Glass Menagerie Commentary

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The Glass Menagerie Commentary (Laura stands in the middle of the room with lifted arms while Amanda crouches before her, adjusting the hem of a new dress, devout and ritualistic. The dress is colored and designed by memory. The arrangement of Laura’s hair is changed; it is softer and more becoming. A fragile, unearthly prettiness has come out in Laura: she is like a piece of translucent glass touched by light, given a momentary radiance, not actual, not lasting.) [The Glass Menagerie, Scene Six, p. 51.] This stage direction was introduced to us at the beginning of scene six. During this moment, we see Amanda “prepping” Laura for the arrival of Tom’s friend. Amanda was trying to force Laura out of her translucent shell and act normal, but Laura was not a normal girl. In her life, Laura had faced many hardships, both physically and emotionally. Being crippled at a young age, she became very self-conscious about her appearance. Though her physical disability was slight, her emotional disability was on a completely separate level. Her disabilities have caused her to become withdrawn from the general population and keep to herself. The way she escaped from the pain was by caring for her glass menagerie. She found comfort in caring for these glass figures because she could easily relate to them. Over time, her disability had turned her into a very fragile being, just like her menagerie. Both were very beautiful, yet vulnerable to the outside world. At this moment, Laura seemed to temporarily shine with an unearthly beauty. It was the same shine that appeared on her glass figures when light fell upon them. Both instances were beautiful, yet only momentary. This was a way for Tennessee Williams to inform the readers that Laura’s new beauty and confidence would soon leave her. 216
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