Glass Menagerie: Tennesee Williams

In The Glass Menagerie, we are in the memory of Tom Wingfield. He is a man that is stuck in a place of unhappiness because he being caged by his mother. Throughout the entire play, Tom’s unhappiness is obvious, just like his love for his sister, Laura, is. The fire escape that is in many of the scenes can be seen as a symbol of an escape. Every time that Tom narrates, he is on the fire escape, which foreshadows his final departure in the last scene. When Laura falls on the fire escape, it can be inferred that Laura is unable to leave her mother and the life that she has been given because of her being crippled and terribly shy. Another symbol that comes up in the play several times is the father’s photograph. It is obvious that his departure has helped in the destruction of the family. Amanda refers to the photograph many times and she is still hurt by him leaving. Tom talks about how he followed in his father’s footsteps and during the one argument with Amanda, he used his father leaving as a threat and blow to his mother.The dim lighting throughout the entire play also shows how dark the family has gotten and the blackout during the dinner foreshadows that there was no escaping the darkness, even if Jim was there. The glass animals represents the Wingfield family. When Tom knocks over the glass animals in the play it is foreshadowing how he will later leave and leave the family completely broken. The glass unicorn represents Laura specifically. When the horn is broken off of it while her and Jim were dancing, it becomes ‘normal’. She felt like a normal girl when she was dancing with Jim, that is why she gives him the broken unicorn as a souvenir. She wants him to keep that piece of her because he helped her feel less ‘freakish’. The rainbow scarf and the references to rainbows also can be linked to Laura. A rainbow can be seen as deceptive, just like Jim deceived Laura when he comes to dinner and kisses her. The scarf that Tom gave to her symbolizes hope and how it can turn canaries into fish and then fish into canaries. Laura is seen as a caged bird (It’s even in their last name; Wingfield), and the scarf could give her the power to escape from the life that she has been given. But at the end of the play, Tom leaves her and although he feels guilty about it, he realizes he needed to escape himself. That is why he tells Laura to ‘blow out her candles’ at the end. She needs to rescue herself and extinguish her own pain. All of the symbols in the play take part in the brokenness that is exhibited in their family. By the end of the play it is evident that there are problems that can’t be fixed and there had to be an escape. The themes included in this play are abandonment, not facing reality, and the weakness of a family. All of these things can relate back to Tennessee Williams’s real life.