The_Glass_Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie Symbolism in Glass Tennessee Williams “The Glass Menagerie” tells the story of an unusual family coping with unfortunate circumstances. The title of the play comes from a hobby of the youngest member of the family, Laura. Her glass menagerie is a collection of glass ornaments. Laura’s glass menagerie symbolizes everyone in the story. In the beginning of the play Tom explains to the audience that he is the narrator. This is also when the father is mentioned for the first time. His father left their family, but is always a presence in their house because of his “larger-than-life size photograph that hangs over the mantel” (1781). The glass menagerie symbolizes him because it is also unreal. His presence is always felt, but it is not a real presence, just as the figures in Laura’s glass are very important to her, but they are also not real. Amanda, the mother, is very strange. She has had a hard life. Her husband left her with two children and the pressure of raising them on her own really seems to have altered her view of reality. She talks endlessly on how many men wanted to date glass, menagerie, fragile, laura, very, real, mother, made, jim, goes, family, different, about, work, unicorn, story, same, presence, play, laura’s, just, gets, father, escape, because, williams, unreal, tom, title, time, symbolizes, symbolized, symbolism, school, reality