Furthermore, the odd horn that made the unicorn seem "freakish" (1018) is no longer an issue. When Laura realizes this, she also realizes that the things that make her seem like a freak to others may not be so significant, either. The time she spent with Jim allowed her to see that what makes her different might not be such a bad thing after all. She even tells Jim that with a broken horn, the unicorn "will feel more at home with the other horses" (1018). This statement reinforces Laura's change.
The broken unicorn also symbolizes how Laura must deal with the possibility of remaining single. The broken unicorn could very well be her broken heart. These things break, and when they do, they are rarely the same again. However, this is the way of life. We grow, we become attached to others, and we get hurt. Laura realizes this with the unicorn and with herself. This realization causes Laura to emerge as the strongest character in the play.
Another symbol Williams uses in the play is the rainbow. Rainbows are generally seen as beacons of hope and it is no different in the Glass Menagerie. Williams scatters bits and pieces of a rainbow's hope to emphasize that hope is important. For example, after the Malvolio show, Tom returns with a scarf in rainbow colors that is somewhat magical in that if it is waved over goldfish, they will "fly away canaries" (983). Here we see Williams linking this scarf to Tom's desire to fly away from his current situation. At the end of the play, Tom meanders in the streets and strolls by a window that encases pieces of colored glass, that impress him as "bits of a shattered window" (1025). His thought...
As we have already mentioned, the mood and tone for moral corruption in New York City was prime in the 1920s and while it may seem there are the rich and the poor, class distinction among the rich plays an important role in the novel. Gatsby's success will only carry him so far because of a dividing line that exists between the new wealth and the old wealth. This
The Grapes of Wrath" novel written by John Steinbeck portrays the Joad family as it tries to cope with all the difficulties that migrant laborers had suffered during the Great Depression. Across the novel, readers are presented with the 1930 farmers that, in search of the American dream, find themselves trapped into a world in which the wealthy are willing to exploit the working-classes to the maximum, regardless of the
America: A nation of paradoxes America is a nation of paradoxes. On one hand, it is a nation that has symbolized freedom to many immigrants, as poignantly illustrated in Emma Lazarus' poem "The New Colossus," a poem included on the famed Statue of Liberty that greeted so many refugees as they strove to escape from Europe and avoid intolerable situations. The Lazarus poem proclaims the dawning a new America, free of
To make matters worse, he never even considers that he might not be as good as he thinks so he never seriously considers doing anything else. Willy does not know when to cut his losses and let go. Charley gives us an accurate description of Willy when he says, "For a salesman, there's no rock bottom to the life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't
The second issue is the economic disparity between men and women, and the differences in their earning capabilities. Not only are women more likely to be single parents, they are also less likely to be given jobs then men, and are also apt to earn less at these jobs. The fact that even full-time employment in many cases did not provide enough of a living to support a family is
Paine is broken and reveals the entire scheme. Similarly, Dumbo suggests that a belief in one's self can accomplish anything, even in the face of the most seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Dumbo is the story of an elephant with enormous ears. Dumbo is a freak and the mockery of the circus. His mother is taken away after she tries to protect him. The circus is a cruel and judgmental environment that
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