Symbolism- Tennessee Williams

In Tennessee William's The Glass Menagerie, the use of symbolism was made know early on in the play.  We soon see that the character with symbolic focus is Laura.  Laura is a fragile, easily-hurt character that is consistently hurt and injured.  These injuries range from her crippling feature to her getting ill, but they can also refer to the poor mental state that she is in.  Glass is looked upon as something that is hurt and broken in a very easy manner.  We instantly can make the connection between glass and Laura. "I hope it wasn't the little glass horse with the horn"(Williams, 1282)!  This quote could be used to symbolize the unintentional harm that Jim will soon be inflicting upon Laura.  Though Jim accidentally breaks that glass horse, he still does with only the slightest bump.  Similarly, Laura, for the first time in her life, was shown ten minutes worth of attention from someone outside of her family. The time was brief but the impact was large because of how meaningful it was to Laura.  She was severely hurt when Jim informed her of the other girl that Jim plans on marrying.