In The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, Tom and Laura Wingfield share a special sibling bond. But, after many years of conflics with his mother, Amanda, who lives in her own fantasy world, Tom decides to leave home. The dependent relationship, a result of Laura’s condition and her own family’s view of her as a fragile, shelf-bound creature is suddenly broken. In Tennessee William’s play, The Glass Menagerie, the characters of Tom, Amanda, and Laura are all like the “Glass Menagerie” in one way or another. The play is based around a fragile family and their difficulties coping with life.

Tom Wingfield, a poet with a job in the warehouse and narrator of the play, is strong yet fragile like a piece of glass. Tom has an evident weakness but is overpowered by his strength of reality. In the beginning Tom feels trapped like a caged animal who needs to be set free. Obviously, Tom’s weakness is his entrapment. He takes care of his sister and mother as a result of his father’s leaving. Because of this, he is very often fustrated. The only place that Tom seems to get his sense of freedom is the movies. “I go to the movies because – I like adventure. Adventure

Laura Wingfield, a shy and emotionally crippled young girl, is the most like the glass menagerie that she adores. Of all the Wingfields, Laura is the most vulnerable because she lacks the strength of Amanda and the ability to escape like Tom. She is very self-concious and dropped out of business school after only a few days. Laura doesn’t tell her mother that she dropped out, but every day she pretended to leave for school. When she got tired of walking around, she would visit the zoo, which was as vulnerable as her. When Jim O’Conner, an old high school crush, vistirs for dinner, Laura gains confidence about herself. She feels safe and opens up to Jim, telling him about her disability and how she hides behind it. When Jim and Laura start dancing, Jim accidently knocks over the glass unicorn. Laura, who usually protects her glass collection, replied to his excuse, “I’ll just imagine he had an operation. The horm was removed to make hem feel less – freakish!” Laura related to the unicorn because it was unlike all the other horses. Just like she is unlike all the other girls. Laura now believes that she is able to live and survive in the real world. But, just as quickly as Jim builds Laura’s confidence, he destroys it. In the end, Laura’s confidence is shattered when she learns that Jim is engaged to be married. Immediately, she retreats to the fantasy world of the glass menagerie. Her heart is broken like the horn on the tiny unicorn. She gives the unicorn to Jim because she knows that it, like her, will never be the same as before he came into her life. Laura is shown a glimpse of what she could have, but as quickly as it came it left, leaving her with her glass. The character of Laura is like a fragile piece of glass. Her physical weakness does get the best of her, but her s

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