In Scene 7 of The Glass Menagerie, as
dinner has just finished, the lights go out because Tom has not paid the electric bill.
So, the family and Jim rise from the table and go into the kitchenette. There Jim
checks the fuses for Amanda but, of course, they are fine. In the dark, Jim tries to
give Amanda a hand, but she refuses, telling Jim to keep Laura company. In the parlor
Jim invites Laura to sit with him on pillows on the floor; they engage in conversation
although Laura is painfully shy.
As they talk, Jim recalls
the sobriquet that he gave Laura in high school: "Blue Roses." This name came about
because he misunderstood the illness that Laura contracted; namely,
pleurosis:
JIM: Aw, yes I've placed you now! I used to
call you Blue Roses. How was it that I got started calling you
that?
LAURA: I was out of school a little while with
pleurosis. When I came back you asked me what was the mater. I said I had
pleurosis--you thought I said Blue Roses. That's what you
always called me after
that!
A more familiar
name for pleurosis is pleurisy. But, the condition is an inflammation of the pleura
lining of the lung cavity. Evidently, Laura also suffered from some disease that caused
her one leg to be shorter than the other.
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