For Laura, the typewriter symbolizes the confines of the business world that she escapes by walking in the park or immersing herself in her glass menagerie. For Amanda, the typewriter comes to signify both Laura’s failure to finish her business course as well as Tom’s failure to commit himself more fully to his warehouse job. For Tom, however, the typewriter serves as a means of escape from the confines of his world, as he uses it to compose his manuscripts.