Symbolism in The Glass Menagerie

Imagery in The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams is a short play that utilizes a huge assortment of symbolization all through to portray the passionate, physical and social condition of every one of its characters. Laura is a delicate young lady that lives in a lower class, pitiful condo with her more established sibling Tom, and her offbeat mother Amanda. Laura feels just as she is a pariah as opposed to the remainder of the world. Among the numerous repetitive topics of this play the delicacy is appeared in a little unicorn that securely exists inside a glass zoological garden. There are different less noticeable images, for example, the shades of a rainbow, blue roses, and the exit, and access to the loft. Lauras glass zoo is a significant image. Laura wouldn't like to be associated with the world outside this â€Å"dark, grim† condo that she lives in with her mom, a â€Å"proud, vivacious lady, Amanda,† and her sibling â€Å"Tom, a yearning artist, and shoe warehouseman.† (ebscohost.com). She inclines toward the solace of her â€Å"transparent glass animals† (478). Laura would prefer to invest energy with her minor glass ponies and unicorn puppet, tuning in to her old records. She would want to do this throughout the day as opposed to having any contact with others. One of the most clear representative employments of the glass puppets occurs at a point in the story when Laura and Jim are left without anyone else. Laura offers the expression â€Å"You ought to consistently take great consideration of your glass.† (510) Again, we see the imagery of the glass unicorn and the delicacy of Laura. Laura is exceptionally bashful and guiltless, particularly like the glass puppets she cleans for the duration of the day. All however it is exceptionally delicate, much like Laura herself, the glass sparkles and flickers, amplifying numerous shades of the rainbow in the light. The glass unicorn is clearly the most representative of Laura! Figuring out the real story as Jim and Laura are talking, it is anything but difficult to see that the unicorn speaks to Lauras strangely unique, fragile, and uncomfortablenss in the typical world. Jim offers the expression. â€Å"Poor little individual, he should feel kind of lonesome†. Clearly Laura has felt desolate the greater part of her life, and Laura answers â€Å"the unicorn sits on a rack with some typical ponies that don't have any horns, and they all appear to get along pleasantly together.† (p512) During Jim and Lauras short sentimental experience, for a second, Laura is feeling more certainty. Maybe she is starting to feel a little typical like her ponies. When Jim accidently thumps the glass unicorn to the floor, and severs the horn. â€Å"The unicorn has lost its horn. It doesnt truly matter. It might be a gift in disguise.† Laura states, and â€Å"I will simply envision that it has had an operation.† And â€Å"with the horn evacuated he may feel less outlandish! Presently he may feel increasingly like he is one of the ponies, the ones with no horns†. (p513) For a second Laura is cheerful and inspired. She starts to grin and feel the pressure of uniqueness lifting from her. Jim sees this and starts moving around with her, and in the end kisses her. The entirety of this gives us the slight impression that Laura may at long last be getting away from the illusive world in which she has lived for the vast majority of her life. Laura is for a second, beginning to feel progressively acknowledged, particularly from Jim. For a second she is feeling less cognizant about her physical inabilities. She begins to open up only a tad. Its not long after the entirety of this that Jim advises Laura of his commitment to another lady. Laura is broken. She is broken inside, and no longer feels a similar uniqueness that she once felt with the glass unicorn. She takes a gander at Jim, and advises him to take the unicorn. Maybe she has relinquished something inside. Past dream like recollections of an affection that she once had for Jim, have now been lost in the truth of Jims words. Laura has spent numerous years cleaning, and dealing with her glass zoological garden, and protecting her unicorn from the outside world. Be that as it may, presently it has been uncovered, and thus it has been broken, similarly as Laura has been broken. The fantasy of possibly, some time or another having love from a man, and being typical has now been supplanted with a messed up heart, and a pulled back bitterness. As the thoughtful and modest Laura is lost significantly further in to herself. We start to see a brief look at the imageries in the utilization of the rainbow and its hues. Yet, it is more subtle than that of the glass unicorn. The rainbow connotes that there might be some expectation later on. Tom gives Laura a brief look at trust, â€Å"Laura is overpowered with feelings when Tom pulls out the rainbow-shaded scarf and recounts to the account of how an entertainer changed a bowl of little fish into canaries. Towards the finish of the play, Tom thinks about Laura as he looks at some messed up hued glass, and envisions his broke sister Laura and her wrecked spirit†.(ebscohost.com). Tom wishes in the representative sense that he could victory the candles of his sisters despair. He likewise ponders how Laura would go through hours cleaning her glass creatures, protecting them from the remainder of the world. There is dismal incongruity in Tennessee Williams play when you consider the imagery of the rainbow. In spite of the fact that rainbows appear to be certain, brilliant, and cheerful signs that another day is coming soon, there is normally much agony that must be suffered before that time, on the off chance that it ever comes. There is a significant cluster of imagery that assists with shaping the character of Laura. Tennessee Williams utilizes the shade of blue in Jims epithet for Laura. Like the rose, Laura is delicate, and like the shading blue, she is bashful, blameless, and extremely dismal. Works Cited Fambrough, Preston. Williams The Glass Menagerie. Explicator 63.2 (Winter 2005): 100-102. Scholastic Search Complete. EBSCO. Northwestern State U, Watson Lib, Leesville, LA. 17 Mar. 2008 < http://search.ebscohost.com>. Reese, Jennifer. The Glass Menagerie. Amusement Weekly (28 Apr. 2006): 143-143. Scholastic Search Complete. EBSCO. Northwestern State U, Watson Lib., Leesville, LA. 17 Mar. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com>. Williams, Tennessee. â€Å"The Glass Menagerie† Literature for Composition: Writing Arguments about Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama ed. by Sylvia Barnet, William Burto and William E. Cain†¦8th Ed New York. 2007: 499-519.