Jim the long awaited "gentleman caller" brings the reality of the outside world into Laura's life [page # 448]. Jim is very different from Amanda and Tom: In one brief evening he introduces hope, warmth, companionship, sympathy, and finally disillusionment into Laura's life, which her own mother and brother cannot achieve in years. In Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie some of the characters (Amanda and Laura Wingfield) seem to be living in their own imaginary world and refuses to step into reality. In a different character (Tom Wingfield) the theme of escapism plays a major role. "The most realistic character", Jim O'Connor appears in the final scenes and changes Laura's life for good [page # 450].
             Laura Wingfield, like a "blue rose", is unique, special, and also cut off from the real world [page # 456]. Crippled from childhood Laura walks with the aid of a leg brace. Her shyness is paralyzing. Laura has her own imaginary world and resists every attempt to enter the real one. The main focus of Laura's life is her glass collection, which Amanda calls "the glass menagerie" [page # 486]. The glass menagerie symbolizes Laura's private world by its fragility and delicate beauty. She does not want to do anything drastic with her life. In fact, it seems that all she wants is to keep inside her own world, without having to deal with the decisions and demands of the real world. This can be seen through her attempt to attend Business College, in which she fails quite dramatically when her skills are to be tested. She quits, without telling her mother. From this we can see that Laura is extremely afraid of confrontations and situations where somebody is expecting something from her.
             In my opinion, Amanda tries to live her own life through her daughter Laura. By finding no other path for a bright future for Laura, Amanda's focus shifts to fin...