The first symbol of escape, presented in the first scene, is the fire escape in itself. The fire escape represents the passage between the world of illusory and the world of reality. However, each character is going through the passage in a different direction. For Tom, the fire escape allows him an opportunity to get out of the apartment and away from his irritating mother. It is an escape out of Amanda and Laura's illusive world, and into reality. Amanda sees the fire escape as an opportunity to have gentlemen callers come in. Unlike Tom or Amanda, Laura sees the fire escape as a way to get into her world and a way to escape from reality. Overall, it is a symbol of the passage from freedom to being trapped in a life of desperation.
             Tom's longing to leave the apartment and jump into the life of reality is again seen in his habit of frequently going to the movies. The reason he goes to the movies is because he seeks adventure. As a poet, he understood the longing for romance and exploration; movies were his adventurous fulfillment. Amanda thought that Tom went to the movies too much, but the more she nagged him, the more he needed his movie escapes. The movies took Tom to another world for a while, where mothers and sisters,
             Another symbol lies directly across the street from the Wingfield apartment, the dance hall. The Paradise Dance Hall represents something completely opposite of the Wingfield family. Life for the Wingfields is as far from paradise as it could possibly be, hence the total anomaly in the name. Laura appears to find comfort in playing the same records repetitively. The music floating up to the apartment from the dance hall could represent her escape.
             As Tom does by going to the movies, as Laura does through her music, and as Amanda does through her memories, escaping was a very real aspect in the lives of the Wingfield family.
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