The Glass Menagerie Weakness Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Scene.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a big long monologue.

Quote #28

"Little articles of it, they’re ornaments, mostly! Most of them are little animals made out of glass, the tiniest little animals in the world. Mother calls them a glass menagerie! Here’s an example of one, if you’d like to see it! This one is one of the oldest. It’s nearly thirteen…Oh be careful—if you breathe, it breaks!" (7.197, Laura).

Laura describes not only the fragility of the glass, but emphasizes its size, harking back to the epigraph of the text, "Nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands."

Quote #29

"Oh, but I’d step on you!"

"I’m not made out of glass." (7.225,7.226, Laura and Jim).

Jim again appears the opposite of Laura; she is shy and fragile, he is most certainly not.

Quote #30

They suddenly bump into the table, and the glass piece on it falls to the floor. Jim stops the dance. (Scene Seven, stage directions).

Here we see the danger of bringing glass off the shelf, or Laura out of her secret world: something might break.