Free Glass Menagerie Essays: Symbols :: The Glass Menagerie

Symbols in The Glass Menagerie In the play, The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, Williams uses many symbols which represent many different things. many another(prenominal) of the symbols used in the play try to symbolize some stage of cope or difference between reality and illusion. The first symbol, presented in the first scene, is the fire escape. This represents the bridge between the illusory populace of the Wingfields and the world of reality. This bridge seems to be a one modal value excursion. But the committal varies for each character. For Tom, the fire escape is the way out of the world of Amanda and Laura and an charm into a world of new dimensions. For Laura, the fire escape is a way into her ingest world. A way to escape from reality. Amanda perceives the fire escape as a way for gentlemen callers to enter their lives. She is also trying to escape her own vacant life. Our author, Tennessee Williams utilizes the fire escape as a literal pass off from his ow n reality as well. His way of escaping is through the play. In Toms open up speech, he says, I give you truth in the pleasant camouflage of illusion. This quote refers to Williams own life told through the play. Everyone in the play seeks harbour from their lives, attempting to escape into an imaginary fallacy world. In The Glass Menagerie, Williams fire escape portrays each of the characters need to use the fire escape as a literal exit from their own reality. The Glass Menagerie is set in the apartment of the Wingfield family. By description, it is a cramped place located in the city of St. Louis. It is one of many apartments in the neighborhood. Of the Wingfield family members, none like animate in the apartment. The only reason that traps them in their submissive dwelling is poverty. The belief of escaping their own lives and retreating into an illusion world has entered each of the characters minds. Escaping from this lifestyle, this apartment, and these relationships is a significant penning throughout the play. These escapes are linked with the symbolic fire escape as well as the absent Mr. Wingfield. Mr. Wingfield left his family for a life on the road. He worked for the telephone company and fell in love with dogged distances. This action left Tom with all of the responsibilities in the family including taking tuition of his half-mad, overbearing mother, Amanda and a disabled sister, Laura.