Passage Based Essay of the last page of Scene 7 in the play: The Glass Menagerie.

        While Tom left his ‘two by four situation’ behind physically, he never achieves true escape instead being ‘swept about’ like ‘dead leaves’. The natural symbolism of being ‘torn away from the branches’ reinforces the idea that Tom no longer has roots or a stable family to turn to. Though Tom has travelled ‘a great deal’ like a leaf being blown in the wind, he is not settles and will soon root away from the tree. This creates sympathy for Tom as the audience realises he left to achieve his own goals yet is hindered by his continuous guilt. The symbol of light is representative of change. Being a memory play, the lighting is ‘dim’ and ‘sentimental’. Clear pools of light is focused on the main subjects, this is sometimes confusing for in Scene Three, Amanda and Tom are arguing, yet the main light is focuses on Laura, showing that she is the subject that they are arguing about. Laura upon meeting Jim is seen though rose coloured light, like glass if Laura is seen in the right light she transforms from something ordinary to something extraordinary. In the extract, Tom cannot escape the light of Laura. The symbol of a candle emphasises the light of Laura, she is a candle that can only impact a few yet is strong enough that Tom cannot blow her light or memories away. Tom cannot extinguish her and so implores Laura to ‘blow out your candles’. The idea of passing time and the oncoming war is also brought in be the statement that ‘the world is lit by lightening’. WE no longer need the frail light of candles when with the switch of a button we get electricity.

Another symbol is Mr Wingfield and the impacts of his desertion on the family. His photograph still remains the dominant feature of the living room. This photograph serves as a pathway for Amanda to escape to her past and a daily remind to Tom that true escape could be possible. However upon following ‘in my father’s footsteps’, Tom discovers that he cannot be the magician that ‘got out of a coffin without removing one nail’. He is ‘pursued’ by the guilt of damaging the human nails – Amanda and Laura.