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The Use Of Symbolism In The Gl - Online Term Paper

The Use Of Symbolism In The Gl

Symbolism is an aspect used in several novels of today's and yesterday's world. In the book, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Willams, symbols are a major part of this play. As Tom, the narrator, is a poet, and admits he has a weakness for symbols. There are three
prominent symbols in this play that stick out more than anything.
One major symbol presented in the story is the fire escape, a symbol that has a different meaning and function for each character. For Tom, it is a way of escape from fire, not the normal type of fire that would need a fire truck, but "the slow and implacable fires of human desperation." This is especially true of Tom's apartment. His mother, devastated after ...

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decides he must escape the suffocating environment to follow his own calling. The fire escape to him represents a path to the outside world. For Laura, the fire escape is exactly the opposite--a path to the safe world inside, a world in which she can hide. Especially symbolic is Laura's fall when descending the steps to do a chore for her mother, after leaving the security of the apartment. This fall symbolizes Laura's inability to function in society and the outside world. For Amanda, the fire escape is symbolic of her hopes and dreams--hopes and dreams that a gentleman caller will arrive to marry her daughter and leave her well supported. This is the way Jim comes into the apartment, at the time when Amanda's hopes have been peaked. It is symbolic that Laura does not want to open the door when Jim arrives. It shows her reluctance to let a messanger from the world of reality, symbolized by Jim, invade the comfortable non-existence of the apartment, and her insecurity in dealing ...

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The Use Of Symbolism In The Gl. (2007, February 21). Retrieved July 2, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Use-Of-Symbolism-In-Gl/60651

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 2/21/2007 03:09:02 AM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1021
Pages: 4

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