The Glass Menagerie Essay

Laura Wingfield is a supporting character in Tennessee William’s 1994 play, “The Glass Menagerie.” The play is centered around Tom- an aspiring poet- retelling the memories of life supporting his mother and sister. Laura, Tom’s sister, contributes significantly to the play by means of her disability and personality. Laura’s role in “The Glass Menagerie” was important because her character cared for others, represented the play’s symbols, was the center of the plot, and displayed her own desire. Most of the storyline of “The Glass Menagerie” revolved around Laura. Although she possibly had the least amount of lines of any character in the play, her contribution to the events was major. Scenes in which Tom and Amanda discussed Laura were often …show more content…
The nickname Jim gives her “blue roses” highlight the rarity of a person like Laura. The nickname symbolizes that people like Laura are as scarce as blue roses. Laura is also peculiar as the glass unicorn. Her atypical personality can be seen through her favorite glass piece because it may remind her of herself. She has the same sort of translucent beauty, and the same delicate exterior as her glass pieces. Once Jim drops the glass unicorn, breaking its horn, it makes the unicorn like the other horses. As Jim attempts to apologize for breaking the figurine, Laura sympathizes by saying, “It doesn’t matter. . . . [smiling] I’ll just imagine he had an operation. The horn was removed to make him feel less—freakish!” (pg 1421; scene 7). This clumsy act symbolizes the brokenness Laura feels because of her slight limp, and shows the significant of her and Jim being together. Jim gave Laura confidence and comfortability which made her forget about her insecurities. Lastly, Laura relates to the glass pieces because of their delicacy. Each piece is special and extremely breakable, much like …show more content…
Laura’s oversensitivity makes her too nervous to attend business school, and she becomes nervous when Amanda and Tom argue. Rather than accepting her mother and brother’s feuds, Laura tries to make peace within her family. When Laura decides that it is too cold for her to walk to typing class, she does not let the opinions of others define her. Laura wants to please herself and would rather stay home than have others judge her sensitivity to the cold. Amanda wants Laura to remind her of her glamorous days as a young woman as she prepares her for her future. Laura, however, is a novel girl who does not want to be presented in a way which is untrue to herself. Through high school, Laura is constantly worried about the sound of her brace, although it is not noticeable to others, it is a burden to Laura because she believes it is disruptive to other students. She is worried that people will not accept her true self because she will be judged by her

Show More

Essay on The glass Menagerie