The Glass Menagerie

It has been said by multiple people in the class (both through posts and in-class discussions) that Tom has lived a trapped and enclosed existence in which he longs to be personally free to achieve whatever goals that he sets. I, however, through careful analysis of the last scene in the play (Tom after he has finally left his family behind), argue differently than those who make the above point.

I believe that Tom has lived a life not of entrapment, but rather one in which he has been running from reality for quite some time. Tom is afraid to enter into the world where on the surface he says that he longs for. He hides this fear by blaming both Laura and Amamda for him still remaining home and in a job that he despises. It is Tom, though, that is holding himself back. He is holding himself from truly understanding that problems afflicting both his mother and sister. He is holding himself back from escaping a fantasy world in which he is the victim. He is holding himself back from confronting reality head-on. And finally, and most importantly (after reading the end of the play), he is holding himself back from expressing the feelings such as these that lie deep within his character. He truly cares for Laura (and Amanda to some extent). It is only after he leaves for good that he lets his mind capture the truth - with this truth being that he has run from the one thing that he truly has longed for the entire time.