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Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Blind America:
The Glass Menagerie begins as Tom provides narration that directly addresses the audience. As he brings the audience back to his memory of his family in the 1930s, Tom provides context to situate the audience in time. In the following passage from Scene 1, Tom uses a metaphor that establishes his criticism of American society and lays the foundation for key themes of the play:
To begin with, I turn back time. I reverse it to that quaint period, the thirties, when the huge middle class of America was matriculating in a school for the blind. Their eyes had failed them, or they had failed their eyes, and so they were having their fingers pressed forcibly down on the fiery Braille alphabet of a dissolving economy.
This statement is crucial, as Tom universalizes his personal experience to a problem he notices throughout his country. Tom criticizes the middle class of America for having “matriculat[ed] in a school for the blind.” Blindness here is a metaphor for the way people put their hopes into illusions of escape, blinding them from reality. This "blindness" is especially pertinent in Tom’s family—Amanda pours her hope into the illusion of a gentleman caller while Laura obsesses over her lifeless glass menagerie. Tom believes the blindness that comes from belief in illusions ultimately leads to failure (which will turn out to be true for the Wingfields by the end of the play).
Tom continues the metaphor, explaining how Americans are being forced to feel the “fiery Braille” of the Great Depression—a reality that cannot forever be ignored. Just as blind people can learn to read using Braille, he suggests, the Wingfields and other middle-class Americans will learn to understand the reality that their “dissolving economy” makes impossible to disregard. For the Wingfields, specifically, it is after the failure of their gentleman caller and the abandonment of father and son that the remaining family must learn to cope with their reality without illusion. As this metaphor occurs early in the play, it is crucial in establishing the key conflict between reality and illusion that will continue to afflict the Wingfields.
Related Themes:
Scene 6
Explanation and Analysis—Pretty Girls:
In preparation for the arrival of Jim in Scene 6, Amanda decorates the home and dresses Laura to impress the gentleman caller. Amanda’s motivation for these tactics are transparent, especially as she explains through the following metaphor:
All pretty girls are a trap, a pretty trap, and men expect them to be.
The metaphor presents pretty girls as a “trap” for men, which is fitting for this scene, in which Amanda desperately wants Laura to win over Jim. Since Jim is her first gentleman caller, Laura and also the environment surrounding her must be “pretty” in order to convince Jim that he will find a suitable wife in Laura. Evident in both her actions and speech, Amanda reveals her belief in the power of illusion, this time actively trying to manufacture a certain illusion.
The final portion of this metaphor, that “men expect” women to be “pretty trap[s],” hints at the oppressive gender dynamics of the period. Amanda implies that men are aware to a certain degree of the kind of dress-up women play when courting gentlemen. Despite this awareness, however, it appears men are just as willing to play along in order to fulfill societal expectations of marriage. Even in this brief metaphor, Williams deals with complex gender issues that he notices as problematic in society.
Related Themes:
