The Glass Menagerie- Symbol

"Jim: Unicorns, aren't they extinct in the modern world?
Laura: I know!
Jim: Poor little fellow, he must feel sort of lonesome." 
(Scene 7, page 1281)


I think the glass menagerie is a symbol for Laura. These glass figures live a sheltered life, they never move or make progress, just stay in one place. Laura is the same way. She doesn't leave her house or try to make something of herself. The unicorn especially represents Laura. Laura views herself has an outcast because she has a physical defect. When the unicorn breaks and becomes "accepted" by the other horses, it's like Laura become accepted too. Jim shows her that she shouldn't be self conscious and that she is just as great as everyone else. Laura doesn't get mad at Jim when he breaks the glass because Jim is truly sorry for doing it and really wants to help Laura step out of her shell. Tom on the other hand hasn't really attempted to help Laura make something of herself and Laura thinks that Tom hates her and their mother because he is always leaving. I think Laura gives Jim the unicorn because she wants him to hold on to part of her. Jim represents the modern world and what's going on outside of the house. I think Laura wants to be a part of that world. 

I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed- Emily Dickinson

This poem was very interesting. I think it is comparing the intoxication of alcohol to the intoxication of nature. The speaker discusses flowers, air, butterflies, bees and the sun which imply a theme of nature. The speaker uses a lot of figurative language and symbols. "Tankards scooped in Pearl" and "Debauchee of Dew" connect the pleasure and addiction of alcohol to the pleasure of nature. "Out of the Foxglove's door" symbolizes a drunk being kicked out of a bar, and a bee leaving a flower. The last stanza talks about "seraphs" and "saints" which implies that the speaker will not stop indulging in nature until the day she dies. I think the figurative language in this poem is effective because the speaker is more implying what she means instead of straight out saying it. She is using symbols like "tankards", "vats", and "mountain dew" to portray her thoughts about alcohol and nature.

Maintaining Innocence- 6

"And that's why, years and years later, that day Tommy and I found another copy of that lost tape of mine in a town on the Norfolk coast, we didn't just think it pretty funny; we both felt deep down some tug, some old wish to believe again in something that was once close to our hearts." (Never Let Me Go, page 67)


Kathy references Norfolk a lot in this chapter, and it is definitely a symbol.  Norfolk isn't just a county in England that Miss Emily didn't have pictures of. Norfolk wasn't even just a "lost corner." It was a mysterious destination that Kathy and the other children could only imagine about. I think Norfolk is a symbol for the children's innocence. They are stuck in Hailsham and have no contact with the outside world. They can only invent ideas of what they think exists outside of Hailsham. Norfolk was like a common bond for them. It wasn't only and inside joke of where lost things went, but it was a place that reminded them of their childhood.


I think Norfolk is a little like Narnia in the book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Narnia isn't just a place of the children's imagination. It was a symbol of innocence and childhood. It was a place where they discovered what kind of person they wanted to be. It was a place where they faced their deepest fears. Real or not, it was a place important in their hearts.