The Symbolism Of Laura In The Glass Menagerie

Throughout this story, I believe that the glass menagerie represents a symbol, much as is represents Laura. The glass menagerie is fragile, as is Laura. They are both kind of in the old time, because they don’t go out into the reality of the world. Laura is a very shy girl, and is nervous about being around people she doesn’t really know. When the characters in the story give Laura a chance, we learn that she can actually be charming and the gentleman caller, Jim, also learns that she is a very sympathetic person, but she can’t face what it takes to be in a relationship. When she was telling her mom about the yearbook where Jim used to call her “Blue Roses”, Laura feels drawn to think about him again, but quickly realizes that he is probably

still with the girl he was with six years ago, and that they’re probably engaged by now. Laura feels sad because she says she’s crippled and she doesn’t think anyone will want to be with her. Her mom disagrees because it’s a minor defect that’s hardly noticeable.
I believe the glass menagerie represents the same thing throughout the play.

It would be Laura. This is because Larura’s favorite animal is the unicorn, which is important because we all know that unicorns are a fantastical animal. Throughout the play, it is also important because it changes, as Laura does. At first she was a fragile person who didn’t talk to many people, except her family. This glass piece she owns is a symbol of Laura as well because as the glass piece gets broken, in some way so does Laura. The glass piece, as we know, is not any longer a unicorn. Kindof the same with Laura, she is taken out of her shell when the gentleman caller, Jim, comes over for supper, and talks to her and says that she is just like he remembers – a quiet girl. Glass is see through, or transparent, and when there is light or attention shone on it, then it shimmers. Much like Laura, when someone gives her attention, she glows. The glass unicorn also represents how she’s unlike everyone else, how she is different than her classmates because she’s not usual, lonely and isn’t adapted to the outside world. When Jim and Laura dance in the living room and the unicorn gets it’s horn broken off, it becomes just an ordinary another horse. Jim makes Laura feel like just a normal girl, but when he says that he can’t love her because he’s already engaged, then Laura is back to the same place she was at before. Laura gives Jim the horn of the broken unicorn, and it somewhat is a

symbol of Laura after what Jim had “taken” from her and had ruined her.
Throughout this story, there are many other symbols, including the fire escape. It symbolizes an escape from the Wingfield’s apartment. It is an escape from frustration and the dysfunctionalness that rages in their place. Laura loses her balance on the fire escape (scene 4), which makes it obvious of her failure to get out of the problems going on. Tom, however, smokes outside all of the time and doesn’t fall, which makes him apt to be able to escape from this mess. Laura finds her escape from her frustration and rage by enriching (?) her attention to her glass characters and phonograph records.
Jim, the gentleman caller, when he was younger he called Laura “Blue Roses”, which is a mispronunciation of the disease Laura was diagnosed with, pleurosis.

This disease was crippling to Laura, as it made her miss a lot of school when she was younger. Laura had thrived after Jim kissed her, and this was a symbol because she was such a fragile person before, and he made her come out of her box a little because it made her feel important. This was also another example of a symbol, because Tennessee William’s actual sister, Rose, had actually went under this same disease as he was writing this, and the nickname he gives Laura corresponds with his sister as well. The way he uses outside things that are actually happening in his life is a symobol, because it represents something bigger than what it actually is; which makes perfect sense for this story because that meant something to

him.
The father is a symbol of this play, his picture is shown/talked about a few times. If he wouldn’t have left his family, I believe they would have been stronger and gotten along better and Laura would have been successful, even with her disease and he would have helped her get through her bad grades and the difficulty in her fitting in.
Amanda, the mom, tries to escape her ‘normal’ life by resorting to the ‘seventeen gentleman callers’ attention to her one day. She retells this story about what her life could have been, if she hadn’t married the kids’ dad and the man who “fell in love with long distances.”