The Glass Menagerie
Essay Question 6: How is the glass menagerie a metaphor for each
of the four characters in the play? Discuss with examples.
In The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, the glass menagerie is a clear and powerful metaphor for each of the four characters, Tom, Laura, Amanda, and the Gentleman Caller. It represents their lives, personality, emotions, and other important characteristics.
Laura is the owner and caretaker of the glass menagerie. In her own little fantasy world, playing with the glass animals is how she escapes from the real world in order to get away from the realities and hardships she endures. Though she is crippled only to a very slight degree physically, her mind is very disabled on an emotional level. Over time, she has become very fragile, much like the glass, which shatters easily, as one of the animals lost its horn; she can lose control of herself. Laura is very weak and open to attack, unable to defend herself from the truths of life. The glass menagerie is an unmistakable metaphor in representing Laura’s physical and mental states.
Amanda is also well characterized by the glass menagerie. The glass sits in a case, open for display and inspection for all. Amanda try’s to portray herself as a loving mother, doing everything she can for her children, and caring nothing for herself, when in fact, she is quite selfish and demanding. Amanda claims that she devotes her life to her children, and that she would do anything for them, but is very suspicious of Tom’s activities, and continually pressures Tom, trying to force him in finding a gentleman caller for Laura, believing that Laura is lonely and needs a companion, perhaps to get married. Like the glass, her schemes are very transparent, and people can see straight through them to the other side, where the truth about her lies. Her life sits upon a shiny case, decorated with pretty glass animals, but the facts are hidden in the drawers down below.
Tom is a much more difficult character to analyze and compare to the glass collection. On the outside, he appears to be both weak and strong at the same time. He does his own thing for the most part, but listens to his mother only because she will nag him to death if he does not. When he accidentally breaks one of Laura’s glass animals, and she begins to cry, he shows no real outward emotion, but on the inside, he appears to be genuinely sorry, but knows that he cannot help his poor sister, because nothing can help her recover from her illness anymore. Tom resents his mother greatly, not only because she always gets her way with him, but because she is so suspicious of his activities, he claims that he goes to the movies every night, but his mother doesn’t believe him; and when Tom finally bursts in rage and anger and confesses to the true nature of his activities, his mother still doesn’t believe what he says, even though it is most likely the truth. Tom is like the glass collection in that he is also readily breakable, and in the end, he begins to crack and break apart, by the pressures and demands that his mother exerts upon him.
The gentleman caller whom Tom finally brings for Laura, at the urging of his mother Amanda can also be discussed in terms of the glass menagerie. He is not what he first appears to be. At first, he is very kind and warm, Amanda thinks that he is perfect for Laura, and the caller is very nice to Laura, they dance, and talk and even kiss. The gentleman caller get Laura to open up just a little bit, giving us a little hope for Laura’s future to possibly improve. However, it is soon discovered that the caller is already engaged and will soon be married. After he leaves, Amanda is furious with Tom, believing that he knew, and wanted to humiliate her, however Tom claims that he didn’t know the man was engaged. The caller represented the shelf, which the glass rested upon. He was the link between Tom, Amanda, and Laura. If he had been what Amanda had wanted him to be, Laura would have become happy and so would have Amanda, and then Tom would have been able to go his own separate way, being freed of his duties to his mother and sister. However, as it turns out, the shelf seems to have broken, because the gentleman caller actually ignites the greatest fight of all between Tom and Amanda, and Laura is left shattered after she loses whatever she had left within her because the gentleman caller turned out to be a disappointment.
Although the glass menagerie is meant as a direct metaphor for Laura, it also serves as a metaphor to the other characters in the play through various means. They are all interconnected in some way, depending on each other, and when things don’t turn out right, everything begins to fall into a downward spiral, with little or no hope for improvement.
