Explaining the Theme of Escape in The Glass Menagerie
In life, humans are confronted with the course of either retaining in a kind of life that one is supposed to live with or trying to find a way to live a life that a person actually wants to be identified with. Considerably, the same thing is true with the main character Tom in the story The Glass Menagerie. Tom, being a young man as he was, could be expected to be living the best years of his life. However, unlike what is expected of him and his age, he is caught in the desire of embracing a life he actually wants and a life that he is expected to live with. Afraid of what his decisions may bring about to his mother and other individuals involved in his life, he chooses to remain in whatever condition of living his is currently subjected to. He sets aside what he wants; in a way, this condition of living keeps him in a coffin; grounded to not recognize his best capacities, not understanding and realizing what he could actually do and what he could actually accomplish as a young individual (Saddik, 1999).
Tom’s desire to escape from his current situation was mirrored in scene four when he tried to regale Laura with a magic show where a magician escapes from a nailed coffin. In this scene, it is assumed that Tom feels how much confined he is within his coffin-like life; as if he is not able to get away from the chains that bound him to such a life. He was caught within internal coils of being kept out from his capabilities due to the emotional sanctions he views as essentially important (Leverich, 2001). In the story, while Tom finally finds a way to stay out from the chains of his home and family, he finds a new life as a fugitive, haunted by the idea of hurting his family; in a way, he may be physically free but never will he escape from the daunting guilt that kills him inside. This story then implies that in life, there is no true escape unless one learns how to live what life has to offer.
References:
Saddik, Annette J.(1999). Glass Menagerie The Politics of Reputation: The Critical Reception of Tennessee Williams (books.google.com), Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1999.
Leverich, Lyle . (2001)."Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams", W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
