The Symbolism of the Menagerie in The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie, describes three separate characters, their dreams, and the harsh realities they face in a modern world. The Glass Menagerie exposes the lost dreams of a southern family and their desperate struggle to escape reality Williams emphasizes the uniqueness and purity of Laura’s unicorn—qualities that are diminished when the outside world intrudes on the Wingfield dining room. Williams reminds us that the unicorn is glass, transparent, and completely unclouded. The unicorn’s horn sets it apart from the other animals in the glass menagerie, because such a creature does not really exist in the world Aug 17, · The Glass Menagerie Essay. Written by Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie is a masterpiece and it passes as a memory play for it exposits Tom Wingfield’s thoughts. A wishful poet, brother to Laura, and son to Amanda and ever absent Mr. Wingfield; Tom works hard in a shoe store to provide for his mother and sister
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Discuss the significance of the unicorn in The Glass Menagerie. Williams reminds us that the unicorn is glass, transparent, and completely unclouded.
Laura gives it special attention, emphasizing its distinction among the glass menagerie essay neighbors. When Jim, a representative of the outside world, visits for dinner, he remarks on the big, ungainly shadow he casts across the living room, begins a clumsy dance with Laura, knocks over the unicorn, and breaks its horn. A unicorn without a horn is nothing more than a mundane horse.
By contact with the world, the unicorn has lost some of its distinctiveness and purity. Like the unicorn, Laura initially radiates uniqueness and innocence. Laura stays home all day to tend to her glass figures, but in reality her hobby provides her with an excuse to avoid real-world adult commitments, such as typing school and dating, that her mother tries to force on her, the glass menagerie essay.
Like the unicorn, Laura loses some of her purity through contact with The glass menagerie essay. Having thought she could indulge a childhood fantasy and fall in love with Jim, she learns that he is already engaged and has merely been flirting with her. Laura now has an understanding of the way the world works: People do not always say what they mean, and men have a startling capacity to hurt her. Contact with Jim has stripped her of some of her childlike innocence, leaving her slightly more ordinary and damaged, like her unicorn.
The other three characters in The Glass Menagerie are not as fragile and childlike as Laura; however, each of them has also lost a precious, youthful hope in the draining struggle to survive adulthood. The husband who deserted her has crushed her dream of having a simple, the glass menagerie essay, romantic life.
Tom yearns to write poetry and escape, but his helpless, needy family has forced him to take a factory job. Williams brutally reminds us that, when he finally does decide to begin an artistic career, Tom must abandon his family and stop paying the light bills.
In each case, exposure to the devastating economic and interpersonal realities of adult life reduces, saddens, the glass menagerie essay, and damages the characters in The Glass Menagerie. Each of the characters has surrendered major dreams: Tom, his poetic ambition; Amanda, her belief in romance; Jim, his high-school talents.
Williams uses the unicorn to quickly and unforgettably symbolize the devastation life has wrought on each of his tragic characters. Search all of SparkNotes Search Suggestions Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.
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SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Character List Tom Wingfield Amanda Wingfield Laura Wingfield. The glass menagerie essay Motifs Symbols. Suggestions for Further Reading Tennessee Williams and The Glass Menagerie Background.
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The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams - Themes
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The Glass Menagerie Essay. Written by Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie is a masterpiece and it passes as a memory play for it exposits Tom Wingfield’s thoughts. A wishful poet, brother to Laura, and son to Amanda and ever absent Mr. Wingfield; Tom works hard in a shoe store to provide for his mother and sister The Symbolism of the Menagerie in The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie, describes three separate characters, their dreams, and the harsh realities they face in a modern world. The Glass Menagerie exposes the lost dreams of a southern family and their desperate struggle to escape reality Williams emphasizes the uniqueness and purity of Laura’s unicorn—qualities that are diminished when the outside world intrudes on the Wingfield dining room. Williams reminds us that the unicorn is glass, transparent, and completely unclouded. The unicorn’s horn sets it apart from the other animals in the glass menagerie, because such a creature does not really exist in the world
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