glass menagerie

A detailed Summary of glass menagerie

The play the Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams appears to be a jumbled mess of random scenes filled with half minded characters living in an insane world. But when you look into the details and analyze each scene and the object and references within you discover it's a carefully planned work of art. By far Williams's genius is scene by his use of symbolism to reflect the true conflicts in the characters lives. Many objects mentioned in the play have a direct connection to the characters personality and problems they face. These objects often symbolize the reality of the situation and help us discover the true conflicts.

We find the first symbol in the very first scene. The fire escape is used as the connection between reality and fantasy. Even the word 'escape' itself symbolizes one of the major conflicts in the play. Tom uses the fire escape as a retreat from his house. He goes out there to smoke cigarettes and relax away from the family. For Laura the fire escape is a retreat from reality. Amanda makes no use of the fire escape. She has no desire to leave her fantasy world.

Whenever Tom is running out in rage to go to the movies he exits thought the fire escape. His frequent trips to the movies show how h

Another very obvious symbol relating to Laura is the unicorn. The unicorn is a direct representation of Laura. It is delicate, beautiful and fragile. It also symbolizes Laura's uniqueness and her position of standing out from the rest. The unicorn doesn't fit in with the other horses the way Laura doesn't fit into society. When Laura first shows Jim the unicorn he doesn't recognize it. Representing Laura when she opened the door and Jim didn't know who she was. When Laura gives Jim the unicorn at first he didn't even notice the horn. Relation to the way he doesn't pay any attention to Laura's noticeable defects. Surprisingly when Jim accidentally breaks the horn off the unicorn Laura shows no concern. If anything she seems excited. She tells Jim that the unicorn now looks less 'freakish.' Now the other horses on the shelf will accept him. Again the unicorn symbolizing 'freakish' Laura who since in the presence of Jim transformed herself into accepting the way she is, thus allowing others to accept her. She is now less 'freakish' and has more confidence and self-esteem. This all as she realizes she is not as different from everyone else as she previously perceived herself to be. This happy moment soon comes to an end when Jim reveals he in engaged. Laura's life once again fell to pieces. Laura decides to give Jim the unicorn before he says goodbye. Jim was the one responsible for making the unicorn feel ac

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Approximate Word count = 965
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English