Motifs in The Glass Menagerie

The glass menagerie

• Represents being taken care of• Glass unicorn represents Laura’s fragility• Unicorn breaks; no longer different; Laura

is now like everyone else – for a small while

• Unicorn’s horn is its deformity; like Laura’s limp

• Gives Laura a purpose in life; a reason to get up in the morning

movies

• Tom’s need for adventure

• Tom’s need to get away from his mother; the warehouse; expectations of being something he isn’t

Warehouse

• Represents the dullness of Tom’s job; his life

• To Amanda, it’s security

Gentlemen callers

• Happiness; a man makes you happy

• Amanda was well-liked

• Represent self-deception (Amanda will find someone for Laura)

• Represent what Amanda could have had

The fire escape

• Someplace to get away (outside the apartment)

• Laura falls; she cannot leave; must stay where she is

The Yearbook

• Laura wasn’t accepted socially

• Reoccurring symbol of her past; limp, unpopularity

• Shows how popular Jim was

• Illustrates the contrast between Jim and Laura

• Living in the past

phonograph

• Represents the father; Laura misses him; Amanda doesn’t like the reminder

• Laura uses it as a shield against anything she doesn’t want to deal with.

Father’s picture

• Amanda’s fear that Tom will be like his father and move out

• Memory of things past

• Represents far away places and dreams of escape

music

• Sets a background of play as memory

• Music from the dance hall serves as commentary on the action