Symbolism and Imagery in The Glass Menagerie

Introduction: Hope and Despair in the Wingfield World

Tennessee Williams' play The Glass Menagerie is an insightful American tale that brings attention to emotionally and economically weakened individuals attempting to survive in a world that proves to be too much for them. Tom, Laura, and Amanda are people who face particular difficulties surviving in the real world. They share a meager existence peppered with dashed hopes and dreams. The Wingfields share a common hope in Jim, a pivotal character who represents both all the hope in the world and all of the despair for the family. Through symbolism and imagery, Williams successfully paints a portrait of a struggling American family attempting to get by on fleeting hopes and dreams — because that appears to be all they have in a cold, dark world. Lighting plays an important part in allowing the audience to see the family's hopelessness. Roses, rainbows, and magical creatures become important elements of Williams' story. The Glass Menagerie tells a tragic American tale through imagery and symbolism.

Lighting as a Symbol of Hope and Hopelessness

Imagery is an important technique Williams employs in the play, and lighting is among the most significant of these images. Williams used lighting as a major factor in the play, emphasizing elements of the story and its thematic details. Light is an image of hope for the Wingfields, since they are searching for a way out of their tedious lives. Amanda is looking for hope through her daughter and son, Tom is looking for an escape, and Laura is looking for light in the sense that she simply wants to be herself and be left alone. They share the common thread of hope. Light allows us to see, and we can understand the characters better through the play's stage lighting.

One powerful scene that connects light with hope occurs when Amanda tells Tom to wish upon the light of the moon. Here we sense the kind of hope with which the family is dealing — a difficult hope, because it is fleeting. This wish tossed out into the night represents the hopelessness of the family's circumstances, since there is little else they can do to change things. Another scene that becomes more powerful through stage lighting occurs when there is very little light at all. The blackout is significant because it represents the lost future of the characters, especially Laura. The scene in which Jim lights the candles indicates that he is a ray of light and hope in the play, but also that he does not belong to the Wingfields' darkened world. The flickering candlelight, moreover, demonstrates the flickering flame of hope — close to being snuffed out entirely. The darkness does come, and with it Laura's hopes are extinguished. It is important to note that Tom is the one who tells Laura to put out the candles, as he is at least realistic enough to acknowledge that there is no chance for things in the household to change.

Other lighting effects in the play contribute to the family's sense of loss. When the family realizes that Jim cannot fulfill Laura's wishes, all hopes are dimmed. The image of light flickering on a shattered facade alludes to the transient moments of life. Just like the hope that surrounded Jim, many of life's moments of joy are but a flicker in time. The family sitting in the dimly lit living room is emphasized by the dark world that looms outside. Roger Boxill observes:

"The picture of the absent father with smiling doughboy face is intermittently illuminated, while outside, beyond the dark alleyways and murky canyons of tangled clotheslines, garbage cans, and neighbouring fire escapes, the running lights of movie marquees blink and beckon in the distance." (Boxill)

The family's world appears lost and fearful when compared to the harsh world just outside their window. Against the dark reality beyond the glass, their world is fragile and lit only by a small candle that will soon expire. This lighting technique allows us to grasp the urgency of the Wingfields' desperation.

Bert Cardullo also comments on the lighting in the play, noting: "At the end of the play Laura herself blows out the candles that Jim has brought to their encounter, and she does this in recognition not only of her brother Tom's departure from her life but also of the Gentleman Caller's. The implication is that no gentleman caller will ever enter her life again, will ever be gentle enough in a society so crassly materialistic to perceive her inner beauty." (Cardullo)

Cardullo's observation reinforces how Williams integrates symbolism throughout The Glass Menagerie to emphasize each character's plight. Milly Barranger maintains that the characters in the play become "powerful images of human alienation and despair" (Barranger 315). They are a "blend of self-absorbing needs and desperate courage. His 'menagerie' is comprised of the oppressed, the fragile, and the needful" (Barranger 316). Amanda is the image of pride and disappointment, says Barranger (316), and she typifies the experience of all those living in her household. Jim, on the other hand, represents the outside world, while Laura represents the delicate yet handicapped creatures of the world. Jim is the catalyst who changes everything and everyone. The image of the world that he introduces into the Wingfield family is one that cannot be undone or forgotten.

The Glass Menagerie as a Symbol of Fragility

Laura's collection of glass figurines becomes a symbol for the withdrawn and the disadvantaged. She is deeply connected to her figurines, which are interesting symbols in themselves. The menagerie is perhaps the most significant symbol in the play, representing the fragility of life. Glass is generally beautiful in its artistic forms, and Laura's glass companions reflect — and subsequently deflect — light, an indicator of a happy world full of hopes and dreams. Outside the apartment, a dark, cold world awaits.

The glass figurines are as delicate as Laura herself. Tom understands Laura's need and tells Amanda that she exists in "a world of her own — a world of — little glass ornaments" (Williams 995). Laura understands their delicate nature and cares for them the way a little girl might care for her dolls. Her collection is just as fragile as she is, and yet it is necessary because it brings out a sense of nurturing in her. She feels the need to care for the figurines in the way she herself longs to be cared for. She tells Jim, "Glass is something you have to take good care of" (1015), and she takes that responsibility very seriously. She considers their feelings and moves them about the apartment so they do not become bored. While her treatment of them may seem juvenile, it represents Laura's deep need to feel a genuine connection to something in this world. Her figurines are also representative of how fragile the Wingfields actually are — as delicate as glass pieces, and just as easily broken.

It is also worth noting that the Wingfields, like the figurines, are not quite a part of the real world. Tom comes closest to engaging with reality but does his best to escape it at every opportunity. Amanda and Laura have practically disconnected themselves from the outside world, living like the figurines within the confines of their dank apartment. Tennessee Williams uses this parallel between the characters and the glass objects to deepen the audience's understanding of the family's isolation.

Conclusion: Overlooked by the American Dream

The Glass Menagerie allows us to peer into the desperate lives of Tom, Laura, and Amanda. They live in a cold world that offers very little in the way of aspiration and hope. Jim is the closest thing to hope the family encounters, and that hope is taken away from them as quickly as it arrives. Through imagery and symbolism, Williams conveys a pale portrait of an American life. The lighting in the play allows us to see the characters in their delicate state, while the glass menagerie itself — beautiful and broken — is essential to understanding the play's meaning. In addition, Williams uses symbols such as the blue rose, the broken unicorn, and the rainbow to move us toward a fuller understanding of where the Wingfields are and what they are enduring. The Glass Menagerie is ultimately the story of an American family that was somehow overlooked by the American Dream.

Works Cited

Barranger, Milly. Understanding Plays. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1990.

Boxill, Roger. "The Glass Menagerie." Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations. Facts on File Resource Database. Retrieved October 5, 2008.

Cardullo, Bert. "Williams's The Glass Menagerie." Explicator 55.3 (1997). EBSCO Resource Database. Retrieved October 5, 2008.

Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. An Introduction to Literature. 8th ed. Ed. Sylvan Barnett. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1985, pp. 967–1025.