In Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie, each character attempt to escape the real world by creating his or her own "reality." The play involves three main characters each of whom feels trapped and imagines different ways of escape.

One of the main characters, Tom Wingfield, is trapped in the apartment where he lives with his nagging mother. Williams describes the apartment as "One of those vast hive-like conglomerations of cellular living units that flower as warty growths....and are symptomatic of the impulse of the largest and fundamently enslaved section of American society" (s.d.1). Tom wants nothing more to escape from his real life and seek adventure. Tom is also stuck in his dead-end job at a shoe warehouse. For sixty-five dollars a month he goes to work and give up all that he dreams of doing, such as traveling and pursuing a...