Term Paper on "Symbolism Imagery in the Glass Menagerie"

Term Paper 5 pages (2042 words) Sources: 7 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Symbolism and imagery are two of William's literary trademarks, and this play is rich in both. Without the symbolism and imagery, this play would not be as poignant, nor as significant in American literature.

Short Summary of Play

Characters

Use of Symbolism

The Menagerie itself (symbolizes Laura's delicate and fragile nature.)

Escape, which is a main theme with Tom. The fire escape and the theater both symbolize Tom's escape from the family.

Angels or halos (often used with Amanda and Laura, which symbolizes their saintly or virgin-like existence.)

Laura's handicap, which symbolizes her mother's failed hopes for her and her attempts to manipulate her son and daughter.

The Gentleman Caller (Tom even calls him a symbol.)

Use of Imagery

Light, which is used as an image throughout the play, to signify the character's relationship to each other and the world.

The scene when Laura dances with Jim, and the imagery of her disability and his breaking the unicorn.

Poetry in speech (several characters use imagery like prose in their speech.)

Conclusion

Symbolism in "The Glass Menagerie"

This paper analyzes the play "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams. Specifically, it discusses symbolism and imagery in the play.

This celebrated play by Tennessee Williams was first seen on stage in 1944 and won New York Drama Critics Circle Award, along with the Catholic Monthly and Sidney Howard Memorial awards (Bloom 96). Symbolism and imagery are two of William's literary trademarks, and this play is rich in both. Without the symbolism and imagery, this play would not be as poignant or as significant in American literature.

The Glass Menagerie" is the story of the Wingfield family - Amanda, Tom, and Laura. Amanda is the mother who is growing old, Tom is the son anxious to be free of the family and his tedious job, (and the narrator of the play), and Laura is the emotionally fragile daughter. She walks with a limp because of wearing a leg brace while she was in high school. She is extremely shy and introverted, and is enormously self-conscious about her limp. The title of the play comes from the treasured collection of glass figurines Laura collects and displays in the living room of the small family apartment. Tom, at Amanda's constant urging, agrees to introduce Laura to a "nice" young man from the warehouse where he works. At the climax of the play, the young man comes to dinner, and Laura discovers he is engaged. Amanda, enraged at Tom, berates his for his choice, and Tom leaves the family for good (something he has been trying to do for a long time). In the end, Laura and Amanda are left alone with the menagerie, and it seems, few hopes for the future.

Throughout this touching play, Williams uses rich symbolism to make the characters more real and the message of the play clearer. The menagerie itself is an excellent example. Laura is exceptionally shy and withdrawn, or fragile, and the menagerie is just as fragile and delicate. One critic says of the play, "Some aspects are as fragile as the tiny glass animals which Laura, the crippled young woman of the play, loves and protects..." (Taubman 24). Another critic states, "The central image in this play, from which the work takes its name, is Laura's glass menagerie" (Tischler 33). Laura spends time polishing and admiring her figurines, and when one is broken, she "cries out as if wounded" (Williams 998), according to William's production notes. The animals are real to her, more real than her family's empty lives, and so, they represent her only joy in life. The menagerie breaks, just like Laura is "broken" with her shyness and slight limp, and so, by the end of the play, it is easy to see that Laura and the menagerie are really one in the same.

Tom's main goal is to leave the family. He tells his mother, "Why listen, if self is what I thought of, Mother, I'd be where he is - GONE! (Pointing to father's picture)" (Williams 998). This symbol of escape is carried through in the father's absence, Tom's constant retreat to the fire escape, and his final escape from the family after Jim's uncomfortable escape from dinner. There is no escape for Amanda and Laura, and that is the other way escape plays a part in the play. Everyone who will survive escapes, while a bleak future awaits those who are left behind.

The movies are another way Tom escapes from his bleak reality and his family. Another critic notes, "Tom threatens to go to the movies, his characteristic way of dealing -- or not dealing -- with unwanted responsibilities. The movies are an escape from the grind at the shoe warehouse where he works and the problems at the apartment; both environments seem like prisons to Tom... (Fordyce). However, they do not offer enough release for him, as he always must return to the family no matter how long he spends at the theater.

Critic Harold Bloom notes that Williams even said he used light as a symbol in the work. Bloom notes, "As with Hannah in 'The Night of the Iguana,' he tells us that the lighting for Laura should resemble that 'used in early religious portraits of female saints or Madonnas'" (Bloom 18). In another telling and symbolic scene, Laura indicates how she is always fearful of disappointing her mother. She says, "When you're disappointed, you get that awful suffering look on your face, like the picture of Jesus' mother in the museum! I couldn't face it" (Williams 996). The symbolism of the long-suffering Madonna again conjures up the idea that because Laura and her mother live asexual lives, they are saintly or virgin-like creatures who need protection from the real world outside their door.

Laura's handicap is also a symbol in the play. It allows her mother to manipulate her and keep her under her control, and it allows Laura to shrink from the outside world and live in her make-believe world of glass figurines and no outside pressure. Her mother tries to reassure her that her limp is hardly noticeable, and refuses to acknowledge the truth even to Tom. Williams writes, "Don't say crippled! You know that I never allow that word to be used!" (Williams 1004). This symbolizes Amanda's inability to cope with reality, tied with her desperate need to control her son and daughter throughout their lives. It also symbolizes her inability to see her daughter for who she really is. She tries to push her to attend secretarial school, or find a husband. She cannot admit to herself that her daughter is not like her, and will never be able to be strong enough to stand up on her own. Thus, her handicap also symbolizes her inability to "stand on her own two feet" and escape from her mother.

If the menagerie is the central image in the play, then the Gentleman Caller (Jim) is the most obvious of the play. Tom even calls him a symbol in his opening monologue of the play. He says, "But since I have a poet's weakness for symbols, I am using this character also as a symbol; he is the long delayed but always expected something that we live for" (Williams 993). Thus, while the play seems to end on a hopeless note, the symbolism points to "something that we live for," which will give Amanda and Laura the strength to go on with their unfulfilling lives. In fact, critic Bloom sheds light on Williams' thoughts about the play. He writes, "Williams said in 1948 that the dominating premise of his work was 'the need for understanding and tenderness and fortitude among individuals trapped by circumstance'" (Bloom 16). Laura is most certainly trapped by the circumstance of her shyness and her mother's control, and her bleak future seems insurmountable at the end of the play. However, there is always that something to live for, so life is not completely hopeless.

Light and lighting is significant throughout the play. Perhaps the most compelling imagery is the scene with Laura and Jim dancing in the dark. Another critic writes, "Tom, having misused the money for the electric bill, has plunged them into darkness. Amanda, always eager to adopt romantic attitudes, furnishes them with a candelabra, a relic from a church fire, and thereby returns them to the nineteenth century" (Tischler 33). The imagery underscores Laura and Amanda's inability to live in the present, and the lack of enlightenment and fulfillment in their lives. This is continued with the ending of the play, where Laura blows out the candles and leaves the stage in darkness. Critic Bloom continues, "As the ironic use of imagery helps to make clear, the failure of vision at the end of the play is everybody's failure" (Bloom 14). Ultimately, it represents the hopelessness and blackness of the future for all the participants, even those who escape.

Laura's candlelight scene alone with Jim is full of imagery,… READ MORE

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