The mother, Amanda Wingfield, was once the belle of the ball during her glory days of the Old South, but now she is fragile and struggling for survival (Kirszner and Mandell 1864). In the beginning of the play Amanda is totally immersed in her own little world of illusion. She is constantly reminiscing of her olden days in the south, and when she is not doing that she is worried about the survival of the family. This is why she enrolled Laura in business school, so that when Tom left Laura would be able to take care of both herself and Amanda. When Amanda learns of the news that Laura had dropped out of business college she is very disheartened and worried as to how they will survive (Kirszner and Mandell 1813). This is when she gets the idea that Laura should marry wealthy, and as to proceed with this plan she asks Tom to invite some one over for dinner (Kirszner and Mandell 1824). So when Tom does invite some one over Amanda becomes overly excited and wants to make sure everything is perfect for Laura, everything has to be perfect and she struggles to make it so in the only way she knows how (Kirszner and Mandell 1862). Amanda makes her transition from illusion to truth when she finds out that Laura's suitor turned out to be engaged. Unlike Tom who changes of his own free will, Amanda is jerked out of her world and thrown into reality. This is when she realizes that unless there is a major change on Laura's part, that Laura will never be suited for a business career nor will she be married. She also breaks her own rule by finally admitting to herself that Laura is in fact cripple (Kirszner and Mandell 1854). This realization prompts Amanda to deal with her distress in the only way she knows how, which is to take it out on Tom which causes Tom to leave. Tom's leaving in turn causes further distress for Amanda and Laura which is not covered in the play. When Amanda suddenly enters reality it causes her to explode at Tom which shows that she did not spend enough time in reality to know how to deal with distress. Unlike her children Amanda is in a state of illusion but convinced that she is not, this makes her flawed and responsible for the tragedy that befell them even though she didn't realize it (The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams Analysis of Major Characters).
Laura Wingfield, a romantic, who has a physical defect which causes her to limp slightly, and also fragile emotions which cause her to lose herself in a world made completely of dreams (Bert Cardullo). Of all the Wingfields Laura is in the greatest peril, because she lacks the strength of Amanda and the ability to escape like Tom (Mary Bromberg). Laura is so incredibly shy, so much so that she can't even compose herself for a business class at the local college (Kirszner and Mandell 1813). After she drops out she maintains herself in a world of fiction by not telling her mother that she dropped out and pretending to continue to go to school everyday while instead visiting the zoo and the Jewel Box (Kirszner and Mandell 1813). Both of these places representing places of illusion, dreams, and fantasy. Laura's change briefly into reality comes when Jim O'Connor arrives for dinner, or more precisely when Jim and Laura are talking after dinner. She completely opens up to him. She tells him of how she let her disability get in her way, she tells him of how she was, and still is for that matter, very shy and didn't have luck making friends, and she even admits to him that she liked him in high school (Kirszner and Mandell 1843-45). After they talk for a while Jim and Laura start dancing, this is where Laura starts to loosen up, she allows herself to be carried by Jim's moves, and she is coming out of the fake world she created for herself (Kirszner and Mandell 1844). Then Jim moves in to kiss her, he kisses her, now all of a sudden Laura has become a real person, she completely forgets about the broken piece of glass (Kirszner and Mandel 1844). She is seeing now what she could have if she would only come out of her shell, if she would come out of her world of glass, if she would come into reality. She is completely changed. But this is not enough. For when Jim breaks the news that he is engaged Laura looks in her hand at the broken piece of glass and then slips back in almost instantly forgetting about what just happened (Kirszner and Mandel 1844). She slips back into her world of beauty that she has created for herself, but in actuality she is unknowingly dwelling in a world of despair. Laura does go through a transition, she is shown a glimpse of what she could and can have, but almost as quickly as it came it left leaving her to reside with her glass.
The Wingfield family all existed in a state of fantasy or at least a false sense of reality. They could not easily differentiate between what was truth and what was fiction (W.R. Theirfelder III). All of the three main characters makes the transition from a world of dreamy illusions, to a world of truth, it affects each character differently according to how they perceive and encounter truth. Truth does not always bring happiness, in fact few people really like to hear truth. But truth always, no matter how painful it is, benefits in the end.
Hopelessness, Futility and Escape in The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is set in the cramped, dinghy apartment of the Wingfield family. It is just one of many such apartments in this lower-class neighborhood. Not one of the Wingfield family members desires to live this apartment. Poverty is what traps them in their humble abode. The escape from this lifestyle, this apartment and these relationships is a significant theme throughout the play. These escapes may be related to the fire escape, the dance hall, the absent Mr. Wingfield and Tom's inevitable departure.
The play opens with Tom addressing the audience from the fire escape. This entrance into the apartment provides a different purpose for each of the characters. Overall, it is a symbol of the passage from freedom to being trapped in a life of desperation. The fire escape allows Tom the opportunity to get out of the apartment and away from his nagging mother. Amanda sees the fire escape as an opportunity for gentleman callers to enter their lives. Laura's view is different from her mother and her brother. Her escape seems to be hiding inside the apartment, not out. The fire escape separates reality and the unknown.
Across the street from the Wingfield apartment is the Paradise Dance Hall. Just the name of the place is a total anomaly in the story. Life with the Wingfields is as far from paradise as it could possibly be. Laura appears to find solace in playing the same records over and over again, day after day. Perhaps the music floating up to the apartment from the dance hall is supposed to be her escape which she just can't take. The music from the dance hall often provides the background music for certain scenes, The Glass Menagerie playing quite frequently. With war ever-present in the background, the dance hall is the last chance for paradise.
Mr. Wingfield, the absent father of Tom and Laura and husband to the shrewish Amanda, is referred to often throughout the story. He is the ultimate symbol of escape. This is because he has managed to remove himself from the desperate situation that the rest of his family are still living in. His picture is featured prominently on the wall as a constant reminder of better times and days gone by. Amanda always makes disparaging remarks about her missing husband, yet lets his picture remain. Tom always makes jokes about his dad, and how he "fell in love with long distances." This is his attempt to ease the pain of abandonment by turning it into something humorous. It is inevitable that the thing which Tom resents most in his father is exactly what Tom himself will carry out in the end...escape! Through his father, Tom has seen that escape is possible, and though he is hesitant to leave his sister and even his mother behind, he is being driven to it.
Tom escapes reality in many different ways. The first and most obvious is the fire escape that leads him away from his desolate home. Another would be the movies that Amanda is always nagging him about. She thinks he spends too much time watching movies and that he should work harder and find a suitable companion for Laura. The more Amanda nags, the more Tom needs his movie escapes. They take him to another world for a while, where mothers and sisters and runaway fathers do not exist. As the strain gets worse, the movie watching becomes more frequent, as does Tom's drinking. It is getting harder and harder for Tom to avoid real life. The time for a real departure is fast approaching. Amanda eventually pushes him over the edge, almost forcing him out, but not without laying overpowering guild trips on him. Tom leaves, but his going away is not the escape that he craved for so long. The guilt of abandoning Laura is overwhelming. He cannot seem to get over it. Everything he sees is a reminder of her. Tom is now truly following in the footsteps of his father. Too late, he is realizing that leaving is not an escape at all, but a path of even more powerful desperation.
Williams uses the theme of escape throughout The Glass Menagerie to demonstrate the hopelessness and futility of each character's dreams. Tom, Laura and Amanda all seem to think, incorrectly I might add, that escape is possible. In the end, no character makes a clean break from the situation at hand. The escape theme demonstrated in the fire escape, the dance hall, Mr. Wingfield and Tom's departure prove to be a dead end in many ways. Perhaps Tennessee Williams is trying to send a message that running away is not the way to solve life's problems. The only escape in life is solving your problems, not avoiding theSymbols in The Glass Menagerie
In the play, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, Williams uses many symbols which represent many different things. Many of the symbols used in the play try to symbolize some form of escape or difference between reality and illusion. The first symbol, presented in the first scene, is the fire escape. This represents the "bridge" between the illusory world of the Wingfields and the world of reality. This "bridge" seems to be a one way excursion. But the direction varies for each character. For Tom, the fire escape is the way out of the world of Amanda and Laura and an entrance into a world of new dimensions. For Laura, the fire escape is a way into her own world. A way to escape from reality. Amanda perceives the fire escape as a way for gentlemen callers to enter their lives. She is also trying to escape her own vacant life. Our author, Tennessee Williams utilizes the fire escape as a literal exit from his own reality as well. His way of escaping is through the play. In Tom's opening speech, he says, "I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion." This quote refers to Williams' own life told through the play. Everyone in the play seeks haven from their lives, attempting to escape into an imaginary fallacy world. In "The Glass Menagerie," Williams' fire escape portrays each of the character's need to use the fire escape as a literal exit from their own reality.
The Glass Menagerie is set in the apartment of the Wingfield family. By description, it is a cramped place located in the city of St. Louis. It is one of many apartments in the neighborhood. Of the Wingfield family members, none like living in the apartment. The only reason that traps them in their submissive dwelling is poverty. The concept of escaping their own lives and retreating into an illusion world has entered each of the character's minds. Escaping from this lifestyle, this apartment, and these relationships is a significant theme throughout the play. These escapes are linked with the symbolic "fire escape" as well as the absent Mr. Wingfield.
Mr. Wingfield left his family for a life on the road. "He worked for the telephone company and fell in love with long distances." This action left Tom with all of the responsibilities in the family including taking care of his half-mad, overbearing mother, Amanda and a disabled sister, Laura. With all of the responsibilities on Tom's shoulders he is forced to take a job at a warehouse in order to take care of the family and pay rent. Tom is unsatisfied with his life and is always seeking for a way to escape his misery. In Tom's eyes, the fire escape serves as a transit between "truth" and "illusion." It detaches reality of the outside world, which in this case, the city of St. Louis, from the world of the Wingfields. Tom's way of dealing with his misery is to remove himself from his locale and go to the movies. He claims that he loves the adventure. "I go to the movies because- I like adventure. Adventure is something I don't have much of at work, so I go to the movies" (p. 415).
Amanda seeks for an escape from her own empty life. She had high hopes of marrying a wealthy man but instead, she settled for a telephone man who eventually abandons her and the kids. This incident made Amanda live her life in bitterness and paranoia. "The future becomes the present, the present the past, and the past turns into everlasting regret if you don't plan for it" (p. 421). She constantly nags at Tom's habits and tries to contour Laura into the girl that she wasn't. Amanda repeatedly lectures and corrects her children on how to present themselves, how to live life, and how to act. She tries to take control of her children's lives as if she is trying to fit them in a mold of perfection. "Try and you will SUCCEED! Why, you - you're just full of natural endowments! Both of my children - they're unusual children! Don't you think I know it? I'm so proud! Happy and - I feel I've - so much to be thankful for" (p. 414). Amanda has two fears in her life. One of her worst fears is having Tom grow up to be his father. "Promise, son, you'll - never be a drunkard!" (p. 414). "When I see you taking after his ways! Staying out late - and - well, you had been drinking the night you were in that - terrifying condition" (p. 415). Amanda's other fear in life is having Laura grow old without a gentleman caller. "We have to be making plans and provisions for her. She just drifts along doing nothing. It frightens me terribly how she just drifts along" (p. 416). Tom suggested to Amanda that Laura just might be what people call home girls but Amanda refuses to believe it. "There's no such type, and if there is, it's a pity! That is unless the home is hers, with a husband" (p. 416). Therefore, Amanda sees the fire escape as a way to escape her own problems and invite gentlemen callers into their lives for Laura.
Laura has issues of her own and she also finds the need to escape them. Laura leads a life of simplicity and has a difficult time dealing with the outside world. "I put her in business college - a dismal failure! Frightened her so it made her sick to her stomach. I took her over to the Young People's League at the church. Another fiasco. She spoke to nobody, nobody spoke to her" (p. 417). Even though, Laura sees the fire escape as a literal exit from her reality, her way of escaping differs from that of her mother and brother's. For her, escape is hiding inside the apartment. At a young age, Laura suffered from an illness called pluerosis that forced her to be slightly crippled. The illness made Laura become anti-social and insecure about herself. "I- I never had much luck at making friends" (p. 436). She dropped out of high school due to being ill and for the next six years she has done nothing but start a glass collection in which she calls it her "glass menagerie." For her, escape is hiding inside the apartment. The fire escape sets apart the unfamiliar life outside of her shielded life.
Our author, Tennessee Williams, uses the fire escape as well. His escape is through the story of the play. The play represents Williams' own distraught family. The characters in the play are intended to depict his family members. Laura is modeled after his sister, Rose, who too, had various mental issues. Tom's character reflects Williams' hunger to escape his responsibilities of the family and lead a life of adventure due to his absent father. Growing up, Williams could not rely on his father much because he was an alcoholic. This could explain why Williams' childhood was "lonely and miserable." He did not have a male figure to look up to. Williams' method of coping with all of these issues is through the story.
"The Glass Menagerie," exhibited an array of symbolism. Williams' fire escape represents the "bridge" between truth and illusion. The use of the fire escape altered for each character depending on their own issues. Williams' fire escape portrayed each of the character's need to utilize the fire escape as a literal exit from their own reality. Everyone in the play searches for a refuge from their lives, entering into a fantasy world.
m.
The play The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, Williams
uses many symbols which represent many different things. Many of the
symbols used in the play try to symbolize some form of escape or
difference between reality and illusion.
The first symbol, presented in the first scene, is the fire
escape. This represents the "bridge" between the illusory world of the
Wingfields and the world of reality. This "bridge" seems to be a one
way passage. But the direction varies for each character. For Tom, the
fire escape is the way out of the world of Amanda and Laura and an
entrance into the world of reality. For Laura, the fire escape is a
way into her world. A way to escape from reality. Both examples can
readily be seen: Tom will stand outside on the fire escape to smoke,
showing that he does not like to be inside, to be a part of the
illusionary world. Laura, on the other hand, thinks of the fire escape
as a way in and not a way out. This can be seen when Amanda sends
Laura to go to the store: Laura trips on the fire escape. This also
shows that Laura's fears and emotions greatly affect her physical
condition, more so than normal people.
Another symbol presented deals more with Tom than any of the
other characters: Tom's habit of going to the movies shows us his
longing to leave the apartment and head out into the world of reality.
A place where one can find adventure. And Tom, being a poet, can
understand the needs of man to long for adventure and romance. But he
is kept from entering reality by Amanda, who criticizes him as being a
"selfish dreamer." But, Tom has made steps to escape into reality by
transferring the payment of a light bill to pay for his dues in the
Merchant Seaman's Union.
Another symbol, which deals with both Amanda and Laura, is Jim
O'Connor. To Laura, Jim represents the one thing she fears and does
not want to face, reality. Jim is a perfect example of "the common
man." A person with no real outstanding quality. In fact, Jim is
rather awkward, which can be seen when he dances with Laura. To
Amanda, Jim represents the days of her youth, when she went frolicking
about picking jonquils and supposedly having "seventeen gentlemen
callers on one Sunday afternoon." Although Amanda desires to see Laura
settled down with a nice young man, it is hard to tell whether she
wanted a gentleman caller to be invited for Laura or for herself.
One symbol which is rather obvious is Laura's glass menagerie.
Her collection of glass represents her own private world. Set apart
from reality, a place where she can hide and be safe. The events that
happen to Laura's glass affects Laura's emotional state greatly. When
Amanda tells Laura to practice typing, Laura instead plays with her
glass. When Amanda is heard walking up the fire escape, she quickly
hides her collection. She does this to hide her secret world from the
others. When Tom leaves to go to the movies in an angered rush, he
accidentally breaks some of Laura's glass. The shattered glass
represents Laura's understanding of Tom's responsibilities to her.
Also, the unicorn, which is important, represents Laura directly.
Laura points out to Jim that the unicorn is different, just as she is
different. She also points out that the unicorn does not complain of
being different, as she does not complain either. And when Jim breaks
the horn off the unicorn, Laura points out that now it is like the
other horses, just as Laura has shed some of her shyness and become
more normal. When she hands the broken unicorn to Jim, this might
represent Laura handing over her broken love to Jim, as Jim has
revealed that he is engaged to be married.
As can be seen, there are quite a few symbols in this play. And a
number of them have diverse meanings. Most of these symbols have a
direct meaning in the author's own life. This is understandable seeing
that the play is supposed to be "memory play." It is obvious that this
memory play is based on Williams' own memories
"The Glass Menagerie" is set in the apartment of the Wingfield
family. By description, it is a cramped, dinghy place, not unlike a
jail cell. It is one of many such apartments in the neighborhood. Of
the Wingfield family members, none of them want to live there. Poverty
is what traps them in their humble abode. The escape from this
lifestyle, this apartment and these relationships is a significant
theme throughout the play. These escapes may be related to the fire
escape, the dance hall, the absent Mr. Wingfield and Tom's inevitable
departure.
The play opens with Tom addressing the audience from the fire
escape. This entrance into the apartment provides a different purpose
for each of the characters. Overall, it is a symbol of the passage
from freedom to being trapped in a life of desperation. The fire
escape allows Tom the opportunity to get out of the apartment and away
from his nagging mother. Amanda sees the fire escape as an opportunity
for gentleman callers to enter their lives. Laura's view is different
from her mother and her brother. Her escape seems to be hiding inside
the apartment, not out. The fire escape separates reality and the
unknown.
Across the street from the Wingfield apartment is the Paradise
Dance Hall. Just the name of the place is a total anomaly in the
story. Life with the Wingfields is as far from paradise as it could
possibly be. Laura appears to find solace in playing the same records
over and over again, day after day. Perhaps the music floating up to
the apartment from the dance hall is supposed to be her escape which
she just can't take. The music from the dance hall often provides the
background music for certain scenes, The Glass Menagerie playing quite
frequently. With war ever-present in the background, the dance hall is
the last chance for paradise.
Mr. Wingfield, the absent father of Tom and Laura and husband to
the shrewish Amanda, is referred to often throughout the story. He is
the ultimate symbol of escape. This is because he has managed to
remove himself from the desperate situation that the rest of his
family are still living in. His picture is featured prominently on the
wall as a constant reminder of better times and days gone by. Amanda
always makes disparaging remarks about her missing husband, yet lets
his picture remain. Tom always makes jokes about his dad, and how he
"fell in love with long distances." This is his attempt to ease the
pain of abandonment by turning it into something humorous. It is
inevitable that the thing which Tom resents most in his father is
exactly what Tom himself will carry out in the end...escape! Through
his father, Tom has seen that escape is possible, and though he is
hesitant to leave his sister and even his mother behind, he is being
driven to it.
Tom escapes reality in many different ways. The first and most
obvious is the fire escape that leads him away from his desolate
home. Another would be the movies that Amanda is always nagging him
about. She thinks he spends too much time watching movies and that he
should work harder and find a suitable companion for Laura. The more
Amanda nags, the more Tom needs his movie escapes. They take him to
another world for a while, where mothers and sisters and runaway
fathers do not exist. As the strain gets worse, the movie watching
becomes more frequent, as does Tom's drinking. It is getting harder
and harder for Tom to avoid real life. The time for a real departure
is fast approaching. Amanda eventually pushes him over the edge,
almost forcing him out, but not without laying overpowering guild
trips on him. Tom leaves, but his going away is not the escape that he
craved for so long. The guilt of abandoning Laura is overwhelming. He
cannot seem to get over it. Everything he sees is a reminder of her.
Tom is now truly following in the footsteps of his father. Too late,
he is realizing that leaving is not an escape at all, but a path of
even more powerful desperation.
Williams uses the theme of escape throughout "The Glass Menagerie"
to demonstrate the hopelessness and futility of each character's
dreams. Tom, Laura and Amanda all seem to think, incorrectly I might
add, that escape is possible. In the end, no character makes a clean
break from the situation at hand. The escape theme demonstrated in the
fire escape, the dance hall, Mr. Wingfield and Tom's departure prove
to be a dead end in many ways. Perhaps Tennessee Williams is trying to
send a message that running away is not the way to solve life's
problems. The only escape in life is solving your problems, not
avoiding them.
"The Glass Menagerie" is set in the apartment of the Wingfield
family. By description, it is a cramped, dinghy place, not unlike a
jail cell. It is one of many such apartments in the neighborhood. Of
the Wingfield family members, none of them want to live there. Poverty
is what traps them in their humble abode. The escape from this
lifestyle, this apartment and these relationships is a significant
theme throughout the play. These escapes may be related to the fire
escape, the dance hall, the absent Mr. Wingfield and Tom's inevitable
departure.
The play opens with Tom addressing the audience from the fire
escape. This entrance into the apartment provides a different purpose
for each of the characters. Overall, it is a symbol of the passage
from freedom to being trapped in a life of desperation. The fire
escape allows Tom the opportunity to get out of the apartment and away
from his nagging mother. Amanda sees the fire escape as an opportunity
for gentleman callers to enter their lives. Laura's view is different
from her mother and her brother. Her escape seems to be hiding inside
the apartment, not out. The fire escape separates reality and the
unknown.
Across the street from the Wingfield apartment is the Paradise
Dance Hall. Just the name of the place is a total anomaly in the
story. Life with the Wingfields is as far from paradise as it could
possibly be. Laura appears to find solace in playing the same records
over and over again, day after day. Perhaps the music floating up to
the apartment from the dance hall is supposed to be her escape which
she just can't take. The music from the dance hall often provides the
background music for certain scenes, The Glass Menagerie playing quite
frequently. With war ever-present in the background, the dance hall is
the last chance for paradise.
Mr. Wingfield, the absent father of Tom and Laura and husband to
the shrewish Amanda, is referred to often throughout the story. He is
the ultimate symbol of escape. This is because he has managed to
remove himself from the desperate situation that the rest of his
family are still living in. His picture is featured prominently on the
wall as a constant reminder of better times and days gone by. Amanda
always makes disparaging remarks about her missing husband, yet lets
his picture remain. Tom always makes jokes about his dad, and how he
"fell in love with long distances." This is his attempt to ease the
pain of abandonment by turning it into something humorous. It is
inevitable that the thing which Tom resents most in his father is
exactly what Tom himself will carry out in the end...escape! Through
his father, Tom has seen that escape is possible, and though he is
hesitant to leave his sister and even his mother behind, he is being
driven to it.
Tom escapes reality in many different ways. The first and most
obvious is the fire escape that leads him away from his desolate
home. Another would be the movies that Amanda is always nagging him
about. She thinks he spends too much time watching movies and that he
should work harder and find a suitable companion for Laura. The more
Amanda nags, the more Tom needs his movie escapes. They take him to
another world for a while, where mothers and sisters and runaway
fathers do not exist. As the strain gets worse, the movie watching
becomes more frequent, as does Tom's drinking. It is getting harder
and harder for Tom to avoid real life. The time for a real departure
is fast approaching. Amanda eventually pushes him over the edge,
almost forcing him out, but not without laying overpowering guild
trips on him. Tom leaves, but his going away is not the escape that he
craved for so long. The guilt of abandoning Laura is overwhelming. He
cannot seem to get over it. Everything he sees is a reminder of her.
Tom is now truly following in the footsteps of his father. Too late,
he is realizing that leaving is not an escape at all, but a path of
even more powerful desperation.
Williams uses the theme of escape throughout "The Glass Menagerie"
to demonstrate the hopelessness and futility of each character's
dreams. Tom, Laura and Amanda all seem to think, incorrectly I might
add, that escape is possible. In the end, no character makes a clean
break from the situation at hand. The escape theme demonstrated in the
fire escape, the dance hall, Mr. Wingfield and Tom's departure prove
to be a dead end in many ways. Perhaps Tennessee Williams is trying to
send a message that running away is not the way to solve life's
problems. The only escape in life is solving your problems, not
avoiding them.
THEMES
The main theme of Glass Menagerie is appearance vs. reality. All
of the Wingfields live in a world of dreams and illusions. Amanda
romanticizes her past, living the belief that she was a wealthy
Southern belle with lots of suitors. She also refuses to accept the
limitations of her children. She wants Tom to attend college and
make something of himself, but he lacks ambition. Amanda refuses
to see Laura as a cripple with eccentric behavior; instead, she
dreams of marrying her daughter to a gentleman caller who will
take care of her forever. Both of Amanda's children also escape
from reality. Tom hates his boring and depressing existence and
escapes by going to the movies and dreaming of his own real life
adventures. He thinks about sailing to South Sea islands and going
on safaris; he even admits that "I seem dreamy." Laura hates being
a cripple and facing the outside world; she hides herself away in the
coffin-like apartment, playing with her glass menagerie and
listening to her father's phonograph records. None of the Wingfields
can successfully function in the real world. The name Wingfield
even suggests an unreal and illusory life, as if they were birds on
flights of fancy.
The title of the play, Glass Menagerie, supports the theme of
illusions. A menagerie, a zoo, refers to a group of inhuman
creatures. Since the creatures are glass, they are very fragile and not
real. The title specifically refers to Laura's collection of glass
animals, mainly horses. To escape the harshness of her real
existence, Laura spends hours playing with the menagerie; it is an
illusory world for her. But the glass menagerie is larger than just
Laura's collection. All of the Wingfields are strange creatures who
are fragile enough to break easily. Each of them burns "with the
slow and implacable fires of human desperation." Like animals in a
zoo, they are trapped in their dreary existence, barely making ends
meet. The box-like apartment, entered from a fire escape, is a
perfect symbol of their confinement.
The theme of illusion is further developed by the glass unicorn, a
symbol for Laura. Like the strange horse with an aberration on its
head, Laura feels that her handicap is an aberration; it keeps her
from participating in life. It is significant that while she is dancing
with Jim, an act engaged in by active people with average lives, the
couple accidentally bumps against the table; the unicorn falls over,
and its horn breaks off. Laura notices that the hornless unicorn
looks more natural and states that it will now "feel more at home
with the other horses". For an illusory moment, Laura herself has
forgotten her handicap and appeared "normal" for the first time in
the play. The breakage of the unicorn also foreshadows the outcome
of the play. Jim breaks the dreams of Amanda and Laura by
revealing that he is engaged to Betty.
There is also a religious theme running throughout the play.
Amanda is portrayed as being a woman who practices religious
rituals; yet she fails to live out Christian beliefs by treating her
children with a lack of respect and ignoring their individual needs.
Tom and Laura obviously sense the hypocrisy of their mother's
religious overtures and are not at all religious themselves. Tom uses
Christian terms only in blasphemous ways, saying things like,
"What in Christ's name." Amanda always denounces his curses. At
both meal times, when Amanda demands that Grace be said, the
prayer is interrupted, first by Tom in Scene One and then by Laura
in Scene Six.
There are additional small religious images to be found in the play.
Amanda tells an impatient Laura to "possess your soul in patience."
She also fears that if Laura does not marry, she will have to eat "the
crust of humility" all her life. Amanda denounces Tom's philosophy
of living by instincts and tells him that "Christian adults don't want
it". The music played for Amanda is "Ave Maria", and there is a
martyred look on her face when Laura admits she has stopped
attending business school.
The most important of the religious symbols is the fact that Jim is
depicted as a potential savior for Amanda and Laura. It is
appropriate, therefore, that the scene where Amanda learns that Jim
is scheduled to come to dinner the next evening is aptly titled
"Annunciation." With an air of expectancy about Jim's arrival, both
women dress ritualistically. Amanda "resurrects" a girlish dress
from the trunk, and Laura wears a new frock. It is also appropriate
that Amanda has chosen to prepare fish for dinner, and both she and
Laura serve him. When Laura is alone with Jim in the living room,
her reactions to him are described in religious terms; she "is lit
inwardly with altar candles." The stage direction after Jim's kiss
informs the reader that "the holy candles in the altar of Laura's face
have been snuffed out." Jim is not to be her savior.
Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
-- Albert Einstein.
The most important theme in The Glass Menagerie is the difficulty people have in accepting and relating to reality. As a result of their inability to overcome this difficulty, the characters withdraw into a private world of illusion to find the comfort they can’t find in real life.
Out of the three Wingfield family members, Laura probably is the one living furthest away from reality. There are several symbols in the play that represent that in some way. Her glass collection that she carefully takes care of, is the imaginary world she lives in to escape the real live where she doesn’t finish high school, fails typing class, and doesn’t have any “gentlemen callers” like her mother expects her to. Another symbol for Laura’s personality is “Blue Roses”, the nickname Jim gives her in high school. Blue roses are, although beautiful, not real and can’t be found in nature, what refers to Laura’s uniqueness but also to her very own, special beauty that lies beyond her differentness and inability to live in reality. Overall, Laura is a very important character, because the whole story is basically about her (Tom tells us) and she also is the one who is most concerned with the play’s theme of withdrawing from reality.
At first sight Tom seems to be the only one in the Wingfield family who is capable of functioning in the real world, interacting with strangers, and holding down a job to finance his mother and sister. But he also, withdraws into his illusions to abscond the never-ending conflicts with his mother and his frustration about his monotone, meaningless life. During the play, Tom often mentions “the movies” he’s going to all the time, which represent his attempt to escape all this and to give him the illusion of adventure. The same goes for the fire escape to where Tom often withdraws whenever the “fire” of conflict and arguing with Amanda gets to hot.
Tom's attitude toward his sister puzzles the reader, since even though he clearly cares for her, he is frequently indifferent and even cruel. Not once in the play does he behave kindly or lovingly toward Laura, not even when he knocks down her glass menagerie. Laura on the other side is the only character who, despite the selfishness that characterizes the Wingfield family, never does anything to hurt anyone else. Instead she cries over Tom’s unhappiness, as described by Amanda. Although both Tom and his sister Laura build their own world of illusion to escape from their problems, it doesn’t satisfy them both the same way. While Laura overall is content with her (imaginary) life, Tom doesn’t and not even leaving home means true escape for him, because he senses that he harms his mother and sister by doing so and we clearly see the guilt he feels about doing so.
I think the whole theme of people building imaginary worlds of illusions to protect themselves from the hard reality still is very current and will probably always be because there are always people who can’t afford to be confronted with their lives. I know what I’m talking about, because I had the same problem some time ago. I was having a lot of trouble with school, parents, and some more things I felt I couldn’t deal with any longer so I began to play an online computer game, for hours every single day, escaping into this digital world where I was a mighty warrior, appreciated and valued by other players from all over the world. It made me feel better but in the end I had to accept that life isn’t a computer game and I worked myself out of that vicious circle. Real life may be hard sometimes, but – you just have to face your problem and solve it!
Glass Menagerie By Tennesse Williams
"The Glass Menagerie" is set in the apartment of the Wingfield family. By description, it is a cramped, dinghy place, not unlike a jail cell. It is one of many such apartments in the neighborhood. Of the Wingfield family members, none of them want to live there. Poverty is what traps them in their humble abode. The escape from this lifestyle, this apartment and these relationships is a significant theme throughout the play. These escapes may be related to the fire escape, the dance hall, the absent Mr. Wingfield and Tom's inevitable departure.
The play opens with Tom addressing the audience from the fire escape. This entrance into the apartment provides a different purpose for each of the characters. Overall, it is a symbol of the passage from freedom to being trapped in a life of desperation. The fire escape allows Tom the opportunity to get out of the apartment and away from his nagging mother. Amanda sees the fire escape as an opportunity for gentleman callers to enter their lives. Laura's view is different from her mother and her brother. Her escape seems to be hiding inside the apartment, not out. The fire escape separates reality and the unknown.
Across the street from the Wingfield apartment is the Paradise Dance Hall. Just the name of the place is a total anomaly in the story. Life with the Wingfields is as far from paradise as it could possibly be. Laura appears to find solace in playing the same records over and over again, day after day. Perhaps the music floating up to the apartment from the dance hall is supposed to be her escape which she just can't take. The music from the dance hall often provides the background music for certain scenes, The Glass Menagerie playing quite frequently. With war ever-present in the background, the dance hall is the last chance for paradise.
Mr. Wingfield, the absent father of Tom and Laura and husband to the shrewish Amanda, is referred to often throughout the story. He is the ultimate symbol of escape. This is because he has managed to remove himself from the desperate situation that the rest of his family are still living in. His picture is featured prominently on the wall as a constant reminder of better times and days gone by. Amanda always makes disparaging remarks about her missing husband, yet lets his picture remain. Tom always makes jokes about his dad, and how he "fell in love with long distances." This is his attempt to ease the pain of abandonment by turning it into something humorous. It is inevitable that the thing which Tom resents most in his father is exactly what Tom himself will carry out in the end...escape! Through his father, Tom has seen that escape is possible, and though he is hesitant to leave his sister and even his mother behind, he is being driven to it.
Tom escapes reality in many different ways. The first and most obvious is the fire escape that leads him away from his desolate home. Another would be the movies that Amanda is always nagging him about. She thinks he spends too much time watching movies and that he should work harder and find a suitable companion for Laura. The more Amanda nags, the more Tom needs his movie escapes. They take him to another world for a while, where mothers and sisters and runaway fathers do not exist. As the strain gets worse, the movie watching becomes more frequent, as does Tom's drinking. It is getting harder and harder for Tom to avoid real life. The time for a real departure is fast approaching. Amanda eventually pushes him over the edge, almost forcing him out, but not without laying overpowering guild trips on him. Tom leaves, but his going away is not the escape that he craved for so long. The guilt of abandoning Laura is overwhelming. He cannot seem to get over it. Everything he sees is a reminder of her. Tom is now truly following in the footsteps of his father. Too late, he is realizing that leaving is not an escape at all, but a path of even more powerful desperation.
Williams uses the theme of escape throughout "The Glass Menagerie" to demonstrate the hopelessness and futility of each character's dreams. Tom, Laura and Amanda all seem to think, incorrectly I might add, that escape is possible. In the end, no character makes a clean break from the situation at hand. The escape theme demonstrated in the fire escape, the dance hall, Mr. Wingfield and Tom's departure prove to be a dead end in many ways. Perhaps Tennessee Williams is trying to send a message that running away is not the way to solve life's problems. The only escape in life is solving your problems, not avoiding them.
