In The Glass Menagerie all of the characters feel imprisoned in some sort of way, thus all of them have found means to escape. All of them withdraw into their detached worlds to escape the viciousness of life. Tom, Amanda, Laura and even Jim use a variety of escape mechanisms to evade reality. The only character in the play that has actually been able to escape is the father. "We nailed him into a coffin and he got out of the coffin without removing one nail. There is a trick that would come in handy for me - get out of this 2 by 4 situation." This statement made by Tom captures the entire essence of the play. It holds a huge amount of relevance to the way each and every character feels.

Tom is the character that is presented as the most repressed. He loathes the way his life...