The Glass Menagerie Research Paper

In the play “The Glass Menagerie” each of the characters uses different escape mechanisms to avoid real life. Amanda, the mother, consistently tries to live in the past. Laura, the daughter, avoids the real world by using her own escape mechanisms; her glass figures, and her music and taking walks. Tom, the son, is always avoiding the real world by either going to the movies every night, or going to get drunk. Throughout this paper the reader will gain knowledge of how each character escapes from their everyday lives that they are living.

   Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie, describes three separate characters, their dreams, and the harsh realities they face in a modern world.  The Glass Menagerie exposes the lost dreams of a southern family and their desperate struggle to escape reality. Williams' use of symbols adds depth to the play. The glass menagerie itself is a symbol Williams uses to represent the broken lives of Amanda, Laura and Tom Wingfield and their inability to live in the present.

Laura's glass menagerie seems to be the play's central symbol. "Laura's collection of glass animal figurines represents a number of facets of her personality. Like the figurines, Laura is

Laura is the character in the story that everyone feels compassion for once they finish reading. She’s different from the other characters. For some different is bad for others different is good. Tom

Laura’s erratic behavior comes from her insecurities, a major one being her slight limp. This defect causes her to become distant from the world and become what Tom claims as “different.” Her limp is not what makes her different but the way she behaves toward her toys and making them “real.” Laura is a overly sensitive person whose personality shines through her glass collection and the fact that they are her only company. Society in The Glass Menagerie wants Laura to go to school and find a gentleman caller, however the reality is that she will most likely only earn the company of the glass

The actual glass menagerie is a glass ointment collection pieced together by Laura herself. Ironically, it is also the title of the play.

TThis essay will discuss the metaphors associated with the characters in The Glass Menagerie and how each of these metaphors represents a fragment of the American Dream. She is like a piece of her glass collection, too fragile to be brought into the real world without being devastated. Because of her sensibility, she has avoided dealing with people for so long that when she finally tries to socialise with Jim, she fails to see that she is being manipulated. Amanda is a faded Southern belle who is trying to relive her past by using her daughter to mirror her former self. She represents nostalgia for the Old South in the play. Tom is a struggling poet who dreams of real adventures but has to provide support for his family. Jim, despite

By Laura losing herself in the world of her glass menagerie, she doesn’t have to deal with her insecurities and lack of self esteem. In her conversation with Jim, Laura says, “Put him on the table. They all like a change in scenery once in awhile” (1197). The fact that Laura is acting like the glass figures are real, and have feelings, show how she uses the imaginary world she has created with the glass menagerie to cope with the real world problems she has. Glass figures do not care where they are placed on a table, but in Laura’s mind it matters to her.

In all their loneliness, Laura has collected a number of glass figurines that becomes known as “the glass menagerie.” This becomes a huge symbol in the play. The symbolism of the menagerie is representing Laura. All the glass is very fragile and delicate, just like Laura. She is very anti-social, and just a

In the play The Glass Menagerie there are many types of symbolism used throughout the story. The major symbolism roles are portrayed thru the main characters of the story, the Wingfields, Amanda, Tom, and Laura. Each one of the family members represents different stereotypes of society.

The Glass Menagerie is the central symbol in this play referring to how, “a collection of wild animals is kept in captivity for exhibition. It revolves around a strange or diverse collection of people or things” (Dictionary.com, 2014). Williams quoted from Jim, “You know what I judge to be the trouble with you? Inferiority complex! That’s what they call it when someone low-rates himself! I understand it because I had it, too” (Williams, 2013) p1047 I). Laura feels like she’s in captivity because lack of self-esteem and because of her disability.

In The Glass Menagerie, Tom feels confinement from being stuck in an unpleasing or uninspiring job. Even being cramped into a small apartment with his family and being unable to see the outside world or having adventures of his own. Amanda is similarly confined to the thoughts of her past, and Laura traps herself in a world of glass animals and phonographs.

The Glass Menagerie was written by Tennessee Williams in 1944 and given this fact; it reflects some of the social norms, gender roles and values of its time. One of the issues the reader of the play must consider is the way in which gender influences the personalities and behaviors of the characters. Many of the women in “The Glass Menagerie”, for example, seem to be helpless. One is physically disabled, shy and largely withdrawn from the outside world, this is Laura Wingfield. She has to depend on her brother, Tom who is the provider of the household and her mother, Amanda.

Taking the creation of The Glass Menagerie into account, there exist within the plot many characters that represent specific qualities of character. These designated traits define who they are, and why they esteem certain roles throughout the synopsis of the play indefinitely. One of those characters who portrays a certain worthy characteristic with humble wit unlike any other known character, is Laura Wingfield, in which her mother Amanda tries to live her own life through, in which is proven true through the events transpired in the lines of the eventful play. With Laura's humble spirit and a willing desire to achieve her utmost highest goals, this makes her withhold one of the most awestruck personalities within the play that no one can quite fathom. Altogether, there existed

In the Glass Menagerie by Tennessee William’s, Tom narrates the story through his memories. Tom resided in a small tenement with his older, slightly crippled sister, Laura and his overbearing, audacious mother, Amanda. Tom is a young man in his mid-twenties who has had to assume the role as provider for the household. His and Laura’s father left them and their mother years ago. Their father was an alcoholic with adulterous tendencies. That left Tom no choice, but to be the man of the house. His mother though filled with good intentions, created strife among the family. Amanda nagged and harped on her children about everything, to no bitter end. Amanda entwined every aspect of her children’s life into her own, she relied on them for