Unicorn In The Glass Menagerie

Laura’s
In “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams we meet this young and unique girl named Laura. She is not what a man would see in a wife. She is very different from what others would expect in a woman. Laura does not get many gentleman callers, nor does she have many friends. She is a high school dropout and lives with her mother and younger brother. Although this makes her sound like she may never abound to anything more in her life, that is not the case. It is not like she wants to be like this, she is just not like the rest. She has a crippled leg and a glass collection of animals, which is not usual for girls her age. At twenty-three years old, Laura, like her favorite glass piece is fragile, an outcast, and is lonely.
The glass
unicorn is a piece of Laura’s collection. She admitted that this piece is her favorite and how it is a fragile because it is glass. “Oh, be careful – if you breathe, it breaks!” (7.89). Although she is technically talking about her unicorn, she is also metaphorically speaking about herself. Throughout the play we see how she is self-conscious about her cripple leg and what people think about her. She does not like the attention and it makes her sick when she does get it. She even gets upset when people get mad at her. “Mother, they make such faces when I do that” (4.60-61). She cannot handle the judgment around her and the way people treat her differently from the rest. Just like her glass unicorn, Laura is different from everyone around her.
“Unicorns, aren’t they extinct in the modern world?” (7.10-11). Jim asks this question and we can see it can be clearly aimed at Laura. She is odd and unique like the unicorn. They no longer exist and are not like any animal that people see anymore. This can be seen as a parallel to Laura’s life and her personality as well. The unicorn has only one horn on the top of its head, making it different than everyone else. Laura has one crippled leg, and the day in age in which the setting of the play was meant to be in, this can be a turnoff to other people. They see her as strange. She is not one to be like everyone else and this shows. Not only does Laura see that she is not like the rest, Tom does also. “The different people are not like other people, but being different is nothing to be ashamed of.” (7.35-37). Jim does not think it is a bad thing, but other people around Laura’s life are ignorant when it comes to being
different.
When Jim is at the apartment, he asks Laura if her unicorn ever gets lonely. “Poor little fellow, he must feel sort of lonesome” (7.13-14). We can tell that the statement is actually going towards Laura. She never says that the unicorn is lonely, yet she never says it is not lonely. “Well, if he does he doesn’t complain about it.” (7.15-16). By her not denying this, we see that Laura is lonely but does not admit to it. “You- won’t- call again?” (7.13). We also see Laura is upset her caller has to leave, especially now that she has that company she has been unknowingly searching for.
At the end of the play, when Jim is about to leave, Laura hands him the broken glass unicorn.
He broke it while dancing and Laura thought good of this act. “Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.” (7.91-92). When she gives it to Tom before he leaves, it is really no surprise. In the unicorn’s case she is giving it to him as a souvenir to remember her. In Laura’s case it is a way of showing that he was able to break the piece of her that was holding her back from being an ordinary girl.
Throughout this play we see that the unicorn is a way of describing Laura without it being direct. They are so closely related and have the same problems. We see the horn, like Laura’s legs, sets them apart from the others. We see that being away from other people or for the unicorn’s case other glass figures, makes them want attention they do not quite know about. We lastly see that they both need to be handled with care: physically for the unicorn and emotionally for
Laura.