The Glass Menagerie (Blog 4)

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is composed of a large amount of characterization about each character in the play. Every character is explained in great detail in order for the reader to gain a complete understanding of the type of person a character is and their personality. Laura has a few epithets that help characterize her such as, "Home girl... dependent... failure... frightened... sick" (Williams, 1253-54). Although these are not all the adjectives that describe Laura, a trend may be very obviously observed. Laura is characterized as the shy, reserved, and unsocial type of person. Every time Laura is talked about between Tom and Amanda, many of these epithets are used to show how hopeless Laura lives. These descriptions of Laura help to evoke sympathy for Laura and her "crippled" appearance. Laura is also characterized as an unhappy person with a low self esteem. She lets her negative views of her own appearance cloud her ability to function as a normal person around other people. Williams does a great job of helping the reader visualize what kind of person Laura is by explaining the reasons she is so closed to society.