imagination! You know what my strong advice to you is? Think of yourself as superior in some way! (1692). Jim takes everything about Laura that makes her feel inferior and breaks those inferiorities. This is seen when the unicorn’s horn is broken; now the unicorn is a regular horse. Laura has always been aware of her limitations, but now she realizes how small her limitations were. Her largest limitation is her belief that she is not good enough. “When Jim, who provides Laura with hope, destroys her illusion, Laura realizes that she is indeed ordinary, like her unicorn-turned-horse” (Beattie, 1). The largest symbol of escape in The Glass Menagerie is the fire escape outside the apartment. Whenever anyone leaves the apartment, the exit is always through the fire escape. This is a symbol for the desperation to escape the hard circumstances. More than anyone, Jim longs to leave and lead his own life. However, he expresses his feelings of being trapped by saying “. . . But the wonderfullest trick of all was the coffin trick. We nailed him into a coffin and he got out of the coffin without removing one nail. There is a trick that would come in handy for me” (1666). Tom knows that Amanda and Laura depend solely on him for their lifestyle. However, Tom only stays for Laura because he knows she cannot escape from her situation. Her inability is symbolized by her falling on the fire escape when leaving to run an errand for Amanda. TOM. Laura? LAURA. I’m all right. I slipped, but I’m all right. AMANDA. If anyone breaks a leg on those fire-escape steps, the landlord out to be sued for every cent he possesses (1667). Laura cannot escape because she cannot support herself without a husband. She is the reason Tom cannot leave; he cares for her so much. However, Tom escapes at the end of the play. He leaves Amanda and Laura behind to fend for themselves, and their outcome is unknown. “Then all at once my sister touches my shoulder. I turn around and look into her eyes. . . . Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be” (Scene 7, 1699). Laura still haunts Tom after he left. Even though he physically escaped his coffin of living with Amanda, he could not mentally escape the memory of Laura. Laura’s glass-like quality results in her living a non-fulfilling life, because her fears overcome her ability to live normally. Tom, however, escapes the trap of supporting Amanda and Laura. Although he finally accomplishes his goal of escape, he cannot forgive himself for leaving Laura to fend for herself in a world she does not belong to. In Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie, Tom escapes his oppressive responsibilities, but he leaves behind the sister he loves who cannot support her glass-like character.
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a touching play about the lost dreams of a southern family and their struggle to escape reality. The play is a memory play and therefore very poetic in mood, setting, and dialogue. Tom Wingfield serves as the narrator as well as a character in the play. Tom lives with his Southern belle mother, Amanda, and his painfully shy sister, Laura. The action of the play revolves around Amanda's search to find Laura a "gentleman caller. The Glass Menagerie's plot closely mirrors actual events in the author's life. Because Williams related so well to the characters and situations, he was able to beautifully portray the play's theme through his creative use of symbolism.
In The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, the glass menagerie is a clear and powerful metaphor for each of the four characters, Tom, Laura, Amanda, and the Gentleman Caller. It represents their lives, personality, emotions, and other important characteristics.
Everybody has something about them that makes them unique, but sometimes they tend to not realize how special they are because of it. In the play, The Glass Menagerie, Laura possesses a collection of glass figurines that symbolize how others see her despite her limp. She has allowed her limp to define who she is, as well as play a major part in the way that she acts around other people. Laura’s limp has restricted her life in certain ways and because of it, she has become a delicate, radiant, and unique individual.
In Tennessee William's play, The Glass Menagerie, the character of Laura is like a fragile piece of glass. The play is based around a fragile family and their difficulties coping with life.
good times, in a time of hardship in her life, and trying to find a
She is a shy, quiet girl who keeps herself at a distance. She loves glass figurines and prides herself on them. To her brother, she is seen as crippled because she cannot walk well and is socially awkward. This results in Laura’s reality being different than the rest of the family’s because she closes herself off into a space where it is only her. Amanda wants the best for Laura, for her to have a husband or finish business school, because she wants Laura to get out of the house and get living. However, Laura does not want to live in that world, and it is shown when she skipped her business classes and through her interaction with Jim, her high school crush. Jim is the only person who is able to take Laura out of her own weird reality, and bring her into the reality of an ordinary girl. Laura breaks through her reality when she talks about the unicorn horn that Jim broke off her glass figurine, she tells Jim that, “It doesn’t matter. . . . [smiling] I’ll just imagine he had an operation. The horn was removed to make him feel less—freakish!” (Williams, 2009). Therefore, Laura being with Jim makes her feel a little less odd. This brings Laura out of her own reality for a bit, but then she retreats back into it when she finds out that Jim is engaged to someone else right after he kisses her. He broke her free of her own reality for a bit, just like how he broke the horn off of the
Tennessee Williams depicts three main symbols that help his protagonist, Laura, escape from reality in his play The Glass Menagerie. The first symbol that Laura utilizes begins with her father’s departure. When her father left, he left Laura his victrola and his old record collection. The record player helps Laura unwind as the record spins repeatedly on its platform. The second representation of escape occurs when Laura forces herself to become sick and vomit. Laura forces herself into a sickness when she finds herself in uncomfortable situations and this occurs multiple times throughout the play. Finally, Laura utilizes her most valuable escape and prized possession, her glass unicorn. The unicorn allows Laura to slip into a realm of fantasy and imagination because unicorns are directly related with fantasy and imagination. The glass unicorn helps Laura escape because they both stand out in a crowd. Throughout this play each individual escape helps Laura to find herself and realize that she can overcome her ailment.
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
As the play develops, the theme that prevails and remains highlighted through the writing is the sense of abandonment, which is a core fear in humans that is intensified as we grow and realize that we lack a lot of things, such as self-esteem and even direction in life. Even though Williams did not experience a complete feeling of abandonment, what he lived was enough to mark his life with the necessary bitterness to expose in his writings. Those significant events that occurred in his life can be recognize also in the play The Glass Menagerie; his father was absent for the majority of his childhood, her sister Rose abandon herself to live in her own world, and his mother abandon him by letting operate on her ill sister. In the play, Tennessee Williams is "Tom" the son that is struggling to support his mother and sister after his father leaves. His form of escape is the...
Tennessee Williams’ play, The Glass Menagerie, depicts the Wingfield family in a naturalistic viewpoint that highlights the importance of a man in the life of a woman. Without a husband in the play, Amanda’s son Tom is rendered as “the man of the house.” Williams attributes the monetary stability of the Wingfields entirely to Tom. Williams stresses the necessity of a working man through Tom so that women and children can be financially stable. As a naturalist, Tennessee Williams illustrates the characters’ reactions to various events and circumstances in accordance with man’s natural instincts of survival. Williams reveals Amanda in this approach, and he portrays naturalistic tendencies in her personality and character, her relationship with her son, and her connection with her hopeless daughter, Laura. Amanda is trying to survive and raise her children without a husband to support her economically.
The Glass Menagerie is an eposidic play written by Tennesse Williams reflecting the economic status and desperation of the American people in the 30s.He portrays three different characters going through these hardships of the real world,and choosing different ways to escape it.Amanada,the mother,escapes to the memories of the youth;Tom watches the movies to provide him with the adventure he lacks in his life;and laura runs to her glass menagerie.
Tennessee Williams’ play, “The Glass Menagerie”, depicts the life of an odd yet intriguing character: Laura. Because she is affected by a slight disability in her leg, she lacks the confidence as well as the desire to socialize with people outside her family. Refusing to be constrained to reality, she often escapes to her own world, which consists of her records and collection of glass animals. This glass menagerie holds a great deal of significance throughout the play (as the title implies) and is representative of several different aspects of Laura’s personality. Because the glass menagerie symbolizes more than one feature, its imagery can be considered both consistent and fluctuating.
Generally when some one writes a play they try to elude some deeper meaning or insight in it. Meaning about one's self or about life as a whole. Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" is no exception the insight Williams portrays is about himself. Being that this play establishes itself as a memory play Williams is giving the audience a look at his own life, but being that the play is memory some things are exaggerated and these exaggerations describe the extremity of how Williams felt during these moments (Kirszner and Mandell 1807). The play centers itself on three characters. These three characters are: Amanda Wingfield, the mother and a women of a great confusing nature; Laura Wingfield, one who is slightly crippled and lets that make her extremely self conscious; and Tom Wingfield, one who feels trapped and is looking for a way out (Kirszner and Mandell 1805-06). Williams' characters are all lost in a dreamy state of illusion or escape wishing for something that they don't have. As the play goes from start to finish, as the events take place and the play progresses each of the characters undergoes a process, a change, or better yet a transition. At the beginning of each characters role they are all in a state of mind which causes them to slightly confuse what is real with what is not, by failing to realize or refusing to see what is illusioned truth and what is whole truth. By the end of the play each character moves out of this state of dreamy not quite factual reality, and is better able to see and face facts as to the way things are, however not all the characters have completely emerged from illusion, but all have moved from the world of dreams to truth by a whole or lesser degree.
In Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie, each member of the Wingfield family has their own fantasy world in which they indulge themselves. Tom escaped temporarily from the fantasy world of Amanda and Laura by hanging out on the fire escape. Suffocating both emotionally and spiritually, Tom eventually sought a more permanent form of escape.
For example, Laura escapes reality by “washing and polishing her collection of glass” (11). This shows that Laura is trying to have her own world by pretending that her glass menagerie are real people. She has difficulties interacting with the surrounding world, so she clings to the glass collection to waste time living in imagination. In addition, Jim said that the problem is “the lack of confidence in [Laura]” (81).Cleaning the glass menagerie made Laura more shy and lonely and it made he more insecure about her physical traits. This also made her worse in social interaction, since she only cleans and talks with illusional people.