Summary and Analysis Scene 7

Summary

As the curtain rises, we see Laura still lying huddled on the sofa. Just as the others are
finishing dinner, the lights go out, but Amanda calmly lights the candles and asks Jim if
he would check on the fuses. She realizes that Tom probably didn't pay the light bill, so
as punishment she makes him help with the dishes

while Mr. O'Connor keeps Laura company.

As Jim O'Connor approaches Laura, she sits up nervously. But Jim casually sits on the
floor and asks Laura if she doesn't like to sit on the floor.He asks her frankly why she is
shy and refers to her as "an old-fashioned type of girl." When Laura asks him if he has
kept up with his singing, Jim then remembers that they knew each other in high school.
When Laura mentions that she was always late for their singing class because she was
crippled and her brace clumped so loudly, Jim maintains that he never noticed it. He
thinks that Laura was too self-conscious.

Laura brings out the high school year book which has pictures of Jim singing the lead
role in an operetta. Laura tells Jim that she always wanted to ask him to autograph her
book, but he was so terribly popular. Jim gallantly signs it for her now.

When Laura asks Jim about his high school girl friend, he tells her that it was just rumor.
Jim wonders what Laura has done since high school. She tells him about the business
college and begins to tell about her glass collection; then Jim interrupts her and explains
how she has an inferiority complex.

“A little defect is what you have. Hardly noticeable even! Magnified thousands of times
by imagination! Do you know what my strong advice to you is? Think of yourself as
superior in some way!”

“The different people are not like other people but being different is nothing to be
ashamed of. Because other people are not such wonderful people. They’re one hundred
times one thousand. You’re one times one! They walk all o over the earth. You just stay
here. They’re common as weeds. But you , you’re a blue rose.”
When he finishes, Laura shows him her glass collection. Even though Jim is afraid that
he will break one, Laura tells him that he can handle them. She even shows him her
prize — her glass unicorn which is thirteen years old. Jim wonders if the unicorn doesn't
feel strange since it is so different. Laura tells him that the unicorn doesn't complain and
seems to get along nicely with the other animals.

Jim hears some music from the neighboring dance hall and asks Laura to dance. Even
though she protests that she can't, Jim insists and during the dance, they stumble
against the table and they break the horn off the unicorn. Laura maintains now that it is
like the other horses.

He then says that someone should kiss Laura, and he leans over and kisses her.

Almost immediately he knows that he has done the wrong thing, and he tells her that he
shouldn't have kissed her because he is engaged to be married in the next month. After
he finishes with his explanation, Laura gives him the broken unicorn.

At this point Amanda enters with a pitcher of lemonade. After flitting about and
chattering, she is about to leave when Jim explains that he has to go because he is
engaged. Amanda is surprised and says that Tom didn't tell them that Jim was
engaged. Jim explains that no one knows it yet, and then he leaves.

When Jim leaves, Amanda then calls Tom and accuses him of playing a joke on them
by bringing home an engaged man.

So Tom does leave. But as the scene closes, Tom says that even though he left, he
could never forget his sister. Wherever he goes, he still thinks about her.

“Blow out your candles, Laura. And so good bye.”

Analysis

During the first part of this scene, Amanda's conduct does show that she knows how to
entertain and that she is not overly distracted by the lights going out. She is also very
careful to use this as an excuse to get Tom into the kitchen so as to leave the
gentleman caller with Laura.
The scene between Laura and Jim O'Connor gives us our first view of Laura as a
person. Suddenly, she comes alive as an individual, unique and different, but with her
own charm that goes much deeper than the superficial gibbering of Amanda.

Note that as the scene progresses, Laura rapidly gains confidence in herself and begins
to lose some of her shyness. She relaxes enough to show Jim her glass menagerie, a
collection that she treasures and that she would not readily show to just anyone. It is
then that she explains her preference for the unicorn, which like Laura, is different from
the other animals; its uniqueness makes it Laura's favorite. Symbolically, the unicorn
here represents Laura's own self. She is also different and unique. But she, like the
unicorn, doesn't complain about being lonesome or unique, and like Laura, the unicorn
is the most delicate of all the animals in the collection.

After looking at the collection, Jim proposes to Laura that they dance. He is still trying to
build up her ego and to prove to her that she is not as different as she thinks herself to
be. In other words, he is trying to break through to Laura; But the dance is used also as
the method by which the unicorn is broken, and Jim's clumsiness can also break the
delicate Laura.

As soon as the unicorn is broken, Laura maintains that now it does not feel as freakish
and looks more like the other horses. Symbolically, Laura is feeling more normal now
than she has ever felt. Even though Jim seems to the audience a rather ordinary young
man, to Laura he is quite exceptional, and he has achieved his aim of bringing Laura
somewhat out of her world of retreat.

After Jim makes his awkward confession about his engagement to Betty, Laura gives
him the broken unicorn. Here the symbolism may be variously interpreted. We may see
the broken unicorn as Laura's broken hopes, or we may say the broken unicorn is no
longer unique like Laura but instead it is ordinary like Jim; or it may represent her
broken hopes for love and romance, and she gives the symbol of her love to Jim to take
away with him since he has broken her as well as her unicorn. That is, symbolically he
takes away her broken unicorn and her broken love.

Some people may wish to quarrel with the presentation of this scene in a memory play;
that is, if the play is presented as Tom's memory, then he couldn't possibly know what
took place in this scene.

With Amanda's sudden attack on Tom for his allowing them to make such "fools of
ourselves," we must remember that it was Tom who tried to get Amanda not to make a
fuss, and that even Jim says Tom didn't know that he was engaged. But Amanda,
realizing her own mistake, cannot take the blame for it. Suddenly, her charm leaves her,
and we see her as just a nagging woman who cannot face reality. Here also her
illusions leave her, and she even refers to Laura as "crippled."

 The lights go out.

 Amanda sends Jim into the other room to, er...keep Laura company on the couch. Wink
wink.

 The screen reads, "I don’t suppose you remember me at all!"

 Jim’s all talkative and breaking through Laura’s shy exterior. They reminisce about that
time when they barely knew each other and he called her "Blue Roses."

 Laura talks about having a limp from her crippled leg in high school, but Jim says it
wasn’t noticeable and that she ought to be more outgoing and confident and all that.

 They look together at their old high school yearbook, called "The Torch." Laura praises
him for his performance in a high school play and confesses that she used to want his
autograph. So Jim graffiti’s away on her program (that she saved from his play) with his
signature.

 Laura discloses that she dropped out of high school.

 She asks about Jim’s old girlfriend, but he says they’re not together anymore. You know
how high school relationships go.

 Laura is all, "Hey baby, want to see my...glass collection?" And the tinkly, thematic music
plays again.

 She shows Jim a unicorn, her favorite piece of glass, because its horn makes it different
from all the other horses.

 They listen to the music from the Paradise Dance Hall across the street and Jim has
them waltz to it.
 During their rambunctious dancing, they break the horn off of the unicorn, but Laura calls
it a blessing in disguise.

 Jim hits on Laura. "Blue Roses" comes up on the screen again. He kisses her,
exclamation point!

 He backs away and the screen reads "a souvenir."

 He waxes poetic about love. The screen, very helpfully, says "Love."

 Laura gives him the former-unicorn in its post-horn state as a souvenir.

 Williams gives the director two options for the screen, either "Things have a way of
turning out so badly!" or the image of a gentleman caller waving goodbye. Definitely the
biggest decision of our day.

 Amanda comes to see how things are moving along and finds out about the
engagement just as Jim takes off. The screen says, "The sky falls."

 She yells at Tom after Jim leaves so he takes off for the movies while the screen reads
"and so, goodbye..."

 OK, here’s the deal: Tom gives an ending speech while the audience watches Amanda
comforting Laura.

 The speech goes something like, "I took off and left my family behind, etc., etc., I couldn’t
stop feeling guilty about leaving Laura, I can’t blow her candles out."
 Then Laura blows the candles out while Jim theatrically says, "And so, goodbye..."

Summary
A half hour later, dinner is winding down. Laura is still by herself on the living-room couch. The
floor lamp gives her face an ethereal beauty. As the rain stops, the lights flicker and go out.
Amanda lights candles and asks Jim to check the fuses, but of course, he finds nothing wrong
with them. Amanda then asks Tom if he paid the electric bill. He admits that he did not, and she
assumes that he simply forgot, as Jim’s good humor helps smooth over the potentially tense
moment. Amanda sends Jim to the parlor with a candelabra and a little wine to keep Laura
company while Amanda and Tom clean up.

In the living room, Jim takes a seat on the floor and persuades Laura to join him. He gives her a
glass of wine. Tongue-tied at first, Laura soon relaxes in Jim’s engaging presence. He talks to
her about the Century of Progress exhibition in Chicago and calls her an “old-fashioned” girl.
She reminds him that they knew each other in high school. He has forgotten, but when she
mentions the nickname he gave her, Blue Roses, he remembers. They reminisce about high
school and Jim’s glories. Laura also remembers the discomfort and embarrassment she felt over
the brace on her leg. Jim tells her that she was far too self-conscious and that everybody has
problems. Laura persuades him to sign a program from a play he performed in during high
school, which she has kept, and works up the nerve to ask him about the girl to whom he was
supposedly engaged. He explains that he was never actually engaged and that the girl had
announced the engagement out of wishful thinking.

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In response to his question about what she has done since high school, Laura starts to tell Jim
about her glass collection. He abruptly declares that she has an inferiority complex and that she
“low-rates” herself. He says that he also suffered from this condition after his post–high school
disappointment. He launches into his vision of his own future in television production. Laura
listens attentively. He asks her about herself again, and she describes her collection of glass
animals. She shows him her favorite: a unicorn. He points out lightly that unicorns are “extinct”
in modern times.

Jim notices the music coming from the dance hall across the alley. Despite Laura’s initial
protests, he leads her in a clumsy waltz around the room. Jim bumps into the table where the
unicorn is resting, the unicorn falls, and its horn breaks off. Laura is unfazed, though, and she
says that now the unicorn can just be a regular horse. Extremely apologetic, Jim tells her that she
is different from anyone else he knows, that she is pretty, and that if she were his sister he would
teach her to have some self-confidence and value her own uniqueness. He then says that
someone ought to kiss her.

Jim kisses Laura on the lips. Dazed, Laura sinks down onto the sofa. He immediately begins
chiding himself out loud for what he has done. As he sits next to her on the sofa, Jim confesses
that he is involved with an Irish girl named Betty, and he tells her that his love for Betty has
made a new man of him. Laura places the de-horned unicorn in his hand, telling him to think of
it as a souvenir.
Amanda enters in high spirits, carrying refreshments. Jim quickly becomes awkward in her
presence. She insists that he become a frequent caller from now on. He says he must leave now
and explains that he has to pick up Betty at the train station—the two of them are to be married
in June. Despite her disappointment, Amanda bids him farewell graciously. Jim cheerily takes
his leave.

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Amanda calls Tom in from the kitchen and accuses him of playing a joke on them. Tom insists
that he had no idea that Jim was engaged and that he does not know much about anyone at the
warehouse. He heads to the door, intending to spend another night at the movies. Amanda
accuses him of being a “dreamer” and rails against his selfishness as he leaves. Tom returns her
scolding. Amanda tells him that he might as well go not just to the movies but to the moon, for
all that he cares about her and Laura. Tom leaves, slamming the door.

Tom delivers his passionate closing monologue from the fire-escape landing as Amanda
inaudibly comforts Laura inside the apartment and then withdraws to her room. Tom explains
that he was fired soon after from the warehouse for writing a poem on a shoebox lid and that he
then left the family. He says that he has traveled for a long time, pursuing something he cannot
identify. But he has found that he cannot leave Laura behind. No matter where he goes, some
piece of glass or quality of light makes it seem as if his sister is at his side. In the living room,
Laura blows the candles out as Tom bids her goodbye.

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Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be!
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Analysis
As Scene Seven begins, Laura’s face is made beautiful by the new floor lamp and its lampshade
of “rose-colored silk.” Williams marshals the force of metaphor through the accrued weight of
symbols. The delicate light represents Laura, and the rose represents Laura, whom Jim used to
call “Blue Roses.” The glass unicorn that Jim breaks accidentally is yet another symbol that
points to Laura. Like the unicorn, Laura is an impossible oddity. Jim’s kindness and kiss bring
her abruptly into the normal world by shattering the protective layer of glass that she has set up
around herself, but this real world also involves heartbreak, which she suffers at Jim’s hands.

Though Jim is an emissary from a very different world, he also shares some fundamental
qualities with the Wingfields, each of whom is somehow unable to connect to the world around
him or her. Jim seems to be well integrated into the outside world, to accept its philosophy of
life, and to have latched onto a number of things that keep him afloat: public speaking, radio
engineering, and Betty. But his long-winded speeches to Laura reveal an insecurity that he is
fighting with all his might. He has somehow strayed off the glorious path on which he seemed
destined to travel in high school. Lacking an inherent sense of self-worth, he is scrambling to
find something that will give him such a sense. Jim talks as if he is trying to convince himself as
much as all the others that he has the self-confidence he needs to succeed.

Each character in The Glass Menagerie is trying to escape from reality in his or her own way:
Laura retreats into her imagination and the static world of glass animals and old records, Amanda
has the glorious days of her youth, and Jim has his dreams of an executive position. Only Tom
has trouble finding a satisfactory route of escape. Movies are not a real way out, as he comes to
realize. Even descending the steps of the fire escape and wandering like his rootless father does
not provide him with any respite from his memories of Laura’s stunted life and crushed hopes.
Yet, in one way, he has escaped. A frustrated poet no longer, he has created this play. Laura’s act
of blowing out the candles at the play’s end signifies the snuffing of her hopes, but it may also
mark Tom’s long-awaited release from her grip. He exhorts Laura to blow out her candles and
then bids her what sounds like a final goodbye. The play itself is Tom’s way out, a cathartic
attempt to purge his memory and free himself through the act of creation.
Even so, when one considers the trajectory of Tennessee Williams’s life and writings, one senses
a deep ambivalence in the play’s conclusion. The rose image continued to show up in Williams’s
writings long after The Glass Menagerie, and the ghosts haunting Williams would eventually
lead him to drug addiction and a mental hospital. For Williams and his character Tom, art may
be an attempt to erase all pain. But although Williams’s world includes some survivors of deep
pain and torment, they invariably bear ugly scars.