In Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie; Williams used symbols to represent the reoccurring theme of the failure to accept reality. The use of the fire escape, Tom’s constant visits to the movies, Jim O’Connor(“the common man”),and Laura’s collection of glass animals were the main symbols Williams used to achieve the escape of the characters into their own realms. Often people try to find small objects to distract them from the reality of the world.Presented in the first scene, the fire escape correspond to the “bridge” between the illusory worlds of the Wingfields and the world of reality. While the fire escape was a symbol of a passage to the Wingfields family’s non existent worlds, it also had an individualized meaning to each of the characters as well. For Tom, the fire escape was the way out of the world of Amanda and Laura and an entrance into a world of just Tom, with no responsibilities like, when Tom would stand outside on the fire escape to smoke. Tom did this to show that he did not like to be inside, he would had much rather ventured out into the world. As Tom searched for the route outward, Laura wished to keep inside. Laura thought of the fire escape as a way into her own private place where she was safe from reality, this could be recognized when Amanda sent Laura to the store and ends up tripping on the fire escape. Laura noticed that she was safe within her own boundaries but once she stepped outside the boundaries she got hurt. Laura used the fire escape as a haven to view out into the real world but keep the harshness of the world away from her.Tom’s habit of going to the movies showed his longing to leave the apartment and head out into the world away from the confinement of the same old walls he had always known. He wanted to find the places where one could find adventure and romance, and Tom being a poet, could understand the longi...
