Life in a Glasshouse

English 102

Ms. Payne

May 1, 2005

Life in a Glasshouse

In The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, is a play told through the eyes of Tom. The audience gets a glance into the life of his family. There is a clear and powerful metaphor for each of the four characters, Tom, Laura, Amanda and Jim. The glass menagerie represents lives, personality, emotions and other characteristics.

First, Laura is the owner and caretaker of the glass menagerie. She lives in her own little fantasy world, polishing and playing with the glass figurines. This is how she is able to escape from the real world and get away from the realities and hardships she endures. Although, she is crippled only to a very slight degree, her mind is very disabled on an emotional level. This represents Laura’s hypersensitive nature and fragility overtime she has become very fragile, just like the glass, which breaks easily. 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.

Second, Amanda is also well characterized by the glass menagerie. The glass sits in a case, open for exhibit and examination for every one. Amanda tries to reveal herself as a loving mother, sacrificing everything for her children and caring nothing about herself, when in reality, she is very selfish and demanding. Amanda claims that she dedicates her life to her children, and that she would do anything for them, but is very suspicious of Tom’s outings to the movies and continually pressures Tom trying to force him to find a gentleman caller for Laura. Like the glass, her schemes are transparent and people can see right through them to where the actual truth lies.

Next, Tom is a very hard character to analyze and compare to the glass menagerie. He seems to be weak and strong on the outside, doing exactly has he wants and only listens to his mother because she nags him to death if doesn’t. When he accidentally breaks one of the glass figurines during a heated argument with Amanda and flings his coat across the room, he shows no real outward emotion, but on the inside