The Glass Menagerie is by Tennessee Williams. Williams uses a lot of symbols in this play. Many of the symbols used in this play try to symbolize some form of escape or difference between reality and illusion. The first symbol isthe fire escape. This represents a "bridge" between the illusory world of the Wingfields and a world of reality. This "bridge" seems to be a one way passage. For Tom, the fire escape is a …showed first 75 words of 291 total…

…showed last 75 words of 291 total…where she can hide and be safe in her own little world. As you can see there are quite a few symbols in this play. And a number of them have a lot of meanings. A lot or most of these symbols have a direct meaning in the authors life. Its understandable sicne this is supposed to be a memory play. Its obvious to readers that this play is based on the authors own memories