Theme Of Escape In The Glass Menagerie

Amanda becomes a woman bent on finding her daughter either a job or a husband and finding out why her son disappears every night. To help her appear strong and willful, Amanda escapes to her own days as a young girl, finding more than seventeen gentlemen callers, and allows herself to believe her life is stable enough that her daughter and her will be financially taken care of. These facades crumble when she realizes her daughter has never been capable enough to find either a job or a husband. While these expectations of Laura hurt her, they allow her mother to escape to her days of being flaunted over and adorned by men. Once she does see her daughter is struggling, Amanda has to face the fact that her daughter will always be dependant upon her mother. These realities continue to affect how her children act and the results of the

Amanda Wingfield’s life is turned upside down by her husband’s departure. In her mind it shatters hope for

Tom’s sympathy with Laura and Amanda prevents him from deserting his family, keeping him in his monotonous warehouse job. However, the photograph of Tom’s father compels him to leave, sparking his desperation to quit his job to explore the world. This hesitation to stay or leave is the direct cause of his trips to the movies. When Tom goes to the movies, he can escape reality while also staying and supporting his family. When Tom gets bored of the movies, he no longer has an escape from his dreadful reality, which forces him to leave. The photograph of Tom’s father mocked him for his entire life, and brought out Tom’s true desire which he had hidden for such a long time.

When Tom cannot actually bring himself to leave he uses many escape mechanisms to escape from his life. For instance, he escaped from their apartment onto the fire escape, and he sneaks away from the warehouse to write poetry. Tom also uses going to the movies every night and getting drunk to escape from his reality. In scene four Tom and Laura are having a conversation because he has been out for a very long time. Laura says “Where have you been all this time?” (1257.) Then Tom replies with “I have been at the movies.” (1257.) It also says in scene four that Amanda says “–well you had been drinking the night you were in that- terrifying condition! Laura says that you hate the apartment and that you go out nights o get away from it!” (1260.) This just shows that Tom is trying to escape from the life he is living, that he wants adventure. While his escape mechanisms do offer him a promise of freedom, it also traps him. At the end of scene III, Tom shouts at Amanda “I’m leading a double life,” (1256.) He wants to break free of the power Amanda has on him, but he cannot escape the love he has for his

She is unable to cope with reality and she escapes back into her fantasy world of old records and glass figurines.

Amanda and Tom share a familial relationship of mother and son. Williams depicts Amanda at first interpretation as overbearing, hypercritical and controlling. However, on further assessment, the audience is able to acknowledge a more admirable facet to her character: her evident persistence in trying to love her children. Through her attempts in perpetuating her youth and past glory, she distorts reality to fit her

One of the big motivations shown through the characters in The Glass Menagerie is the yearning of escape from the real world. One example shown through Laura’s character is she finds a way to escape reality through her glass menagerie and the old records she plays that once belonged to their father. The mother, Amanda, tries to escape her current life as a deserted wife who must constantly scramble for money by retelling stories of when she was young. Her favorite story to retell regards one day when she received the attentions of seventeen gentleman callers. For her, those gentleman callers represent what her life was and what it could have been if she had not married her husband, “the telephone man who fell in love with long

In Tennessee Williams’ play, The Glass Menagerie, all four members of the Wingfield family have chosen to hide from reality. Amanda tries to relive her past through Laura, and denies anything she does not want to accept. Laura is terrified of the real world, and choses to hide behind her limp, her glass menagerie and the victrola. Tom hides from his reality by going to the movies, writing poetry, and getting drunk. Mr Wingfield hides from his reality by leaving his family and not contacting them after he has done so. Each member of the Wingfield family has their own escape mechanism which they use to hide or escape from the real world.

In The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams beautifully encapsulates man’s desire to escape from uncomfortable emotional and physical situations. Whether he’s showing a young man trapped in a factory job he hates, an aging single mother who mourns for her life as Southern belle, or a young lady who fears that she’ll spend her life alone, he clearly demonstrates these desires and fears for his audience. Williams shows us through the actions of his characters how humans handle a wide variety of uncomfortable situations, and how these situations dramatically influence one’s ability to thrive. The playwright doesn’t seem to believe in the idea of “bloom where you’re planted”, and the desire to escape becomes a major theme of the play, demonstrated across multiple characters in a wide variety of ways. Creative individuals often do not thrive in noncreative, industrial environments. Williams demonstrates this clearly in this “memory play”, which carries many autobiographical element. Tom Wingfield represents his own character, Williams himself, and also serves as a narrator, making him quite the complex character. Williams’s uses Tom to show how an emotionally complex, creative individual can quickly feel trapped and tied down in a factory job, longing to get out, see the world, and pursue a job with more creative elements. Tom’s escapism, drinking, and evening theatrical adventures all reflect the life of the playwright himself, as Williams was known to struggle with alcoholism

“The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams is a play about desire to escape and this concept is conveyed through a variety of techniques and ideas shown in this play of exploration by the playwright, Tom Wingfield. First, Jim tries to escape his engagement by having a romantic night with Laura. Then, Tom’s father escapes for the same reasons Tom did. Thirdly, according to Roger Boxill from ‘The Glass Menagerie’ Amanda escapes by reminiscing “Blue Mountain ... And the seventeen gentleman callers.” Fourthly, Laura escapes with romance, going for walks, her “Glass Menagerie, stomach pain, and the broken horn from the unicorn. Finally, Tom escapes by traveling, going to the movies, drinking, and hanging out on the fire escape looking at the moon. Symbolism is also used in many literary works to for shadow or emphasizes an event that is about to happen or already has happened in the story. Hence the title ‘The Glass Menagerie’ in the play foreshadows/emphasizes the event happening or about to happen. The action of “The Glass Menagerie” takes place in the Wingfield family’s apartment in St. Louis, 1937. The events of the play are framed by memory Tom Wingfield is the play’s narrator, and usually smokes and stands on the fire escape as he delivers his monologues.

Tom Wingfield is a free spirit, in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, always wanting to fly away: “I descended the steps of the fire-escape for a last time” (7. Tom). Tom wishes for adventure, and excitement, for experience new places and new situations. However, he is haunted by the memory of his beloved sister, Laura. Stricken with guilt for leaving Laura, he tries to chase the memory of his fragile sister away with alcohol, cigarettes, and movies. Many things can drive a man to leave his family behind. Perhaps he hates how his mother treats him, or where he works and how much he works for, or that he just wants adventure.

Laura is Tom’s brother and Amanda is their mother. Amanda living in the past, Laura collecting her glass menagerie and Tom going to the movies every night show that each of them try to escape reality. First, Amanda escapes reality by reliving her own past. In the play, Amanda relives her own past to escape her current problems. “I’m not expecting any gentleman callers”

The Glass Menagerie is arguably the most symbolic and deep plays ever written. The Glass Menagerie isn’t just a story of Laura’s disability, it has a deeper meaning behind it, and it can be easily overlooked by mediocre minds. Although the story revolves around the Wingfield family, Tennessee Williams throws in symbolism that corresponds with his childhood. In a way, he found closure for the loss of his sister Rose through writing The Glass Menagerie. One of the symbols is the play that holds a different meaning for each of the characters is the fire escape. As the play evolves the fire escape brings out Laura’s, Tom’s, and Amanda’s true desires.

Amanda Wingfield was a complex character that encompassed many facets of her personality. She longed to have the life she had as a girl and young woman with gentleman callers and being the center of attention; her reality though, was a much more dismal existence with a son who worked at a factory making little money at a job he despised and a daughter that was as emotionally and physically

  In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the characters exhibit a state of delusion that originates from their dissatisfaction with their lives. Tom seeks adventure in the movies. Amanda reminisces often about her days as a Southern Belle. Laura sits in a dream world with her glass collection, and Jim basks in the praises of his high school glory. In their respective ways, they demonstrate their restlessness. The quotation from Thoreau, "The mass of men lead lives of the quiet desperation," applies to the characters in that they are all unhappy, but take no action to improve their situation in any significant way.