Draft:Escapizm in The Glass Menagerie (1944) by Tennessee Williams

Overview of the Theme of Escapism
Escapism in The Glass Menagerie features characters going into self-willed worlds of fantasy as a way of self-defense against their disillusionments and unfulfilled expectations. Each major character uses a different means of escape; this adds to the tension in the play and elicits a tone of tragedy. Each character adopts a different mode of escapism; this adds to the tension in play and elicits a tone of tragedy.

Tom Wingfield
Tom is the narrator of the play and a major character. He is the character through whom escapism in the play surfaces. Tom uses escape as a way of coming to terms with his frustration with life and responsibilities. He is stuck in a monotonous job at a shoe warehouse and is choked by life with his nagging mother, Amanda, and delicate sister, Laura. Literature, movies, and dreams of adventure are Tom's chief means of escapism.

"I go to the movies because—I like adventure. Adventure is something I don't have much of at work, so I go to the movies." (Scene 4)

This quote exemplifies Tom's wish for a far more exciting life and is contrasted with the plot of his life. His nocturnal visits to the movies symbolize his desire to be a free man in spite of life's constraints, if just briefly.

Amanda Wingfield
Amanda is Tom and Laura's mother. Amanda is named such in the play. Amanda escapes into her past by re-enjoying her girlhood days, when she was a Southern belle who had lots of gentleman callers.

"One Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain, your mother received seventeen!—gentlemen callers! Why, sometimes there weren't chairs enough to accommodated them all." (Scene 1)

Amanda convinces herself of the continued influence of her past glories, which serves merely as a source of denial for the existing reality. She can escape her current problems by constantly repeating the stories she reminisces about.

Laura Wingfield
Laura is the emotionally weak and fragile sister who finds refuge in the collection of her glass animals, the glass menagerie. Physically and psychologically impaired, the outside world is quite dangerous for her so that she prefers the world of her fantasies as being safer and more predictable.

"Glass breaks so easily. No matter how careful you are." (Scene 7)

The glass creatures symbolize two things: first, they symbolize the vulnerability of their owner, and, secondly, of her need for escape from reality. The glass menagerie gives her a retreat from the cruel outside world, which favors a survival in her world that she has made for herself.

The Place of Escapism
The reality of The Glass Menagerie is both the snare and the escape for Tom's family. It allows them to escape from troubles for a while, but, on the other hand, due to its disconnection from the real world, it stops them from solving the real problems and catches them in a stronger net. The way the characters in the play resort to escapism leads to the perpetuation of their ways and eventually contributes to the immutability of their functions, confirming the tragic essence of the play.

Conclusion
The role of escapism in The Glass Menagerie is essential to the understanding of the motivations of the characters and the depth of the themes in the play. Each kind of escapism chosen by the characters serves to reflect different inner conflicts of each of them and pressure from society. They evade their realities by sliding into their respective fantasies; a tale that tells much about human life and the wish for a better life.