The Glass Menagerie Unicorn
The Glass Menagerie Communities and society can often set people up to be the same. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams represents this with Laura Wingfield, one of the characters. Laura faces the standards in the society in which she lives. They affect her and she responds to these standards. The most important inanimate object in the play is her broken glass unicorn. Laura is a part of all these. Her actions are solely in response to these high expectations and she finds comfort in her material glass menagerie.
In Laura's society, affairs are different from today. Marriage is an immense value in the 1930s. The society in which Laura lives in thrives on marriages. However Laura and her family face a quandary. She has no gentleman callers. This makes her a scorn upon the community. It puts her at risk of becoming an old maid as she exclaims in the following, “Mothers afraid I’m going to be an old maid” …show more content…
It symbolizes her love and how it nearly could have happened. Jim O’connor is Laura’s highschool love interest. Jim makes his way back into her life. As they are reconnecting in the main room Laura explains to him why the unicorn is her favorite glass animal. They dance together and Jim accidently breaks the unicorn. She gives Jim the broken unicorn as a souvenir after they kiss. This shows when she tells him, “A--Souvenir”(Williams 130). The unicorn symbolizes a broken love and how Laura wants Jim to remember her.
The play The Glass Menagerie has examples of how society can affect one's emotions and outlook on life. Laura Wingfield is a direct representation of this. Laura is a victim of the standards of society in which she falls short to. Laura deals with it as if it is not a big deal. The unicorn, from her glass menagerie, is most important to the play because it symbolizes broken love. Laura Wingfield feels influence by society, acknowledges it in a certain way, and holds a symbol in the
In Laura's society, affairs are different from today. Marriage is an immense value in the 1930s. The society in which Laura lives in thrives on marriages. However Laura and her family face a quandary. She has no gentleman callers. This makes her a scorn upon the community. It puts her at risk of becoming an old maid as she exclaims in the following, “Mothers afraid I’m going to be an old maid” …show more content…
It symbolizes her love and how it nearly could have happened. Jim O’connor is Laura’s highschool love interest. Jim makes his way back into her life. As they are reconnecting in the main room Laura explains to him why the unicorn is her favorite glass animal. They dance together and Jim accidently breaks the unicorn. She gives Jim the broken unicorn as a souvenir after they kiss. This shows when she tells him, “A--Souvenir”(Williams 130). The unicorn symbolizes a broken love and how Laura wants Jim to remember her.
The play The Glass Menagerie has examples of how society can affect one's emotions and outlook on life. Laura Wingfield is a direct representation of this. Laura is a victim of the standards of society in which she falls short to. Laura deals with it as if it is not a big deal. The unicorn, from her glass menagerie, is most important to the play because it symbolizes broken love. Laura Wingfield feels influence by society, acknowledges it in a certain way, and holds a symbol in the