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Glass Menagerie Symbolism

symbolic of escapism and her father. When Amanda’s efforts to get Laura out into the real world are continually frustrated, she harshly mocks her daughter’s escapist ambitions: “So what are we going to do the rest of our lives? Stay home and watch the parades go by? Amuse ourselves with the glass menagerie darling? Eternally play those worn-out phonograph records your father left as a painful reminder of him?” (Williams 407).

In her censure of her daughter, Amanda refers to another major symbol in the play, Laura’s collection of glass animals that comprise her menagerie. Laura’s disability has made her withdrawn and painfully shy from a lifetime of experiences and interactions that crippled her ability to relate to others. These experiences manifested low self-esteem and a lack of self-confidence in Laura. We see this fully when her gentleman caller comes to pay a visit. At first Laura refuses to open the door. Doors are another important symbol in the play. We have seen this already with respect to the fire escape and its symbolism for Tom and Amanda. This door represents a threat to Laura. As Daire argues, “It shows her reluctance to let an emissary from the world of reality, symbolized by Jim, invade the comfortable non-existence of the apartment, and her insecurity in dealing with the outside world” (1).

A friend of Tom’s from work, Laura finally comes out of

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Glass Menagerie Symbolism. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:33, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1685547.html