Preview

Glass Menagerie Symbolism

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
292 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Glass Menagerie Symbolism
The glass menagerie symbolizes the life of Laura. Laura grew up with a medical problem that included wearing braces on her legs. Laura felt different and outside the norm for other children. Her fragile body made her to become shy and private. Her only solace would be the collection of fragile glass animals. The oldest of her collection was the unicorn. The unicorn a beautiful and majestic creature, still having the visible "deformity" of the horn. The unicorn just did not quite fit in with the other horses. As Laura had the "deformity" of the braces, she did not seem to fit in. The addition of the other glass animals would give the unicorn friends, as Laura hoped to have.

Laura's world is assaulted when Tom and his mother argue and several

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Glass Castle Symbolism

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Big, smooth, shiny, luxurious, polished. Comfortable, serene, extravagant - the glass castle. In the memoir, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the image of the glass Castle was Jeannette’s symbol of trust in her dad that he would stop drinking and strike it rich to get them out of poverty, so that the family could live a better life. Jeannette’s father was an alcoholic and her mom was unmotivated. The family moved around frequently while living on their dad’s low paying series of odd jobs. While still believing in the glass castle and her father, Jeannette grapples with the struggles of a lower social class, such as hunger and bullying from other kids and her parents, which implements the mentality of shooting for bigger dreams despite…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the main themes in The Glass Menagerie is the pursuit of happiness. Throughout the book/playwright, the characters are constantly trying to make their life more enjoyable. The Screen images and phrases I have chosen reveal the theme of “pursuit of happiness”. When the screen legend displays the phrase “Ou sont les neiges d’antan” a sense of pursuit is created. Meaning “Where does the snow fall?”, the characters are looking for this hope, where snow resembles rebirth and a new hope. This search expresses the pursuit of happiness. As this screen legend is more symbolic, the screen image “A swarm of typewrites” is slightly more literal. This “swarm of typewriters” acts as a evil swarm of bees raining down on Laura just like Amanda. Amanda’s expectations act as if they were a “swarm”, chasing and forcing Laura to achieve success.(pursuit of happiness). The screen image of “The cover of a glamour magazine” also symbolizes this pursuit of happiness. It’s kind of ironic that the name of the magazine is Glamour, however Amanda is desperately selling the magazine to achieve her own “Glamour”. I also chose the screen legend of “You think I’m in love with Continental Shoemakers?”. This screen legend expresses the fact that Tom is going against his desires to achieve a greater happiness. He does not like his job, but it brings in the money which in Amanda’s eyes is a form of happiness. Tom however dreams of doing his own thing, so therefore I chose the screen image of “A sailing vessel with Jolly Roger”. In Tom’s perspective he sees adventure and freedom as a his form of happiness. One day, Tom wants to be this adventurous and this screen image is what Tom desires or pursuits to be.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The title of the book and a major theme within it, the Glass Castle represents Rex's hope for a magical, fantastic life in which he can provide for his family and please his children. Rex lays out plans for the Glass Castle, including detailed dimensions for each of the children's rooms, but he never actually builds the castle. For a long time Jeannette believes that he will but she gives up on the hope after the hole they dig for the foundation of the Glass Castle is filled with garbage. Though the physical structure is not erected, the symbol the Glass Castle represents remains with Jeannette in her childhood and helps her to believe that her father will do what he promises. When she discovers that this is not always true and realizes that…

    • 146 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Glass Menagerie, by Williams, Tennessee is set in 1937 in the city of St Louis. The narrator is Tom Wingfield who supports his sister, Laura, and mother, Amanda. Tom acknowledges that he is the only man in the family and he strives to take care of the two women. Laura is a shy girl who drops out of school due to the challenges that she faces because of her shyness. The relevance of the narrative is deeply engraved in the use of the symbolism of the unicorn whose horn was later broken to resemble a normal horse due to its association with the conversion of the disillusioned Laura into a normal minded woman. Laura keeps the unicorn and other glass animals to be distracted from the normal daily activities that provoke her painful shyness. This paper analyses the use of symbolism in the play The Glass Menagerie.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The animals in the glass menagerie are a symbol for Laura’s personality traits. For example, the glass unicorn represents how different and unique she is. In scene 7, Jim tells expresses his adoration for Laura and explains to her how the glass unicorn represents her: “You know-you’re-well- different” “surprisingly different from anyone else I know!”…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tennessee Williams uses many situations, characters and objects as symbols. Two of these objects are the glass menagerie and the glass unicorn. It can be said, because of the title of the play, that the glass menagerie is the central symbol and also due to its repeated appearance along the story. The collection of glass animals represents Laura’s nature because like the menagerie, Laura is delicate, unique and beautiful to those who know how to see her. As the menagerie, the unicorn has a lot of meaning because it particularly represents Laura due to its unusualness and loneliness and after it brakes, it shows how Laura changes.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Almost all characters in the book "The glass Menagerie" are not ideal citizens of the original American dream, as they do not put action in to their dreams even if their aspirations lack virtue. In the story "The glass menagerie" the character that comes closest to a role model of an ideal citizen who is living out the American dreams of some sort is Jim. Jim has the most motivation in his aspirations to become successful, he also puts actions into his dreams and morally goes about achieving it"I believe in the future of television! I wish to be ready to go up right along with it. Therefore I'm planning to get in on the ground floor. In fact I've already made the right connections and all that remains is for the industry itself to get underway!"(Williams,…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The symbolism of the glass menagerie is a figurative image of who Laura really is, which is fragile and delicate. The glass menagerie is another world for Laura “She lives in a world of her own- a world of little glass ornaments.” (Williams Pg. 472). A Doll House is plotted during the Christmas and New Year season, a symbol from A Doll House is the Christmas tree, which symbolizes family, unity and joy. “Hide the Tree well, Helen. The children mustn’t get a glimpse of it till this evening, after it’s trimmed.”(Ibsen Pg. 43). The macaroons show Nora’s inner passion which she needs to hide from her marriage. “Just now (putting the macaroon bag in her pocket and wiping her mouth.)” , yet she had to hide her passion for wanting to be with Trovald from her husband “you’re my secret draling young bride to be and that no one suspects there’s anything between us.” (Ibsen Pg.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    D. Amanda went from having it all to struggling to help her children succeeded so they could one day have a better life…

    • 1519 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Glass Menagerie Critique

    • 3985 Words
    • 16 Pages

    The Glass Menagerie and Fences have been deemed one of the most influential texts that have come to be favored by many. The plays demonstrate the struggles of family life and the outcome of these circumstances. Each character within the two productions find their place within in their worlds. However, the plays differ from one another when reality comes into question. In the end of each play conclude on an optimistic manner that permits each party to grow from their experiences together.…

    • 3985 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play, "The Glass Menagerie", birthed Tennessee Williams into the world of the successful. This was a life of luxuries, vanities, and a sense of dependency on the worlds "unsuccessful" to clean all of life's dirty diapers. To some this may sound ideal, but Williams found that this life was numb to reality and did not bring the happiness and fulfillment ever so advertised as a product of success. He discovered that abrupt success did not lead to "happily ever after" like Cinderella convinced us all to believe. Williams writes of his dealings with success in his essay, The Catastrophe of Success.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Glass Menagerie

    • 1131 Words
    • 4 Pages

    "Choose a play in which a central character behaves in an obsessive manner. Describe the nature of the character's obsessive behaviour and discuss the influence this behaviour has on your understanding of the character in the play as a whole."…

    • 1131 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Glass Menagerie

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The female voice is an agency by which a particular point of view is expressed or represented to responders. The female voice is examined in the play “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams through the protagonist character of Amanda Wingfield. Williams uses techniques throughout the play such as speech, music and irony. Similarly in the text “Before I fall” by Lauren Oliver the female voice is highlighted through the main character of Samantha Kingston, as she discovers the benefits of living without regret. Oliver uses techniques to explain the female voice through……

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Like her collection, Laura is delicate and easily breakable. Glass is transparent, but when filled with light, it creates a rainbow of color. Similarly, Laura, who is almost non-existent, is beautiful when one looks in the right light. Bert Cardullo wrote in "The Explicator", [t]he physically as well as emotionally fragile Laura escapes from her mid-twentieth-century urban predicament in St. Louis, to which her family has migrated from the rural-pastoral South, as someone of a Romantic temperament would, through art and music – through the beauty of her glass menagerie, the records she plays on her Victrola […] (….)". This is true; the menagerie is the only world Laura devotes herself to. The old records Laura plays on the Victrola are strong reminders of Mr. Wingfield, and this is not coincidence; Williams wants Laura to allow Mr. Wingfield to live through her. This world that Laura lives in is colorful and enticing, but it is based on fragile illusions. She lives in a world locked completely inside her home and head. Throughout the play, Williams reminds the audience of Laura's importance. She holds the family together. It…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Glass Menagerie

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Tom abandoned his family in order to pursue his own future. The play is centered around the theme of family starting with the father of Laura and Tom abandoning the family when they were just children and finally Tom’s selfish abandonment of his family who is entirely dependent on him.…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays