Introduction to Laura Wingfield
Laura Wingfield has failed to establish contact with reality and is like a piece of her own collection of glass menagerie “too exquisitely fragile to move from the shelf” (The Glass Menagerie). Her crippled body has left her in a situation where she feels that she cannot move with the external world and has created a world of her own.
Laura’s Fascination with Jim O’Connor
Laura tells her mother about Jim whom she likes since her school days. He used to call her “Blue Roses”. Just like the unicorn, an imaginary horse from her glass menagerie, blue roses also reflect the uniqueness of the character of Laura. Her old records and her glass menagerie are the only things important to her. And in order to escape from the harsh reality of her life, she escapes into this illusionary world which she has created for herself. As said by the Freud that if one has to be happy in any way, he has to break from the reality.
Laura’s Inferiority Complex
Laura likes Jim right from her school days. When Tom invites Jim O’ Connor to dinner as a gentleman caller, and when Laura comes to know that he is the same person, she gets nervous and again her low self-esteem is reflected.
In a conversation between them, Jim tries to remove the “Inferiority complex” in Laura and tries to boost her confidence. “Somebody needs to build your confidence up and make you proud instead of shy and turning away…”(The Glass Menagerie).
The Symbolism of the Unicorn
Laura tells him about her glass animals and also shows him her old records. He dances with Laura and also kissed her, but soon he reveals that he is engaged and in between the horn of her unicorn also gets broken. Unicorn, which was symbolic of the uniqueness of Laura turns into an ordinary horse. She gave that piece of glass animal to Jim. The breaking of Unicorn’s horn has a symbolic message. It signifies that Laura must acknowledge the reality of her life and she must come out of her imaginary world of glass animals. The world of her dreams is as fragile as the glass and it cannot bear the hard smashes of reality.
Laura’s Shyness and Sensitivity
Laura is presented as an extremely shy and sensitive person. Her shyness is emphasized even more by being contrasted with Amanda’s forceful and almost brutal nature. We are made aware almost immediately of Laura’s overly sensitive nature. She is so nervous that she cannot even attend business school without becoming violently sick. She is frightened and nervous when Tom and Amanda quarrel. She possesses a glass menagerie which she cares for with great tenderness. And she has withdrawn from the world — a withdrawal from what is real into what is make-believe.
Laura’s Physical Disability and Emotional Withdrawal
Laura has a slight physical defect — a limp — but she has magnified this limp until it has affected her entire personality. Laura’s oversensitive nature makes her think that everyone notices her limp; it becomes for her a huge stumbling block to normal living. She cannot get over it and into the real world. Her inability to overcome this defect causes her to withdraw into her world of illusion. The limp then becomes symbolic of Laura’s inner nature. As Tom says, it’s not just Laura’s being crippled that makes her different, but she is just different. So she lives in a world of old phonograph records and glass animals.
Laura’s Transformation Through Jim
And then the gentleman caller arrives. For the first time we see Laura’s inner charm. She is fresh and pretty, and she does have charm — not as Amanda wants it, but in her own individualistic way. She is even capable of forgetting her physical handicap. She responds to Jim because he responds to her difference. With Jim, she sees that her difference is an asset and not a handicap. But ironically, she leads Jim more into her world than she enters into his.
Laura’s Return to Her World of Illusion
Thus, when the evening is over, when the unicorn is broken and the hopes are shattered, Laura does not have to retreat back into her world because she has never left it sufficiently enough to necessitate the retreat. Quite the contrary, now that the unicorn is broken, is ordinary like Jim, she sends it forth with Jim, and she remains in her unique world with the other unique glass animals.
Conclusion
Laura Wingfield emerges as one of the most delicate and symbolic characters in The Glass Menagerie. Her inability to face reality, her attachment to the glass animals, and her brief encounter with hope through Jim O’Connor reveal the themes of fragility, isolation, and illusion. Through Laura, Tennessee Williams portrays the painful struggle between dreams and reality in a harsh and unforgiving world.