Escapism In The Glass Menagerie Research Paper
Escapism is the Wingfield's best choice to stay sane in their purpose-ridden lives
Escapism, or withdrawing from the pressures of the real world into a safer fantasy world. It comes in many forms, some rather subtle, and prevents us from doing what we need to do to improve the circumstances of our real lives. The concept of escapism is a strong theme in Tennessee Williams’s play The Glass Menagerie. Amanda, Laura, and Tom Wingfield all seek to escape the dull and depressing reality of their situation. They engage in escapism by retreating into their own fantasies which push them farther apart. If you have an aspect of your life that you want to escape from, your fantasies act as a means of dissociating your mind from the “you" that possesses …show more content…
Her ‘glass menagerie’, as Amanda calls it, is Laura’s main means of escapism in the play: it is a world into which she becomes absorbed, and focuses all her energies on. The glass menagerie is Laura’s escape from the harshness of reality. Laura’s glass menagerie is a collection of tiny glass animal figurines. She feels a far stronger connection with these creatures than any human, even ascribing the glass figures personalities. She, in many ways, feels herself one of her own glass collection, and Tom notes her increasing regression into this world of fantasy: ‘she is like a piece of her own glass collection, too exquisitely fragile’. Her disability and lack of confidence has led to an intense shyness. So she chooses to isolate herself in a world of glass, and dotes over the tiny ornaments to avoid interaction with others. Laura retreats to imaginary, child-like, fantasy and “lives in a world of her own” (47). She spends her time playing the old records her father left and looking at her “glass menagerie.” The glass animal that she particularly identifies with as her favorite is a glass unicorn, a creature that shares her singularity and fragility, saying of her unicorn “he doesn’t complain… and [he and the horses] get along nicely” (83). Rather than face the difficulties of her existence, Laura escapes to a world of imagination and fantasy, a world as beautiful and fragile as her “glass
Escapism, or withdrawing from the pressures of the real world into a safer fantasy world. It comes in many forms, some rather subtle, and prevents us from doing what we need to do to improve the circumstances of our real lives. The concept of escapism is a strong theme in Tennessee Williams’s play The Glass Menagerie. Amanda, Laura, and Tom Wingfield all seek to escape the dull and depressing reality of their situation. They engage in escapism by retreating into their own fantasies which push them farther apart. If you have an aspect of your life that you want to escape from, your fantasies act as a means of dissociating your mind from the “you" that possesses …show more content…
Her ‘glass menagerie’, as Amanda calls it, is Laura’s main means of escapism in the play: it is a world into which she becomes absorbed, and focuses all her energies on. The glass menagerie is Laura’s escape from the harshness of reality. Laura’s glass menagerie is a collection of tiny glass animal figurines. She feels a far stronger connection with these creatures than any human, even ascribing the glass figures personalities. She, in many ways, feels herself one of her own glass collection, and Tom notes her increasing regression into this world of fantasy: ‘she is like a piece of her own glass collection, too exquisitely fragile’. Her disability and lack of confidence has led to an intense shyness. So she chooses to isolate herself in a world of glass, and dotes over the tiny ornaments to avoid interaction with others. Laura retreats to imaginary, child-like, fantasy and “lives in a world of her own” (47). She spends her time playing the old records her father left and looking at her “glass menagerie.” The glass animal that she particularly identifies with as her favorite is a glass unicorn, a creature that shares her singularity and fragility, saying of her unicorn “he doesn’t complain… and [he and the horses] get along nicely” (83). Rather than face the difficulties of her existence, Laura escapes to a world of imagination and fantasy, a world as beautiful and fragile as her “glass