Glass menagerie Escape
Trying to Escape from the World
It’s the 1930s, and the United States economy is plunging down into the great depression. Times are hard and everyone needs an escape from their colorless lives in struggling America. Laura not only needs an escape from the trouble bur from her mom as well. This is the setting in Tennessee Williams book, The Glass Menagerie. This book illustrates this topic when it shows how everyone is trying to escape whether it is by going to the movies or remembering the past. In The Glass Menagerie, Williams uses the glass menagerie, the spotlights, and Amanda’s actions to symbolize how Laura tries to escape from her mother’s restraints.
Whenever Amanda becomes irritated at Laura, Laura stays quiet and takes care of her glass menagerie. This happens when Laura drops out of business school which is what Amanda wants Laura to do but not what she really wants. Laura does not want to be how her mother would like her to be. Williams writes that Laura goes out to the park and many other places. “I couldn’t go back there. I threw up-on the floor!” (Williams 15.) When Laura receives a taste of reality in her life she gets ill. Laura cannot handle reality so she stays inside with her glass menagerie and uses it to escape from reality. Laura also cannot handle reality when she is introduced to Jim, Laura’s gentlemen caller. Williams uses the unicorn in glass menagerie to symbolize Laura. “Unicorns-aren’t they extinct in the modern world?” (Williams 83.) Laura is extremely shy, unlike most girls at the time, just like how unicorns are not around at the time. Laura does not want to enter into the real world she stays hidden in her glass menagerie and barely seen. Her glass menagerie is her escape from the world.
The spotlight on Laura shows how the play is a memory to Tom. Tom cannot let Laura go and he is haunted by the way that he left her. Williams writes how Tom cares for Laura and has to take care of her because she cannot do it for herself.
It’s the 1930s, and the United States economy is plunging down into the great depression. Times are hard and everyone needs an escape from their colorless lives in struggling America. Laura not only needs an escape from the trouble bur from her mom as well. This is the setting in Tennessee Williams book, The Glass Menagerie. This book illustrates this topic when it shows how everyone is trying to escape whether it is by going to the movies or remembering the past. In The Glass Menagerie, Williams uses the glass menagerie, the spotlights, and Amanda’s actions to symbolize how Laura tries to escape from her mother’s restraints.
Whenever Amanda becomes irritated at Laura, Laura stays quiet and takes care of her glass menagerie. This happens when Laura drops out of business school which is what Amanda wants Laura to do but not what she really wants. Laura does not want to be how her mother would like her to be. Williams writes that Laura goes out to the park and many other places. “I couldn’t go back there. I threw up-on the floor!” (Williams 15.) When Laura receives a taste of reality in her life she gets ill. Laura cannot handle reality so she stays inside with her glass menagerie and uses it to escape from reality. Laura also cannot handle reality when she is introduced to Jim, Laura’s gentlemen caller. Williams uses the unicorn in glass menagerie to symbolize Laura. “Unicorns-aren’t they extinct in the modern world?” (Williams 83.) Laura is extremely shy, unlike most girls at the time, just like how unicorns are not around at the time. Laura does not want to enter into the real world she stays hidden in her glass menagerie and barely seen. Her glass menagerie is her escape from the world.
The spotlight on Laura shows how the play is a memory to Tom. Tom cannot let Laura go and he is haunted by the way that he left her. Williams writes how Tom cares for Laura and has to take care of her because she cannot do it for herself.