Dreams of Escape in the Glass Menagerie"Anyone can handle a crisis, but daily life is the most difficult aspect of life" (Jackson 19). This is especially true in the drama The Glass Menagerie. None of the characters in this story are willing or able to live in the present. Daily life becomes so senseless and oppressive that each character's dreams and fantasies become more important than reality itself. Through their dreams, Amanda, Tom, Laura and Jim attempt to transcend reality to escape the monotony of life. Having lost her husband and been left alone to raise her two children Tom and Laura, Amanda finds herself in a very undesirable situation. . This situation is only exacerbated by Amanda's disappointment in her children, whom she considers lost. She believes her son is unrealistic, as he constantly dreams of becoming a respected poet rather than engaging in stable work. As a result, Amanda is very confused and uncertain about her and her children's future. Worse, the fact that Laura is paralyzed, which she refuses to admit, worries her even more, as she tries to organize everything for her so as not to live paralyzed in a threatening world. Aware of the reality, he enrolls her in a secretarial course in the hope that she will become, if not successful in her career, at least independent in making ends meet. Disappointed by Laura's inability to cope with her studies at business school, Amanda can't help but desperately find her a reliable husband who can provide her material and emotional... middle of paper... gni. "The Southern Gentlewoman." Modern critical interpretations Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie. and. Harold Bloom. NY: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988. Jackson, Esther Merle. The Broken World of Tennessee Williams. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1965. Levy, Eric P. “'Through the Soundproof Glass': The Prison of Self-Awareness in the Glass Menagerie.” Modern Drama, December 36, 1993. 529-537.Parker, R.B., ed. 20th century interpretations of the glass menagerie. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1983.Thompson, Works of Judith J. Tennessee Williams: Memory, Myth, and Symbol. New York: Peter Lang, 1989. Williams, Tennessee. The glass menagerie. Drama masterpieces. Ed. Alexander W. Allison, Arthus J. Carr, Arthur M. Eastman. 5th ed. New York: Macmillan, 1986.