The Glass Menagerie Symbol

Throughout the "Glass Menagerie," Tennessee Williams uses symbolism to show real people and events through objects. Williams explicitly describes the physical representations of the symbols he uses. The first symbol presented is that of the fire escape. Williams writes "The apartment faces an alley and is entered by a fire-escape, a structure whose name is a touch of accidental poetic truth, for all those huge buildings are always burning with the slow and implacable fires of human desperation" (1235). The fire escape represents Tom's escape. His soul is burning with desperation, for his need to escape the family. Tom deeply resents his family, making him yearn to leave the family. He often goes out on the fire escape to escape the family. The other example of symbolism is that of the glass menagerie itself. All of Laura's glass figures represent her. They exemplify her personality perfectly. They are delicate, and in the right light extremely beautiful. Laura is a very nervous and delicate young lady. She is very shy, and is not good around people. While this would turn off many people, when she is platformed well and gets all dressed up, she can become beautiful. Rather than the bland person she usually is, she becomes more colorful, and is more acceptable to the outside world.