The glass menagerie Lauras state of mind
The glass menagerie Laura’s state of mind
Laura, Amanda, Tom, and Jim resort to various escape mechanisms to avoid
reality. Laura, fearful of being denigrated as inferior by virtue of her
innate inability to walk, is shy and detaches herself from the unfeeling
modern world. Amanda tries every means to integrate her into society, but to
no avail. She sends her to business school and invites a gentleman caller to
dinner. She is both unable to cope with the contemporary world’s
mechanization represented by the speed test in typing and unable to make new
acquaintances or friends due to her immense inhibition with people. Her life
is humdrum and uneventful, yet it is full of dreams and inundated with
memories.
The actual animal collection, or glass menagerie, symbolizes each character and the story. Like the glass animals, the character’s realities are very fragile and in danger of being shattered. It is also as though the characters are stuck in glass, unable to move or change, also like the glass animals. They are inanimate, as the characters have learned to be to hide and escape from the pain that life has given them. Laura loves the glass animals because her family is like them. It will not take much, like Tom leaving, to shatter their whole world.
Laura is symbolized by her fragile collection of glass animals, the glass menagerie. Her favorite animal is the unique unicorn. The unicorn is different because it has a horn. When Laura was in high school, she wore a brace. The unicorn and Laura are alike in this way.
Whenever the outside world threatens Laura, she seeks solace and retreats to
her...
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