For Tennessee Williams’ characters, escape is clearly defined by the aura of the “memory play.” This is so because everyone of them transposes their difficult situations into shadows of the truth. Laura, our fragile daughter-figure, finds herself escaping life at every turn. She induces sickness in her typing class and even as the Gentleman Caller awaits her in the livingroom. Unable to deal with those difficulties, Laura goes to the zoo and walks aimlessly around the city to bide (waste) time. Frightened of interacting with people, she looks to her collection of glass animals as a place of secure acceptance. Laura clings to the fear that she is strange and crippled though she herself exacerbates the reality of that. Magnifying her illness, denying her inner beauty to come forth, is the way Laura hides from a world lit by ‘lightning.”

Tom, on the other hand, relies on self-denial to justify his concerns and feelings of insecurity. By making himself believe that he is a righteous male, he convinces himself that his needs supersede his family’s. Claiming to be an artist of emotions, he projects to the audience a facade of control and masculinity. His biggest dreams flash before his eyes on a screen in a darkened room; yet, in that little apartment he faces only the dimness. Even during his reflections on the “fire escape” he is not really separating himself because that metal frame, however sturdy, is still anchored to the apartment wall.

Amanda, the Wingfield matriarch, utilizes an almost hysterical mechanism of denial. She surrounds her reality with the images of days she saw herself as the southern belle. Whenever she urges her family forward, she inevitably retreats to a time when her chief problem was to choose a beau over all the other beaus. When Jim visits, she emits the image of a perfect southern hostess, honeysuckle manners and down-home coziness. It does gives her an air of lost youthfulness. Under her vivacity and over her flurry of complaints lies a woman unwilling to age and unwilling to be left by an “adored” husband.

Finally, our ordinary, nice boy, Jim, uses his glorified old memories saved by Laura to find some relief. Stuck in a warehouse job, he uses his past to spur on future success. Believing he will better himself, he takes classes in speaking, hoping to recapture his good old high school days. Laura’s admiration fuels his need, and he fails to realize what he done to the fragile girl.