The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams was a confusing, astonishing and wonderful play that takes an in-depth look at the complex relationships that develop between members of a family , then presents them for public dissection. How did the characters in the play interact? What were the relationships of independence and dependence between the characters? Perhaps most importantly, how did they deal with each other? This seemed to be the key question when reviewing The Glass Menagerie. Each character had their own method of dealing with others and reality, mostly by not really caring about them and her. Amanda, the father, Laura, Tom and even Jim, each character in this story had their own way of escaping reality; however, none have been truly successful in this endeavor. This essay will examine each character and their method of escape, but perhaps there was a more important message to be learned from Tennessee Williams hidden in this study of human dysfunction. Perhaps the implication was that no matter how far a person runs, physically, mentally, or emotionally, no one can truly escape reality forever in favor of fantasy. Living apart from her husband at a time when a woman's power came largely from her husband. , Amanda's fixation on her former boyfriends and how they left their widows (Williams 390) showed a certain concern and fear about how her own future would be settled without a husband. Escaping into the past and placing her fears and hopes for the future on her children, Amanda seemed to evaluate her life based on their successes and failures. When Laura dropped out of business school and then lied about it (Williams 391-392), it was “we” not “you.” When Laura hopes for a happy match with ...... middle of paper ...... it is fitting that they were written by Williams himself. Showing many similarities to Williams' family history, his own brother called The Glass Menagerie "an almost literal rendering of our family life" (Teachout 1). Perhaps this piece was a great way for Williams to revisit his past and his regrets during the period. how his sister was treated. Or maybe, like Tom, it was just another means of attempted escape that failed. No matter how the piece was performed, one thing seemed clear. In all but one case, whenever an individual attempted to escape their reality, it came back to them in a fairly solid way. Perhaps, like Tom, Williams discovered that no matter how far he traveled or how successful his escape, there was no way to truly escape reality and that was his big message with the play. Don't be afraid to be different, stop running and face life head on.