The Glass Menagerie #6

The Glass Menagerie written by Tennessee Williams contains a lot of symbolic representation through the glass pieces as I discussed in a previous blog. Now, getting into more specifics, I would like to discuss the importance and significance drawn from the event that altered a piece of glass dear to Laura's heart. Beginning with the glass piece, we are shown that it represents Laura. This extremely small piece of glass has very little importance to anyone in the outside world, almost like the state that Laura is currently in. Besides the fact that it is minuscule, the glass is also a fictional animal(A unicorn), "Aren't they extinct in the modern world?"(1281). This fact points to the unrealistic element that Laura brings on herself despite the fact that she actually does exist in the real world. Not many other people are anything like her, it's as if they've gone extinct. Her reaction to the unicorn breaking really shows that even she can be altered. She has the ability to gain confidence and change, but she doesn't often. This is the opposite of the reaction she has to Tom breaking the glass accidentally. She cries out in desperation because deep down she knows how unimportant the glass, and incidentally herself, really are to anything in the world. I do not see an extremely optimistic future for Laura. She to easily falls back into her own personal norm. She does not seem to have the outgoing attitude needed by most other individuals in the world. The symbolic revelation brought forth by her ending the play with the blowing out of the candles brings forth the understanding that even though Laura is surrounded by these unfortunate circumstances, she still has the ability and control to change them herself.