The Glass Menagerie-Scene 7/The Catastrophe of Success

In scene seven of the Glass Menagerie, the reader finally sees the interaction of Jim and Laura. This is probably the most interaction of the play and probably the reason Williams placed it at the end of the play. The reader also sees many different symbols that Williams throws into the play, to lift the spirit of the play.
For example, take the glass unicorn, which easily could represent Laura. Meaning, the reader sees a unicorn as different and unique, just as Laura is. A unicorn also is part of a fantasy world, and Laura can almost be seen as an fantasy oddity. "Hold him over the light, he loves the light I You see how the light shines through him?" this quote alone shows how involved she was with these glass animals. She talked to them and for Laura they were alive. Another important point, is when Jim breaks the unicorn. Jim dances with Laura and kisses her, yet now the unicorn is broken and looks like all the other horses. When Jim dances and kisses Laura, Laura also feels like she is also like every other girl she feels special. Now it is just like all the other horses.
JIM: It's lost its -
LAURA: Horn!
It doesn't matter. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise.
Laura has finally come out of her shell and lived life a little, its as if she had an awakening of some sort. The reader also learns more about Jim and his ambitions and what he wants out of life. Jim talks about his success and how good things were for him in high-school, and in doing so the audience realizes that Jim is not much different from the Wingfields. The only difference in Jim he has finally gotten over the past and tried to moved on. "My signature isn't worth very much tight now", here Laura wants Jims signature and he would love to give it to her, but the point is he is content with it not being worth much anymore. Jim still feels disapointed at his current status of society. Jim spilling all this information to Laura, could simply be a sign of insecurity.
The whole play boils down to the characters escaping from what the truth really is. Laura has her collection of glass animals,and imagines the world more through her imagination, rather than really exploring. Amanda constantly speaks of her youth, Jim wants his speech class to get a better job, and Tom watches movies to escape from reality and explore.

In the essay "The Catastrophe of Success", Williams discusses his main overview of life and what the ups and downs of his life have been. The title is a literal meaning of the theme in Williams essay. Williams basically uses this essay to portray what his life meant really before his succes and after. Take for example the first line of the essay,"This winter marked the third anniversary of the Chicago opening of “The Glass Menagerie,” an event that terminated one part of my life and began another about as different in all external circumstances as could well be imagined." Here Williams shows that his popularity throughout the world has grown exponentially. One of his most famous playwrights "The Glass Menagerie", basically shot Williams into stardom. He goes on to say that this basically meant he was living hotel to hotel and traveling all around the country.

Williams also explains the hardship he had to go through in order for him to get to this point in his life. "The sort of life that I had had previous to this popular success was one that required endurance, a life of clawing and scratching along a sheer surface and holding on tight with raw fingers to every inch of rock higher than the one caught hold of before, but it was a good life because it was the sort of life for which the human organism is created." Here Williams talks about how much he loved his ordinary life and how humans were meant to live just a normal life, without all the extra attachments. Williams goes on to say that not only did this different lifestyle change his day to day activities but changed his actions and the way he thought and acted around people. "I soon found myself becoming indifferent to people.", luckily Williams has realized what he is doing to people, some never face the facts. Williams goes on to say he lost friends that he use to call daily and now he doesn't even bother. Throughout the whole essay Williams basically explains what changed and how he really didn't want to change but he almost felt like he didn't have much of a choice.

In conclusion, the end of the essay shows a more relaxed Williams, who is content with what his success has given him, ironically. By the end of the essay Williams has basically had an Awakening, and realizes he needs to seize the day. He has lost precious time in just writing, and the reader has lost time reading,"time is short and it doesn’t return again".