The Glass Menagerie: Parallels to Williams' Life and Use of Symbolism The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a touching work about a family's lost dreams of the South and their struggle to escape reality. The show is a memory game and therefore very poetic in its atmosphere, setting and dialogue. Tom Wingfield serves as the narrator and character in the play. Tom lives with his beautiful Southern mother, Amanda, and his painfully shy sister, Laura. The action of the play revolves around Amanda's quest to find a "gentleman caller" in Laura. The plot of The Glass Menagerie closely mirrors the real events of the author's life. Because Williams related so well to the characters and situations, he was able to portray the theme of the play beautifully. through his creative use of symbolism. The Glass Menagerie reflects Williams' life so much that it could be confused with pages from his autobiography. The characters and situations in the play are very similar to those found in the small St. Louis apartment where Williams spent part of his life. Williams himself can be seen in the character of Tom. Both worked in a shoe factory and wrote poetry to escape the depressing reality of their lives, and both eventually left. A not so obvious character is Mr. Wingfield is the absent father seen only from the looming photo hanging in the Wingfields' apartment. Both fathers were, as Tom says, "long distance lovers," Amanda, an overbearing mother who can't let go of her youth the Mississippi Delta and her "seventeen gentlemen callers" are much like Williams' mother, Edwina. Both Amanda and Edwina were insensitive to their children's feelings. In an attempt to push their children towards a better future, they pushed them away. The model for Laura was Williams' introverted sister, Rose. According to Contemporary Authors "the memory of Rose appears in some character, situation, symbol or motif in almost every work after 1938". Edwina, like Amanda, tried to find a gentleman to call Rose. Both situations ended with a touching confrontation with the caller and eventual heartbreak. Tennessee Williams' brilliant use of symbols adds life to the game. The title itself, The Glass Menagerie, reveals one of the most important symbols. Laura's collection of glass animals represents her fragile state. When Jim, the gentleman caller, breaks the horn of his favorite unicorn, this represents Laura's break from her unique innocence..