86). Jim symbolically inspires Laura to accept her individuality and to see that beneath her outstanding traits she is no different from anyone else. His gentility and kindness, borne of Southern culture, help Laura come to terms with herself and her social awkwardness.
Laura's personality transformation through Jim's kindness paralleled her symbolic transformation through the unicorn. Had the unicorn not been made of glass, its horn would not have so easily fallen off. Moreover, the unicorn broke during a moment of joy for Laura, during a dance. Williams seems to suggest that Laura will achieve positive personal transformation as a result of her interaction with Jim.
The transformation from unicorn into horse is a central symbol in the Glass Menagerie. In fact, Durham also notes that Williams was concerned with the concept of personal transformation when he wrote the play (p. 62). Ironically Laura, who is crippled physically and socially, emerges as the character most likely to change. Williams suggests that through her fragility Laura can find belongingness and acceptance. The playwright was likely rewriting his personal narrative through his "memory play." Because the play is told through Tom's mouth and not Laura's, the audience does not know exactly how, when or even if Laura does come to terms with her psychological setbacks. However, the unicorn transforming into a horse offers a poignant symbol of hope.
The glass menagerie symbolizes not only Laura's fragility but that of the entire Wingfield family. Amanda may be the strongest Wingfield but Tom and Laura's mother is also vulnerable. She demonstrates an acute sense of financial insecurity and must feign confidence and strength in spite of having been abandoned by the men in her life. The Glass Menagerie is an inadvertently feminist play for several reasons. First, Amanda encourages Laura's occupational growth and self-sufficiency. Although she was raised in a traditional Southern family, Amanda does not view marriage as a woman's only source of personal satisfaction....
Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams, His Mother and the Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams is among the most celebrated playwrights of the 20th century. His family portraits, set to the backdrop of a deteriorating Southern tradition, are a window into human foibles like vanity, insecurity, detachment and personal disappointment. All of these themes are in full display with Williams' breakthrough work, 1944's The Glass Menagerie. A peering insight into the unhappy lives of the
Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie, presents the drama of three family members who live in a world whose values and supporting pillars are shaking as a consequence of the disastrous economic times people went through during the Great Depression. The lack of role models in the micro universe of the Wingfield family as well as their dissolution in the macro universe of the whole American society is deeply
Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams's play The Glass Menagerie is about the three members of the Wingfield family, Tom, Laura, and their mother Amanda. They live together and have done so since the loss of the Wingfield patriarch. This family dynamic is very dysfunctional and the three serve to harm one another more than provide support as a family unit with the exception of Laura who tries to provide positivity in
Menagerie REVISED Prince, don't ask me in a week / or in a year what place they are; I can only give you this refrain: / Where are the snows of yesteryear? Francois Villon, c. 1461 "Where are the snows of yesteryear?" asks Tennessee Williams in the opening screen of The Glass Menagerie (401), quoting a poem by Francis Villon. Williams explains in the production notes to this famous play that he has left
Towards the play's end, Tom tells his audience/readers: "Oh Laura...I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be! I reach for a cigarette...anything that can blow your candles out!" This passage from the play showed how, in his fear for his sister and attempt to shield her from the harshness of life, Tom wanted to "blow (Laura's) candles out," an act
Her expectation is anything but realistic. To deal with her mother's insurmountable expectations, Laura disappears into her own fantasy world with the sparkling, clear world of the glass animals. These unique glass figurines give her something positive and of value, which is lacking in her present life. Unfortunately, Laura, like her mother, cannot always stay in this fantasy world. She has a more difficult time staying in an unrealistic world
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