An Analysis Of Tennessee WilliamsThe Glass Menagerie

There is not one comic or movie, where Superman fails to save the day, where in the end he does not win. The Harry always defeats the Voldemort. This is because when a Christ figure is developed, there are certain expectations that go along with that. However, what happens when a Christ figure fails to fulfill their duty? In The Glass Menagerie, a play by Tennessee Williams, Laura’s mother Amanda wants Laura to have a suitor. Finally, Tom —Laura’s sister— invites Jim O’Connor, one of his friends from work over to have a meal. Amanda goes into a frenzy preparing for him, and when he arrives he appears like the perfect suitor. As the night goes on, Jim eventually seduces Laura and then leaves in a rush. In Tennessee Williams’s play, The Glass Menagerie, Williams uses a ironic Christ figure to demonstrate how illusions tear a family apart.

The glass menagerie symbolizes Amanda Wingfield's overwhelming need to cling to her past and her fulfilled fear of being alone.  Amanda resents the poverty-stricken neighborhood in which she lives so

Laura Wingfield has chosen to hide from reality in the play The Glass Menagerie. She seems to live in a world of her own, and hides from everything and everyone outside of the apartment. Laura is terrified of anything new or different. Her mother sent her to business college, but Laura was so afraid that ‘The first time [they] gave a speed-test, she broke down completely – was sick at the stomach and almost had to be carried into the wash –room.’ (p 243). Laura uses her limp as an excuse to hide from the world. She believes that her slight limp makes her crippled and that she cannot be a part of the real world because of it. Laura’s glass menagerie and the victrola act as things which protect her from the real world in the play. Whenever she is

“The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams, was written in the early forties but could be misconstrued as a present-day play, because of the family dynamic that has changed since the forties but has not been completed replaced. In this play, we are introduced to Tom Wingfield who is the breadwinner for the family, which consists of his mom and sister. Amanda Wingfield who is an overbearing mother that knows no boundaries, and Laura Wingfield who is the sweet, and embarrassingly shy daughter of Amanda. Their family dynamic is like most of ours. The mother loves her kids dearly but struggles with letting go of her old identity, the daughter who allows her disability to determine her happiness and the brother who is obligated to work but would rather drink and party his money away. I’m sure many of us can relate to this family in some form. My favorite character in “The Glass Menagerie” is Laura. I love Laura because I can relate to her in more than one way. I was a shy individual most of my life, but once people got to know me they realized I was no different from them. In the following paragraphs, I will share Laura’s character with you, the similarities between Laura and the glass unicorn and I’ll tell you how the glass unicorn represents Laura.

A crippled leg and lack of socialization part her from the normalcy of life. She finds her escape within her collection of glass animals that sit on display in her living room. As the story progresses, one gets the feeling that the glass figurines are a representation of Laura herself. That they are one and the same. She spends days escaping from reality by listening to her father’s records and cleaning her collection. In the beginning of the play this glass symbolized her altered reality, a world where something as fragile as herself; her glass, could coexist without altercation or damage. When she shows her collection of glass figurines to Jim, she talks about how delicate and fragile they are. She is actually verbalizing her own characteristics when saying this. These translucent delicate pieces of glass cause Laura to lose herself from the judgment of her mother or the realness of reality. It symbolized the internal retreat Laura felt, all while perpetrating her beauty and love. Her unicorn figurine seems to directly symbolize her. Unicorns are unique and rare, just like she

The glass menagerie is symbolic of the Laura’s life and personality. Laura resembles the nature of the glass animals due to her being a fragile character. She is extremely shy and can easily break down when is faced with adversity. For example, she is fragile as she sees her high school crush, refused to talk to him, and tripped knocking herself out. The unicorns represents how Laura is different than her peers around her. She stands out due to her shy and crippled nature. Similarly, a unicorn is unique because of its horn among horses. When the horn breaks off the unicorn, it represents that it can now be like the other horses to no longer be different. This is what Laura wants in her life.

Laura's Resemblance to the Glass Unicorn The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams had several different symbols. Throughout the whole play, one symbol that stands out above the rest is the glass unicorn that Laura has a part of her glass menagerie collection. Tennessee Williams does a brilliant job in using the glass unicorn as a symbol representing Laura herself.

For centuries people have found ways to remove themselves from reality. In The Glass Menagerie the author Tennessee Williams displays the characters upset with their lives through symbols that illustrate each individual's dreams and aspirations. Each character desires to escape a different reality. Laura hides from her disability and Tom from his dull lifestyle. Every symbol is strategically placed to develop a different aspect of the characters’ lives.

Laura’s glass menagerie represents her own emotional spirit. Laura had a minor physical impairment. Because of her physical appearance, she had a fragile and delicate inner appearance as well, like her glass pieces. Appearing weak to herself, outsiders were not able to see her true inner self and who she really was as an individual. The glass menagerie is a good comparative to Laura’s feelings about herself and how those around her also feel.

The Glass Menagerie: Stoplight Paragraph By: Benn Rohs Claim: While Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie makes it clear that Laura is emotionally fragile, he uses other characters throughout the book to develop her as a vulnerable yet curious individual. Data/Warrant: First, In The Glass Menagerie, weakness is linked to fragility, which comes to mean both beauty and break-ability. While Laura’s shyness and fragility keep her in her own little world of equally fragile glass animals, they also infuse her with a mysterious individuality, something Jim picks up on with the nickname "Blue Roses" and finds incredibly attractive.

Laura instinctively reaches for the glass to reassure herself so that she can try to make the fear her mother has instilled into her head disappear. When Laura gives the broken unicorn to Jim to take as “ a souvenir” (Williams, 130), it reveals a drastic change in her. The broken unicorn represents Laura’s broken heart. The broken unicorn helps to develop her realization of her faux reality and to finally take a step into the real world.

Life is just one big lesson that you learn off of, it’s a learning experience that make people who they are and also makes them become a better individual. The book “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams has an amazing character named Laura, you get to experience Laura shape into a more confident woman than what she starts out as in the beginning of the book. You will be introduced to her Glass Menagerie, which is a collection of slightly exotic animals, also her pride and joy.

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams had ordinary people in an ordinary life that closely resembled the influences of Williams’ personal life while having reoccurring themes and motifs throughout the story. The play has been done by many with some variations in the scripts and setting while still clinging to the basic ideas of the original play.

The Glass Menagerie closely parallels the life of the author. From the very job Tennessee held early in his life to the apartment he and his family lived in. Each of the characters presented, their actions taken and even the setting have been based on the past of Thomas Lanier Williams, better known as Tennessee Williams.

Tennessee Williams’ famous work, The Glass Menagerie, features a disabled and very shy main character who eventually learns that her disability is not what makes her different, it is what makes her unique. This turning point occurs when she reconnects with an old acquaintance who taught her about change and truly embracing yourself, despite your flaws. It is by complete accident that Laura comes to this realization, her and her friend Jim are dancing around the living room when Jim accidently bumps the table where a few of Laura’s glass figurines are placed: