Symbolism In Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie Essay -- Tennesse

symbolization In Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie Symbolism is a major shot in Tennessee Williams famous play, The Glass Menagerie. On the surface, the short slice of bread and butter story seems to be simple. However, if the reader digs deeper they will find that in that location argon several symbols that give the play a deeper meaning. Each fiber defines each symbol in a different way. Aside from oddball 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 be un suitable to function in reality. None of the characters be capable of spirit in the present. All of the characters retreat into their separate worlds to equivocation the brutalities of life. (Ross).There are some very noticeable symbols that have been analyzed many measure since study has begun on The Glass Menagerie. The first is the veritable methamphetamine hydrochloride zoo that represents 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 world caller, Jim OConnor, represents change and besides hopes for the future, as well as a observance 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 occur additional meanings through their use in a particular work. (Kirszner and Mandell pg. 245)The actual animal collection, or frappe menagerie, symbolizes each character and the story. Like the glass animals, the characters realities are very fragile and in danger of world smashed. 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 intentional to be to hide and escape from the pain that life has given them. Laura get it ons 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 dearie 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 trauma 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. H e 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.