The glass managerie
The glass managerieTennessee Williams is well known for the use of symbols in her plays. Symbol or symbolism is when an object, a thing, a person, an animal or anything tangible represents an abstract idea. In the play The Glass Managerie, Tennessee successfully uses a variety
of symbols to show the characteristic in each character. She uses many symbols to show the character Tom who is the narrator as well as the main character of the play always want to escape from reality, escape from what he have in front of him. Where does he go to escape to get adventure? The movies. The use of symbols on Tom made the play
more dramatic.
Most symbols in the play of Tom represent Tom's attitude towards escaping from reality. One of the symbols is the Fir Escape. In scene 1, the play says:
Tom enters, dressed as a merchant sailor, and strolls across
to the fire escape. There be stops and lights a cigarette. He
addresses the audience .
then Tom says:
Yes, I have tricks in my pocket, I have things up my sleeve.
But I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you
illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in
the pleasant disguise of illusion.
In the above quote, Tom wants to tell the audience the main characteristic of him in the play is to escape. The last sentence of the above quote, he says "I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion" which means I like to hide the truth and run away from reality. This example shows whenever he think about escaping or wanting to escape, he will always sits beside the fire escape. The symbol fire escape is a good example of
symbolism for Tom, but there is also the portrait of father.
Another example of symbolism is the portrait of father. Tom's father left the family to travel the world and never came back. In scene 7, Tom says:
I'm like my father. The bastard son of a bastard! Did younotice how he's grinning in his picture in there? And he's been absent going...
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