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    Symbolism in The Glass Menagerie

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    Mongia
    The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams uses symbolism to represent the lives of the Wingfield family and their inability to cope with reality. The fire escape symbolizes escape from their household for Tom but a place Laura cannot escape from life's situations. The glass menagerie collection represents Laura's fragile nature and imaginative world away from society. The typewriter symbolizes Laura giving up her education and Tom's desire to break free from his mother's mold, while Amanda sees it as abandoning responsibilities. These symbols provide insight into each character's struggles and desires to cope with or escape from their realities.

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    Symbolism in The Glass Menagerie

    Uploaded by

    Mongia
    497 views2 pages
    The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams uses symbolism to represent the lives of the Wingfield family and their inability to cope with reality. The fire escape symbolizes escape from their household for Tom but a place Laura cannot escape from life's situations. The glass menagerie collection represents Laura's fragile nature and imaginative world away from society. The typewriter symbolizes Laura giving up her education and Tom's desire to break free from his mother's mold, while Amanda sees it as abandoning responsibilities. These symbols provide insight into each character's struggles and desires to cope with or escape from their realities.

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    Symbolism_In_The_Glass_Menagerie

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    The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams uses symbolism to represent the lives of the Wingfield family and their inability to cope with reality. The fire escape symbolizes escape from their household for Tom but a place Laura cannot escape from life's situations. The glass menagerie collection represents Laura's fragile nature and imaginative world away from society. The typewriter symbolizes Laura giving up her education and Tom's desire to break free from his mother's mold, while Amanda sees it as abandoning responsibilities. These symbols provide insight into each character's struggles and desires to cope with or escape from their realities.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    497 views2 pages

    Symbolism in The Glass Menagerie

    Uploaded by

    Mongia
    The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams uses symbolism to represent the lives of the Wingfield family and their inability to cope with reality. The fire escape symbolizes escape from their household for Tom but a place Laura cannot escape from life's situations. The glass menagerie collection represents Laura's fragile nature and imaginative world away from society. The typewriter symbolizes Laura giving up her education and Tom's desire to break free from his mother's mold, while Amanda sees it as abandoning responsibilities. These symbols provide insight into each character's struggles and desires to cope with or escape from their realities.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    Symbolism In The Glass Menagerie

    In the Glass Menagerie play by Tennessee Williams, he explains three characters, their fantasies and the discordant realities they face as life goes on. Tennessee
    Williams, use of symbolism computes depth and better representation to the play. The Glass Menagerie itself is a symbol to display the unsettled lives of Tom,
    Laura, and Amanda Wingfield and their inaptitude to live in the moment. Many symbols in the play show some form of escape or the contrast between illusion
    and reality. Three symbols in the play explains the characters they are the fire escape, the glass menagerie, and the typewriter.

    The first symbol recognized in the first scene is the fire escape. This represents an exit for the characters, an escape from the pressures of the Wingfield
    household.

    The apartment faces an alley and is entered by a fire escape, a structure whose name is a touch of accidental poetic truth, for all of these huge buildings are
    always burning with the slow and implacable fires of human desperation. The fire escape is part of what we see – that is, the landing of it and steps descending
    from it. (p.3)

    All the characters use this fire escape as an entrance rather than a place to escape. In scene four, Laura slips on the fire escape symbolizing her inability to
    escape life’s situations. However, Tom visualizes the fire escape a different way; he frequently steps out and takes a smoke, awaiting his next adventure. For
    Amanda, these steps are not made for escaping, and she fears being alone. Tom uses the fire escape anticipating his next getaway, rather than the Wingfield
    women whom live in the apartment where there is no escape besides illusion.

    The title of the play and most pronounced symbol, the glass menagerie. This symbol represents Laura’s fragility and the collection of animals is her
    imaginative world away from society. Laura herself is most like the unicorn, because, she is crippled, and her shyness is giving herself consciousness. However,
    Amanda tries to pull Laura out of this state of being but fails in process. Her brother Tom feels that Laura is being secluded from the outside world, true she
    devotes her time to old records, and her collection of glass figurines. “A fragile, unearthly prettiness has come out in Laura: she is like a piece of translucent
    glass touched by light, given a momentary radiance, not actual, not lasting.” (p.51) Both Tom and Amanda are worried about Laura and what the symbol the
    glass menagerie brings to her old-fashion and childlike self.

    Although each symbol is important, the typewriter gives each character a scene that adds to their personalities. For Laura, the typewriter symbolizes her
    boundaries of college and by which she escapes by walking through the park and engulfing her life in the glass collection. For Tom, the typewriter allows him
    to break free of the mold set by his mother, and he uses it to compose of manuscripts. However, for Amanda it is to signify both Laura for abandoning business
    school, and Tom not fully committing himself to his job. “What are we going to do, what is to become of us, what is the future?” The symbol typewriter threw
    many question marks over the characters heads, but through the scenes they revolve their feelings.

    Expressive is the word to describe all the symbols in the play The Glass Menagerie. These characters either refuse to join the society or cannot wait to get away
    to see what life has in store. The fire escape, the glass menagerie, and the typewriter each add a unique touch to the characters, rather good or bad. The Glass
    Menagerie itself is a symbol, that carries many more symbols that helps the reader understand special moments in each characters story.

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