The Importance of Symbolism in the Glass MenagerieTom Wingfield is the narrator and a major character in Tennessee William's timeless play, The Glass Menagerie. Through Tom's eyes, the viewer gets a glimpse of his family's life during the antebellum depression era; his mother, a Southern belle desperately clinging to the past; his sister, a woman too fragile to function in society; and himself, a struggling young poet working in a warehouse to pay the bills. Williams managed to create a momentous piece using a combination of different elements, including symbolism. Three notable examples of symbolism are the fire escape, a sense of hope and escape both into and out of the outside world; the glass menagerie itself, a symbol of Laura’s fragility and uniqueness; and rainbows, symbols of unrealized hopes and aspirations. Through the use of these symbols, a greater understanding of the humanistic theme that unfulfilled hopes and desires are an undesirable but important aspect of the real world is achieved, and The Glass Menagerie is transformed into a meaningful classical drama. Symbols are a major part of this piece for which Tom, who is a poet, admits to having a weakness. One of the first to be featured in history is the fire escape which...... middle of paper ......Masterplots, ed. Frank M. Magill. Second revised edition. Flight. 5. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1996. Bigsby, CWE “Entering the Glass Menagerie.” The Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams, ed. Matthieu C. Roudane. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Scheye, Thomas E. “The Glass Menagerie: “It's No Tragedy, Freckles. » Tennessee Williams: a tribute, ed. Jac Tharpe. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1977. Williams, Tennessee. Conversations with Tennessee Williams, ed. Albert Devlin. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1986. Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. New York: New Directions Editions, 1945.