The Glass Menagerie A Study In Symbolism Essays (1550 words)

The Glass Menagerie: A Study In Symbolism In the drama, The Glass Menagerie (1945), Tennessee Williams reflects upon personalexperiences he and his family encountered during the Depression of the 1930's. As a lower classfamily, the characters are placed in the slums of St. Louis in 1935. The protagonist, Tom Wingfield,is the narrator and Williams' surrogate. Living with his mother and sister, Tom supports them byworking in a shoe manufacturing warehouse. He should feel lucky to have this job; however, hedespises his work and dreams of leaving to become a Merchant Marine. Unhappy with what life hasdealt him, Tom strives for adventure and longs to turn his back on his responsibilities. His mother,Amanda Wingfield, abandoned by her husband almost sixteen years ago, tries to keep her familytogether through tough times. Although her love and hopes for her children are sincere, heroverbearing and outspoken nature often hurts them. Laura, Tom's sister, suffers from neuroses. She has trouble separating fantasy from reality. Without the ability to function in the outside world,Laura becomes a liability to both Tom and Amanda. The gentleman caller, Jim O'Connor, is afriend of Tom's from the warehouse. He is an ambitious young man, who strives for the AmericanDream through hard work and optimism. Jim offers the Wingfields hope for the future: Tom: He is the most realistic character in the play, being an emissary from aworld of reality that we were somehow set apart from. But since I have apoet's weakness for symbols, I am using this character also as a symbol; he is the long- delayed but always expected something that we live for (23). Williams gives the reader many emblems throughout the play; there are three of them are especiallyinteresting. The unicorn symbolizes Laura's uniqueness, the picture of Mr. Wingfield represents hisstrong influence on his deserted family, and Malvolio's coffin trick signifies Tom's suffocatinglifestyle. The unicorn is a symbolic representation of ways that Laura is unique or unusual . The first facetof the unicorn, its horn, refers to ways that Laura is an unusual person, such as in her may escapemechanisms. Laura's escape devices include her glass menagerie, listening to records on theVictrola, and visiting the park and zoo. Laura identifies with her glass menagerie because she hastrouble identifying with the real world, the pieces are small and delicate, just as she is. The Victrolais a reminder of Mr. Wingfield; Laura often plays records to avoid the present and thinks pleasantlyabout the times she had with her father. When Laura stopped going to Rubicam's Business College,she would spend many of her days at the zoo or park. She was a nature lover and thought of theseplaces as very peaceful and beautiful, a sharp contrast to her real life. The fragility of the unicorn, itssecond part, recalls Laura's delicate psychological condition. Laura's emotional problems causedmany difficulties in her life. While in high school, Laura was very self-conscious about the brace shehad to wear, as evidenced in the following passage: Laura: I had that brace on my leg -- it clumped so loud! Jim: I never heard any clumping. Laura: To me it sounded like -- thunder! Jim: Well, well, well, I never even noticed. Laura: And everybody was seated before I came in. I had to walk in front of all those people. Myseat was in the back row. I had to go clumping all the way up the aisle with everyone watching! Jim: You shouldn't have been self-conscious. Laura: I know, but I was (93). Laura suffered all the way through high school. Unfortunately, she scored poorly on her finalexaminations and dropped out of school. After such a failure, her fragile self-esteem dropped fromlow to almost non-existent, and she could not face going back. Six years later, with pressure fromher mother, Laura took another stab at education. She enrolled at Rubicam's Business College. However, Laura only made it to the first test. As the test began, she vomited on the floor and had tobe carri ed to the bathroom. Laura never returned to school, and once again her fragile emotions gotthe best of her. The transparency of the unicorn, its final facet, represents the fact that Laura'sproblems are easily apparent to anyone who cares to notice them. This is best seen