Symbolism and Crossing the Rubicon in Tennessee Williams’...

The masterful use of symbolism is delightfully ubiquitous in Tennessee Williams’ â€Å"The Glass Menagerie.† He uses a collection of dim, dark and shadowy symbols that constantly remind the audience of the lost opportunity each of these three characters continually experience. This symbolism is not only use to enlighten the audience to their neglected opportunities to shine, but it is also repeatedly utilized to reinforce the ways in which the characters try in vain to cross over turbulent waters into a world of light and clarity. It is thematically a wrenching story of life gone by, and the barren attempts to realize another reality that is made more poignant by symbolic language, objects, setting, lighting and music. The characters are†¦show more content†¦At the end of the play even the stage direction utilizes a symbolic action. It directs that Tom â€Å"Smashes the glass on the floor. He plunges out on the fire-escape, slamming the door† (1048 ). This is symbolic of him breaking through the glass that surrounds him. In this final act, Tom has finally made the choice to break through the glass that surrounds him and step into another reality. Ironically, he winds up looking thru a glass window, another glass wall he cannot break through, where the perfume is sold and the bottles of colored and transparent glass, he thinks like â€Å"bits of shattered rainbows† (1048) He declares, â€Å"I run into the movies or bar, I buy a drink, I speak to the nearest stranger – anything I can do to blow your candles out!† (1048). He has traded one cage for another and is now, unable to stop recalling the images of Laura’s face through shadowy candlelight; still haunted by the life behind the glass. The use of movies and the images of dark movie theaters symbolize a fantasy world, a world where Tom can escape and watch the idealistic adventures of other people’s lives. It is a symbolic way for him to leave his own reality without physically having to make that choice to do it for real. He tells Jim that, â€Å"People go to the movies instead of moving. Hollywood characters are supposed to have all the adventures for everybody in America, while everybody in America sits in a dark room and watches them