Glass Menagerie Essay

The Glass Menagerie is a memory play about a young woman, Laura, told through her brother Tom’s memory. Laura is introduced as a shy girl with a crippled leg. Her brother Tom works in a factory and is constantly trying to get away from his home due to the actions of his mother, Amanda. Laura’s escape is her glass menagerie and Tom escapes by going to the movies. Laura’s glass menagerie, her high school crushes nickname for her, and her unicorn figurine, are all symbols of Laura’s fragility. These siblings both try to escape a piece of their lives that is holding them back from living. Laura’s glass menagerie is fragile and small like the way she is. Laura parallels her glass collection in several ways. She has the same translucent beauty as the small glass figurines. Laura admits to Jim O’Connor that nobody has ever called her pretty, except him. Laura hides behind her leg. She is so embarrassed by her defect although nobody she has ever interacted with has noticed it. She claims that her leg “clumped so loud” (75) when she walked although Jim “never even noticed” (75).It is the physical manifestation of how breakable she is. She lets her leg and her shyness distract from the true beauty she holds inside of her. Her sheer fragility in social interaction-in the sense that she runs from it-is the same as

Roses, or any flowers, are delicate and small. Flower petals cannot be touched or they will die. Laura is so delicate that is she if she is emotionally broken in any way, she will feel destroyed. Not only is the name associated with Laura’s personality, it also is associated with her attraction to Jim and the joy the nickname gives her. She even works up the courage to tell him that she “liked it” (75). Jim is able to see that Blue Roses are an unusual flower in the same way as Laura. Both have unusual qualities about them and they both have an unusual