ings bitter. Tom responds to his miserable situation with fantasy, just as his mother and sister do. Stepping away from reality and fantasizing about being a poet or an artist is the only way Tom can try to combat the despondency and anxiety that comes from his life. However, his job and his mother's constant harassments keep Tom from being able to lose himself completely in fantasy, as Laura does. His inability to escape reality is almost as great a source of resentment for Tom as reality itself. Tom constantly tries to escape through liquor and the movies, but it's no use: every time he gets home, Amanda is at the door, waiting to jerk him back to his harsh life. Tom is also a very repressed character, and not just in that his creativity and poetic nature receive very little outlet. Tom understandably hates his situation; he feels as though his warehouse job is emasculating and he connects more with his long-gone father than his mother and sister (Davis 382). Tom's repressed illusions and desires are eventually his downfall. Wh
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