Everyone has their own world in which they indulge themselves in whether it is real or just a fantasy. In The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, everyone in the play experiences their own little world, and the shock it is to be thrown from it. Tom supports his family despite his unhappiness of his world. He tries to please Amanda by being the sole supporter, but only gets rewarded by Amanda's constant nagging and suspicion. Eventually Tom finds himself more like his father as he seeks adventure in the movies and hangs out on the fire escape he avoids suffocation, and desperately seeks the life he always desired; the life of adventure. By hanging out on the fire escape, Tom finds a temporary safe haven from Amanda. With Amanda nagging Tom about every minute action, like mastication, Tom needed to find somewhere to escape. Perhaps, even more, the fire escape shows various things about Tom's personality. Since Amanda and Laura have their illusionary worlds inside, Tom can easily escape these worlds by going out on the firescape. He does not desire to be part of an imaginary world, which only proves to be the downfall of Amanda and Laura. He realizes that the world is not what Amanda has made it seem inside the house. Also, during his reflections on the firescape he is not really separating himself from the imaginary world because that metal frame is still anchored to the apartment wall. This shows that no matter how hard Tom tries to escape he will always be 'bounded' to the apartment. His emotional attachments to Laura would permantly keep him there no matter what adventure he had chose to seek out. With such a dull and stressful life, Tom was always looking for adventure like his father. Although it is only referred to a couple of times, the portrait of Tom's father is one of the mose important symbols representing Tom. In the play, the portriat is a consant reminder to Amanda of the past she once knew and cherished.
