Quote 1
But
the wonderfullest trick of all was the coffin trick. We nailed him
into a coffin and he got out of the coffin without removing one
nail. . . . There is a trick that would come in handy for me—get
me out of this two-by-four situation! . . . You know it don’t take
much intelligence to get yourself into a nailed-up coffin, Laura.
But who in hell ever got himself out of one without removing one
nail?
At the beginning of Scene Four, Tom,
returning home from the movies, tells Laura about a magic show
in which the magician performs the coffin trick. Tom, who dreams
of adventure and literary greatness but is tied down to a mindless
job and a demanding family, sees the coffin as a symbol of his own
life situation. He has been contemplating an escape from his private
coffin since the beginning of the play, and at the end, he finally
goes through with it, walking out on his family after he is fired
from his job. But Tom’s escape is not nearly as impressive as the
magician’s. Indeed, it consists of no fancier a trick than walking
down the stairs of the fire escape. Nor is Tom’s escape as seamless
as the magician’s. The magician gets out of the coffin without disturbing
one nail, but Tom’s departure is certain to have a major impact
on the lives of Amanda and Laura. At the beginning of Scene One,
Tom admits that he is “the opposite of a stage magician.” The illusion
of escape that the magician promotes is, in the end, out of Tom’s
reach.
