Escape In The Glass Menagerie Essay, Research Paper In The Glass Menagerie, the use of props are of import parts of the drama. The fire flight, Victrola record player, Laura ’ s unicorn, and Tom ’ s film traveling, affects the characters ’ lives everyday in one manner or another.
In the drama, the character, Tom was disturbed by duty for his female parent and sister. He used the fire escape a batch in the drama. He went outside to stand on it when he smoked, to get away the nagging from his female parent, or to do his concluding going from his household. Tom didn ’ t like being responsible for his female parent and sister, working at a occupation he hated. He wanted to get away down those stepss and ne’er come back. In scene five, Tom speaks to the audience about what he sees from the fire flight, Paradise Dance Hall.
The dance hall, to him was what he wanted. Everyone there was populating exciting lives: ” . . .
hot swing music and spirits, dance halls, bars and films, and sex that hung in the somberness K ” Tom wanted to populate a more exciting life. In the concluding scene Tom says “ I descended the stairss of this fire flight for a last clip and followed, from so on, in my male parent ’ s footfalls, trying to happen in gesture what was lost in space. ” Tom wanted to be free, and to him, the fire flight was the issue into freedom. Movies were besides an of import portion of Tom ’ s life. He went to the films when he and his female parent argued or when he felt he needed some exhilaration.
In scene four, Amanda asks, “ Why do you travel to the films so much, Tom? ” and Tom answers “ I go to the films because – I like escapade. Adventure is something I don ’ Ts have much of a work, so I go to the movies. ” Tom doesn ’ Ts have escapade at work or at place. The films to him, represented what he wanted, escapade. The Victrola record player was Laura ’ s agencies of flight and comfort. Laura is really diffident, really delicate, and has a really large “ lower status complex ” .
She uses the Victrola so much to soothe her, that it has become an replete. In scene three, Laura ’ s fuss finds out that she has dropped out of Business College. When Amanda is talking her, “ Laura draws a long breath and gets awkwardly to her pess. She crosses to the Victrola, and air currents it up.” Amanda says, “What are you doing?” Laura says “Oh!” and returns to her seat for the rest of the lecture. Laura automatically got up and wound the Victrola when she felt she needed to escape from the situation with Amanda. She didn’t even realize what she was doing.
In scene six, when Amanda’s forcing Laura to open the door for the “gentleman caller”, Laura goes over to the Victrola and winds it up. She doesn’t want to answer the door and instead, winds the Victrola, because she’s afraid. The Victrola is part of her “comfort zone”. Laura uses the Victrola throughout the play, when she wants to avoid confrontation or when she’s hurt. In scene five, she winds up the Victrola when Jim, tells her that he’s engaged to Betty.
Laura feels crushed and winds the Victrola. For Laura, the Victrola is her means of escape. Laura lives in her own little world inside the apartment. Her glass collection is the most important thing to her. The collection “takes up a good deal of my time. Glass is something you have to take good care of,” she says in scene seven.
One glass animal, in particular, is the unicorn. Laura relates to the unicorn because it’s different from all the other pieces, just as she feels she is different from all other people. In scene seven, Jim doesn’t want to hold the unicorn and Laura says “Go on, I trust you with him. There now- you’re holding him gently!” Laura trusts Jim with her unicorn just as she trusts that he won’t hurt her.
When the horn is broken off the unicorns head Laura isn’t as upset as you would expect her to be. She is relieved “Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise KI’ll just imagine he had an operation. The horn was removed to make him feel less freakish!” Without the horn he looks like everyone else. Without the limp Laura looks like everyone else. She wants to be normal, but she has let her handicap drive her away from the rest of society. The props used in this play are a means of escape.
For Tom, it’s the movies and the fire escape, for Laura, it’s the Victrola and her glass animals. Tennessee Williams used these props to portray how the characters wanted to escape from the real world and used escapism as a theme in this play.
