Tom: "I am the narrator of the play, and also a character in it. The other characters are my mother, Amanda, and my sister, Laura, and a gentleman caller who appears in the final scenes. He is the most realistic character in the play, being an emissary from a world of reality that we were somehow set apart from. But since I have a poet's weakness for symbols, I am using this character also as a symbol; he is the long delayed but always expected something that we live for" (1237).
Everything about this play, from the character roles to the setting and scenery, has been carefully crafted in order to successfully convey the writer's view on memories and illusions. Tom had to be the narrator of the play because he is the strongest of the three characters. Both Amanda and Laura make no effort to escape their situation; they only obsess over certain aspects of their lives. Laura finds comfort in her glass animals, and Amanda focuses on her children, especially on finding Laura a husband. Laura is crippled physically and socially, unable to interact with other people. Tom is the only one longing to truly escape, and he dreams of adventure and traveling. He wants to leave in order to find the adventure missing from his life, and finally he does after his mom yells at him about living in an illusion. Laura, Tom, and Amanda all avoid the truth, but Jim is direct when he tells Laura about his feelings and Betty. This is why he is the most realistic character, and he causes Tom to leave and Laura to have some sort of a breakthrough, holding a conversation and letting go of her prized glass unicorn.
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