The Glass Menagerie - Escape Theme
The Glass Menagerie - Escape Theme"The Glass Menagerie" is set in the apartment of the Wingfield family. By description, it is a cramped, dinghy place, not unlike a
jail cell. It is one of many such apartments in the neighborhood. Of
the Wingfield family members, none of them want to live there. Poverty
is what traps them in their humble abode. The escape from this
lifestyle, this apartment 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 of the characters. Overall, it is a symbol of the passage
from freedom to being trapped in a life of desperation. The fire
escape allows Tom the opportunity to get out of the apartment and away
from his nagging mother. Amanda sees the fire escape as an opportunity
for gentleman callers to enter their lives. Laura's view is different
from her mother and her brother. 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 with the Wingfields is as far from paradise as it could
possibly be. Laura appears to find solace in playing the same records
over and over again, day after day. Perhaps the music floating up to
the apartment from the dance hall is supposed to be her escape which
she just can't take. The music from the dance hall often provides the
background music for certain scenes, The Glass Menagerie playing quite
frequently. With war ever-present in the background, the dance hall is
the last chance for paradise.
Mr. Wingfield, the absent father of Tom and Laura and husband to
the shrewish Amanda, is referred to often throughout the story. He is
the ultimate symbol of escape. This is because he has managed to
remove himself from the desperate situation that the rest of his
family are still living in. His picture is featured prominently on the
wall as a constant reminder of better times and days gone by. Amanda
always makes disparaging remarks about her missing husband, yet lets
his...
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