The Glass Menagerie scenes 3 and 4 - soliloquy

The middle portion of part 1 of The Glass Menagerie contains a soliloquy in which Tom speaks from the fire-escape landing. Tom's speaking from the fire escape creates this feel that Tom is, in a sense, detached from the what is occurring in the play. This soliloquy verifies that the play is of Tom's memory. However, the character of Tom as the narrator is different from the character of Tom in the play. The narrator Tom seems  more calm and slightly removed from what is occurring. For example, Tom says during the soliloquy: "Mother was a woman of action as well as words. She began to take logical steps in the planned direction." In contrast, the character Tom cannot stand his mother, and anytime Amanda scathingly criticizes him Tom heads for the fire escape which acts as his escape in more than one sense throughout the story. At some times, the fire escape is where Tom goes for a smoke in order to relieve himself of Amanda's worrying. It seems that most nights the fire escape also acts as his escape to the outside world where he can go to the movies. Strangely, he escapes from this illusionary world of the apartment to the fantasy of movies which are a part of the external realistic world of the story (just a weird thought I had).