Wednesday, October 3, 2012

TGM: The Fragile Glass Lady

The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams

Although possessing the least amount of lines in the play, Laura drives the action throughout the course of the drama. She is the concern of her mother and also the hindrance to her brother's desire for adventure. She is seemingly and genuinely more concerned about the feelings of others rather than her own emotions and wellbeing. Laura cried over Tom's unhappiness and could not face the "awful suffering look...like the picture of Jesus's mother in the museum" that would inevitably appear on her mother's face at the news of her resignation from Rubicam's Business College (Williams, 1242).

However, Laura undergoes a sort of transformation at the conclusion of the play upon meeting Jim O'Connor. As he knocks the glass unicorn out of her hand and breaks it, Laura brushes it off as just a new horse to add to her collection. Earlier in the play, Laura had been heartbroken when her glass collection had been accidentally broken. However, just as the glass unicorn had become a new figure, so had the glass emotions of Laura. She had blossomed into a less awkward woman who felt more comfortable than she had before; she was at home with the "Blue Roses" of high school.

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