Tennessee Williams Glass Menagerie

All references to Laura’s glass menagerie symbolizes some aspects of her personality. As a whole, the figurines are very delicate and old-fashioned. The glass menagerie has a rainbow of colors that shine through it whenever a light is shined down on the glass, demonstrating the beauty inside Laura that is often hidden because she hides herself from the rest of the world. The animals also represent the state of her mind, which is full of imagination and unrealistic ideas.
More specifically, the unicorn, which is described as Laura’s favorite represents Laura’s strangeness. The unicorn is unique, like Laura, and as Jim points out, it is extinct and lonely because it doesn’t fit in with the other horses. Of course, the unicorn best represents Laura who is cripplingly shy and lonely as a result of it. When Jim dances with her despite her discomfort, she becomes ‘normal’ and as a blatant symbol of this, when Jim kisses her, he knocks over the unicorn and the horn is broken off, making it just like the other horses. But Laura gives the unicorn to Jim as a souvenir because it is better suited for a normal person like him than it is for her. This is an ambiguous symbol, however, because it can either represent the new normalcy that is in Laura herself, or her acknowledgement that a drastic act – such as happened to the unicorn – must be done to her in order to shatter her crippling shyness.
The “Blue Roses” nickname Jim gave to Laura back in high school when she had a huge crush on him is like the unicorn. Just as blue roses are unique, so is Laura, and just as blue roses are beautiful, so it Laura. At the beginning of Act Two, the blue roses are shown on the back screen to emphasize their significance. The name “Blue Roses” has been exceedingly meaningful to Laura ever since high school because the boy she had such a big crush on acknowledged her existence. Outside of the play, Tennessee Williams’ sister was named “Rose” and the character of Laura was entirely based on... [continues]

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