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The Glass Menagerie Paper
The Glass Menagerie Analytical Essay

Lisbette Marte
Honors English 3.1
Ms.Laros
4/16/12

Lisbette Marte
Honors English 3.1
Mrs.Laros
4/16/12

The Glass Menagerie Analytical Essay

In Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie there are great deals of symbols that are seen throughout the story line. Tennessee Williams made the most important symbol of the story its title. Every character in the play such as Laura and her sister express the escape of reality and wanting to be in the real world and how the glass menagerie can be related to humans today. Evidence of the importance of the glass menagerie is found in the fact that the author made it the title. The symbol glass represents many things. It represents how fragile things are and how it is considered a sense of beauty. However, the menagerie is a collection, representing variety. The glass menagerie represents how the world has different faces to something.

The protagonist of the play, Laura, is involved on the meaning of the symbol. The glass menagerie gives Laura a meaning of fantasy and escaping reality. Laura’s inner life is very fancy and delicate and she lives in a world where fantasy is the main concern. Unlike her sister, who lives in the real world. Laura has many faces of her personality, which create her character and make her be the protagonist. “ LAURA: Little articles of [glass], they’re ornaments mostly! Most of them are little animals made out of glass, the tiniest little animals in the world. Mother calls them a glass menagerie! Here’s an example of one, if you’d like to see it! . . . Oh, be careful—if you breathe, it breaks! . . . You see how the light shines through him?
JIM: It sure does shine!
LAURA: I shouldn’t be partial, but he is my favorite one.
JIM: What kind of a thing is this one supposed to be?
LAURA: Haven’t you noticed the single horn on his forehead?
JIM: A unicorn, huh? —aren’t they extinct in the modern world?
LAURA: I know!
JIM: Poor little fellow, he must

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