The Glass Menagerie, a play by T.W., is about a dysfunctional family struggling to cope with reality and each other. The characters retreat into separate illusionary worlds to escape the painful reality of their lives. When Laura frequently fails to cope with reality, she retreats to the euphoria she finds in her glass animal world. Amanda believes she has the same prospects she had in her youthful days- entertaining this illusion to escape the despair and disappointment of her reality. Tom retreats to the movies as an escape from his frustration at the family's apartment, soothing himself in the illusion of an adventure that he can never truly experience.

Laura detaches herself from the modern world by creating her own illusion of security through her glass animal world. Fearful of being degraded as an inferior because of her inherent inability to walk, Laura is shy and she...