Laura is a figure in Tennessee Williams "The Wine glass Menagerie", which is defined in previous day St. Louis. The play is about the Wingfield family; Amanda, the mom, Tom, her boy, Laura, the girl, and Jim O'Connor, a gentleman caller. Tom is the supplier for the family and the play is told from his memory. Laura is an extremely shy young lady due to a childhood health problems that left her crippled with one lower leg slightly shorter than the other. She actually is handled by her mom whom is living in days gone by and trying to live a life her dreams out through Laura. This play is bursting with symbols, from images projected on the display screen throughout the play, music played in the backdrop, and in the play itself. This brings about the question, what symbolizes Laura throughout "The Glass Menagerie"? After inspecting the material, Laura is symbolized by the blue roses, her wine glass menagerie, and the unicorn.
In "The Wine glass Menagerie", a proven way Laura is symbolized is through Jim dialling her blue roses, which shows her uniqueness. When she returned to institution after an attack of pleurosis, one of her classmates, Jim O'Connor thought she said she possessed blue roses so he called her that throughout institution (289). Blue roses are really rare exactly like Laura is. Tom says that "Laura is very different from other young girls" (304). Most women her get older in the period of time were focused on finding a spouse and settling down, but Laura does not care about things like this. "She lives in an environment of her own" (304), Tom said while talking to his mom about Laura. The blue roses are also used to symbolize the passion Jim has for Laura that is proved at the end of the play. He goes on revealing of how wonderfully different and beautiful she is. Jim says ". . . being different is nothing to be ashamed of. Because other people aren't such wonderful people. . . They walk all over the earth. You just stay here. They're common as-weeds, but-you-well, you're-Blue Roses!" (324)
Laura is also symbolized through her wine glass menagerie, which ultimately shows her fragileness. It is mentioned that "she is like a bit of her own a glass collection, too exquisitely fragile to go from the shelf" (281). Laura is extremely fragile where her thoughts are worried. At one point in the play Tom throws his coat over the room and breaks one of her cup figurines which cause Laura to have a break down. She cries out "My glass!-menagerie" Laura includes her face and cried as if she were wounded, (292-293) this proves how fragile Laura's sprit is; the tiniest incident triggers her to break. When Jim comes to eat supper with the Wingfield family, Laura is so timid that she will not want to open up the door for him and she pretends that she actually is suffering and cannot eat" (308-309). All these examples show how fragile Laura is.
Finally, Laura is symbolized by the unicorn, which ultimately shows her growth. Throughout the span of the play it is obvious how important the cup menagerie is to Laura. When Jim is over for supper she let us him hold the unicorn; this alone is a huge step for Laura because she will not let anyone touch her beloved glass figurines. He places the unicorn up for grabs and he and Laura begin to party. They accidently bump in to the desk knocking the unicorn of the desk which broke his horn off. Previously in the play Laura broke down when Tom broke one of her figurines, however now she has grown and accepts what took place and takes is really as a blessing in disguise, and says that he will fit in better now with the other horses. (322-324) That is symbolic of Laura by displaying how much she has expanded throughout the play. In the beginning of "The Wine glass Menagerie", Laura is just a delicate young gal who's only love in life is her a glass menagerie, but as the play progresses she expands into a stronger young lady would you not let material things break her as before. In addition, it shows that she is no longer letting her handicap hold her back again from the items she aspires to do.
On the other side, people might not exactly believe that blue roses, a glass menagerie, or the unicorn symbolize Laura. Others may argue that the blue roses are just Jim teasing Laura and do not signify Laura as a distinctive dude but, the written text demonstrates that they are being used to symbolize her. Jim even message or calls her blue roses again to describe how different she actually is. (324) Also critics may believe that the cup menagerie does not symbolize Laura. They could say it is only a toy that she actually is enthusiastic about, because the truth is it is only a toy, but Laura identifies with it. Equally she is delicate, so can be the glass figurines; the slightest fall season will cause both Laura and the figurines to break. Yes, they could also say that the unicorn is only one of her a glass ornaments she provided to Jim which it does not mean anything, but in actuality it shows how much Laura has grown throughout the play. By the end of the play, Laura's center is destroyed when Jim explains to her that he'll not have the ability to call her because he has a girlfriend. The once weak-minded Laura could have had a break down due to this but; instead she briefly gets comforted by her mother then gets herself mutually, blows the candles out and moves on. (329)
Throughout the course of "The Cup Menagerie" Laura has been symbolized in many ways; the blue roses, the wine glass menagerie, and the unicorn; all of which symbolize her in a various ways. The blue roses show how beautiful and unique she actually is. Her goblet menagerie symbolizes how fragile Laura is, and the unicorn represents her progress. Laura gone from a painfully shy, scared litttle lady into a far more confident, open young lady.
Work Cited
Williams, Tennessee. The Wine glass Menagerie. Exploring Literature: Writing and Arguing About Fiction, Poetry, Play, and the Essay. Ed. Frank Madden. 4th ed. NY: Pearson Longman, 2009. 281-329. Print.
