... and these relationships is a significant theme throughout the play. These "escapes" may be related to the fire escape, the dance hall, the absent Mr. Wingfield and Tom's inevitable departure. The play opens with Tom addressing the audience from the fire escape. This entrance into the apartment provides a different purpose for each ... . Her escape seems to be hiding inside the apartment, not out. The fire escape separates reality and the unknown. Across the street from the Wingfield apartment is the Paradise Dance Hall. Just the name of the place is a total anomaly in the story. Life wit...

• Word Count: 840
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... broken unicorn) Keep it as a souvenir. Jim: ( walking towards Laura, grabs her hand, kisses the top ) Farewell Laura, thank you for the night, and the dance, and my souvenir I'll treasure it in a safe place don't you worry.. ( Jim leaves the Wingfield apartment. Amanda calls to Tom, who enters the living room not ... knowing what had just occurred between Amanda, Laura, and the gentlemen caller. ) Amanda: Tom, dear would you come here please, I have a funny joke ... mother I will not go to the movies, I shall go to the moon, or somewhere even farther. Good-bye mother, live life Laura. (...

• Word Count: 950
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... symbols that can be found in the Glass Menagerie are escape, which provides hope and diversion from the outside world and the glass menagerie, which is a metaphor for Laura's fragility and uniqueness. The first symbol, presented in the first scene, is the fire escape. "The apartment faces an alley and is entered by a fire escape ... of the Wingfields and the world of reality. For Tom, the fire escape is the way out of the world of Amanda and Laura, and his view into the world of reality. Amanda sees the fire escape as an opportunity for gentleman callers to enter ... hide from reality b...

• Word Count: 702
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... and financially. The absence of a father figure has forced Tom into the position of being sole breadwinner. She also believes that Tom will turn on her and Laura because he is tired of the life his mother is living and wants to escape from it. She points this out, "More and more you remind me ... of But not till there's somebody to take your place" (439). She does not mind him leaving, but she wants him to make sure that she and Laura will be financially taken care of. Tom, also referred to as Shakespeare, is the main character in the play. He spends much of his time at home ... old enou...

• Word Count: 875
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School