Symbolism in The Glass Menagerie :: Glass Menagerie essays

Symbolism in The Glass zoo The Glass Menagerie uses an extensive pattern of symbolism thatdescribes the characters of Tom,Amanda,Laura and Jim. Glass,light,color andmusic constitute the substance of the dominant symbols and motifs,servingto reveal deeper aspects of characters and underlying themes of theplay.Tennessee Williams wrote the play so that each character had a particularsymbol which resembled their personality.But he didnt only give thecharacters of the play a a resembling symbolhe also mentions theapartment blocks to be hivelike conglomerations of cellular living-unitsresembling a beenstock.The modal value he describes their location also has a lotof symbolism in its roots because he describes them to be flowering aswarty growths in overcrowded urban centers. Tennessee Williams used many symbolic aspects to describe Laura andthe world she lives in.In the play,Laura represents the very fragile,shyand emotionally crippled girl.In her mind she lives in a world of supplyani mals and doesnt have a connection to the real world.The managerie ofglass also represents the fragile relationships among all thecharacters.The glass unicorn is most obviously a symbol of Laura--delicate,sadly different,an anomaly in the modern world.The glass motifrecurs throughout the whole play in many other forms.When Laura droppedout of college she constantly visited the zoo,a glass house of tropicalflowers that are as open as she is.During Lauras and Jims briefromantic encounter,Laura is gaining more confidence about herself.It seemsas if she is starting to flight her world of illusions.When they starteddancing together,Jim accidently knocked the little glass horse over.Laura,who usually worships her glass collection more than anythingelse,replied to his excuseHes lost his horn.It doesnt matter.Maybeits a blessing in disguise. and Ill just imagine he had anoperation.The horn was removed to make him disembodied spirit less--freakishNow he willfeel more at home with the othe r horses,the ones who dont havehorns.....These two quotes give an impression that Laura is finallyescaping her illusive world.She thinks that she talent have a chance tosurvive the real world.What she doesnt know is that she is about to bewounded by the news of Jims engagement.After Jim tells her the news,shegives him the unicorn as a souvenir and retreats into her terra firma of theglass menagerie never to come out again. In the play,Tom is the adventure seeking man trying to escapethe prison Amanda is keeping him trapped in.To escape the real world,Tomconstantly goes to the movies.The movies make him think about all theadventures he missing.It his little land of dreams.He is jealous of hisfather who left his family and achieved what Tom always wanted,