The Glass Menagerie: Shattered Sister

The title of Tennessee William’s play The Glass Menagerie holds great symbolism to one of the characters in the story. Laura, a shy and crippled girl, owns what is referred to in the play as a glass menagerie. However, these little glass pieces symbolize something much greater. Because of her crippled leg, Laura is so shy and separated from society that, as stated in the character descriptions, “she is like a piece of her own glass collection, too exquisitely fragile to move from the shelf,” (Williams, 1234). Every time one of her glass pieces breaks, it is like another piece of Laura shatters. In Scene Three, Tom, Laura’s brother, breaks several glass pieces, causing her to break down. Because the only thing Laura can relate to is her collection, each time a piece breaks it emotionally wounds her as well. Constantly exposed to the incessant arguing between Tom and her mother Amanda, Laura sits by and watches these scenes play out, just as her glass collection of the shelf. Portrayed as Laura’s favorite piece of glass, the little unicorn, symbolizes Laura more specifically than her collection as a whole. Nonexistent in the real world, the unicorn explains how Laura lives in her own world, separate from the realism most people face every day. Furthermore, as the unicorn is placed on a shelf with many glass horses, it describes how Laura is a unique character, living in a world of similar people. She stands out, and to her, that is a disappointment rather than something to take advantage of.