Symbolism In Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie Essay -- Tennesse

symbolism In Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie Symbolism is a major diorama in Tennessee Williams famous play, The Glass Menagerie. On the surface, the short slice of disembodied spirit story seems to be simple. However, if the reader digs deeper they will find that thither argon several symbols that give the play a deeper meaning. Each display case defines each symbol in a different way. Aside from percentage symbols, there is overall symbolism in this play. It is set in a memory, so it creates a soft, dream-like setting. This lends to the whole idea behind the play that the characters ar un up to(p) to function in reality. None of the characters are capable of life sentence in the present. All of the characters retreat into their separate worlds to flail the brutalities of life. (Ross).There are some very noticeable symbols that have been analyzed many generation since study has begun on The Glass Menagerie. The first is the veritable crosspatch zoo that represent s the fragility of the Wingfields dreamlike existence. The second is the fire escape, which reflects each characters tendency to escape from reality in their own ways. The third is the yellow dress, which represents youth and the past. The valet caller, Jim OConnor, represents change and also hopes for the future, as well as a notice of Amandas past. Tom also has his own symbols of escape. He uses his poetry and the movies to run from his problems at home.Literary symbols can be both universal and conventional symbols that make headway additional meanings through their use in a particular work. (Kirszner and Mandell pg. 245)The actual animal collection, or glass over menagerie, symbolizes each character and the story. Like the glass animals, the characters realities are very fragile and in danger of organism destroyed. It is also as though the characters are stuck in glass, unable to move or change, also like the glass animals. They are inanimate, as the characters have in co ndition(p) to be to hide and escape from the pain that life has given them. Laura necks the glass animals because her family is like them. It will not take much, like Tom leaving, to shatter their whole world.Laura is symbolized by her fragile collection of glass animals, the glass menagerie. Her favored animal is the unique unicorn. The unicorn is different because it has a horn. When Laura was in high school, she wore a b... ...r enrolled her in. She becomes physically ill when she thinks of leaving her protective shell of the apartment. When she does go to class, she throws up on the floor. When Jim comes over, she becomes faint. Then he breaks her unicorns horn. In this moment, it is as though this combat injury with Jim has desensitized Laura to her fear of the unknown. The reader can only hope that she gathers strength from this event, and she is able to get over her shyness and do something to better her chances for survival on her own.The change for Tom is less evident. He is classified as a dreamer. In this new industrial world, there is little room for those who are not hard working and practical. Jim calls him Shakespeare, although he secretly laughs at him for being so whimsical as wanting to be a poet. Jim, on the other hand is a practical and loyal man. He has aspirations of love family, and success. That is why he cannot stay in the Wingfield dreamland, and leaves as quickly as he arrives there.The many symbols in The Glass Menagerie can be interpreted in several ways. These are just a hardly a(prenominal) interpretations derived from reading the play and other essays that analyze The Glass Menagerie.