Escaping Reality
...cape from the lifestyle, the apartment and the relationships in which each of the characters are trapped. The fire escape allows Tom the opportunity to get out of the apartment and away from his controlling mother. Tom is unsatisfied with his work at the warehouse and feels his life lacks adventure. He finds his only escape is through writing poetry and watching movies. Tom finds adventure in poetry because he his able to create and control his own world, much like he would like to control the reality of his life. In her visions of herself as a young woman, Amanda wishes Laura would have gentlemen callers, just as she did. Amanda is oblivious to the fact that her daughter is a cripple and therefore is not appealing to many gentlemen. Her insistent request that Tom bring a co-worker of his to dinner, to meet Laura, is what involves Jim in the plot. Jim, unlike the Wingfeild family, seems to live in sync with reality. His dreams are actually goals which he sets out to accomplish. This is seen in the fact that he attends classes at night. Laura’s problem, according to Jim, is her “inferiority complex”. Laura feels a sense of control only with her glass menagerie. When Jim breaks a glass unicorn she had, it is symbolic of the fact that he is breaking the illusion that she has always lived in. Jim showed Laura that he did not see her as a cripple. He felt she should not see herself that way because she was beautiful. By giving her self confidence, Jim was also giving Laura an escape from the life she was living. By telling the family that he was engaged, Jim was also demonstrating his loyalty to...