The Glass Menagerie: The Fleeing Father

The Glass Menagerie, a play written by Tennessee Williams, introduces four characters who actually speak during the play, however there is also a fifth character who is not physically present in the play. This character is the father of the Wingfield family. He is simply portrayed by a smiling picture in the Wingfield house. However, the father plays a much greater role in the play than a simple picture on the wall. A man who escaped the delusional Amanda, Tom, his son, almost seems to look up to his absent father for his ability to get away. Tom feels as though Amanda’s illusions and dreams from the past have the entire Wingfield family stuck in a rut that they cannot escape. Tom even describes a magic show he saw one evening where a man escaped from a coffin. It is afterwards that Tom states, “You know it don’t take much intelligence to get yourself into a nailed-up coffin, Laura. But who in hell ever got himself out of one without removing one nail?” (Williams, 1249). After Tom questions this, the stage directions of the play call for a spotlight on the picture of Tom’s father. This shows how Tom believes his father was able to escape the coffin of Amanda that he had nailed himself into. It is also through this scene that the reader discovers that Tom might just admire his father’s ability to escape. Tom feels as though he is trapped by the nails of his crazy mother, introverted sister, and horrible job, and all he wishes to do is escape from it all, yet he cannot figure out how to. When Tom finally does escape, he is still not as successful as his father as Tom does remove a few nails, as thoughts of Laura still haunted him.