#blog 9

 But the wonderfullest trick of all was the coffin trick. We nailed him into a coffin and he got out of the coffin without removing one nail. . . . There is a trick that would come in handy for me—get me out of this two-by-four situation! . . . You know it doesn't take much intelligence to get yourself into a nailed-up coffin, Laura. But who in hell ever got himself out of one without removing one nail?

This is a quote from Tom in scene 4, he returns back to home from the theater and tells Laura there is a magic show which is the coffin trick. As we can say from the book, Tom is a character who almost take place for the father, he supports Laura and Amanda. He is also the only hope for Amanda. He drinks and smokes and dreams that he can escape from the situation. He wants to leave the home like his father. But in the real life, he cannot leave them alone because of the responsibilities that he should take. He dreams of adventure and literary greatness, but all of these break down due to his job. It seems like he sees the coffin as a symbol of his own life situation. Also, since the beginning of the book, he is thinking the way he can escape from the "coffin"----his family. According to his description of the magical performance, he is excited that the magician escapes from the coffin. It makes him think about his escape from his family. He is tired of the situation. However, after he has been fired from his job, he is successfully escaping from the house which makes him stressed. The way he escapes differs from the magician does. Indeed, the magician gets out of the coffin without disturbing one nail, but Tom's leave must effect Laura and Amanda a lot. At the beginning of the story, he indicates that he is “the opposite of a stage magician." It foreshadowing his leave is different. 

Well, in the South we had so many servants. Gone, gone, gone. All vestige of gracious living! Gone completely! I wasn’t prepared for what the future brought me. All of my gentlemen callers were sons of planters and so, of course, I assumed that I would be married to one and raise my family on a large piece of land with plenty of servants. But man proposes—and the woman accepts the proposal! To vary that old, old saying a bit—I married no planter! I married a man who worked for the telephone company! . . . A telephone man who—fell in love with long-distance!

The quotes best indicate Amanda's past and her personalities. Her past is perfect. She is pretty and has a lot of gentleman callers. She supports by her husband. All her life seems like perfect, but everything just changed when her husband gone. The way she memorizes her past makes her look poor. Her life in St. Louis compares with his gracious past is unacceptable. That is also a reason why she is so hopeless and stressed by the situation. It's also the reason why she puts more efforts on Laura's marriage. She thinks it is the only way for her to escape from the poor situation. Because of the past, she thinks she has to find someone to support her. She cannot live independently due to her age. Also, his intense nostalgia for the past might due to her children not help her get a better life. To be honest, I think she is a kind of annoying character. She is not that nice and warm to her children. She is more dependent on them, so it makes her look like that she treat them as a tool instead of her kids. She asks Laura to marry because she wants to better life. So, as we can see, she is kind of self-fish which she wants to get a better life. 

LAURA: Little articles of [glass], they’re ornaments mostly! Most of them are little animals made out of glass, the tiniest little animals in the world. Mother calls them a glass menagerie! Here’s an example of one, if you’d like to see it! . . . Oh, be careful—if you breathe, it breaks! . . . You see how the light shines through him?
JIM: It sure does shine!
LAURA: I shouldn’t be partial, but he is my favorite one.
JIM: What kind of a thing is this one supposed to be?
LAURA: Haven’t you noticed the single horn on his forehead?
JIM: A unicorn, huh? —aren’t they extinct in the modern world?
LAURA: I know!
JIM: Poor little fellow, he must feel sort of lonesome. 

According to the book, Laura is sky and lives in her own world. "If you breathe, it breaks." As we can see from the words, her awareness for him to not break the glass, we can see that the glass menagerie represents all of her everything. She lives in the world which is only herself and her glass menagerie. She is lonely and afraid to communicate with the outer world. They might hurt her. But Jim's warmness helps her overcome her afraid. She starts to express herself. The glass unicorn is her favorite figurine which is a symbol of herself since the unicorn "extinct in the modern world" which is similar to her. She does not belong to the world. She lives in her own world. However, the way might lead her to extinction which is not the best result for her, so she hopes that Jim can lead her to get out of the dilemma.