At first, Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams’s seems like a selfish women stuck in her past. In some ways this is correct, but, she is much more than that. Her kind and caring nature, and love for her children have been overpowered by her negative dialogue. Her character is extremely complex and each one of her actions shows more of her overwhelming personality. Amanda truly loves her children and tries her best to make sure they do not follow in her disappointing path to downfall.
Unfortunately, while she is trying to push her children toward her ideal perception of success she is also pushing them away. Amanda may seem like a woman who does not know how the real world works but she is a woman with a plan. Because she loves her children, she wants them to be successful. She is aware that her family is in a dire situation, though she may not like to talk about it. Amanda knows exactly what she wants her children to do with their lives even though they don’t agree with her. She wants Tom to move up in the business world, make more money, and grow to his full potential.
Also, she doesn’t want Laura to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Amanda forces Laura to go to typing school to get a career so she can make money. When this doesn’t work out, Amanda sees no other option than to find Laura a reliable and breadwinner husband. Amanda does not want her children to become dependent on relatives or to be a charity case. Her intentions, of course, are misunderstood because of her domineering personality and harsh speech.
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Amanda’s relationship with Laura can be perceived as unhealthy. Firstly, Amanda wants Laura to be happy and successful, but does not understand that Laura is too shy and unmotivated to be either. Because Amanda doesn’t understand her daughter this leads to frustration and anxiety felt by both parties. When Amanda discovers that Laura has stopped going to typing class she is very disappointed in her daughter. Amanda yells at her daughter saying, “Fifty dollars’ tuition, all our plans, my hopes and ambitions for you just gone up the spout, just gone up the spout like that.”
Laura quit something as simple as learning how to type; this realization struck Amanda because if she cannot do that there is no way Laura could provide for herself without a husband. Laura’s worst nightmare is for her children to become dependent on relatives and not being able to take care of themselves. After Laura drops out of typing school Amanda says, “What is there left but dependency all our lives? I know so well what becomes of unmarried women who aren’t prepared to occupy a position. ——I’ve seen such pitiful cases in the South barely tolerated spinsters living upon the grudging patronage of sister’s husband or brother’s wife!— Stuck away in some little mousetrap of a room encouraged by one in-law to visit another little birdlike women without any nest eating the crust of humility all their life!”
Amanda had always wanted for Laura to find a nice husband, but then the situation became tremendously more difficult when all the other young women are becoming employed and taken by gentleman callers while Laura remains single. Amanda refuses to accept Laura’s faults and pushes her to be more than she can be. However, everything Amanda does is for the good of her children. She wants her daughter to experience the joys and excitement of entertaining gentleman callers. Not only is this a chance for Laura to live a happy, worry free life, but this is also Amanda’s second chance at love.
Amanda wants to live vicariously through Laura, and make sure she does not make the same mistakes her mother did. This really shows when Amanda gets dolled up in a top notch dress that revives her lost youth. Amanda wants to re-experience the excitement of finding love and having the attentions of a man. Because Amanda is so focused on her past failures she is unable to differentiate her daughters problems from he own. Laura may feel unloved because of the pressure she is put under to find the perfect gentleman caller and live up to her mother’s expectations and standards. Amanda and her son, Tom, have a more strained and troublesome relationship. Amanda wants Tom to strive for his full potential and be all that he can be.
Their relationship is strained because Tom reminds Amanda of her husband. He just does not quite fit in with the rest of his family. He aspires to travel and see the world. He does not want to just get by, he wants to live and experience life. Amanda sees this in him and acknowledges that he has the same flighty attitude as his father. Amanda snaps at her son and exclaims, “Oh, I can see the handwriting on the wall as plain as I see the nose in front of my face! It’s terrifying! More and more you remind me of your father! He was out all hours without explanation—Then left! Goodbye! And me with the bag to hold.” He is the only breadwinner in the family which puts a lot of unfair pressure on him.
Amanda takes it upon herself to make Tom into the man that she wished her husband was. Of course, he takes it upon himself to be anything but. He spends every night at the movies. Tom uses the movies as a form of escape from his home life and satisfy his urge to leave and explore. He says, “People go to the movies instead of moving.” He knows his life will never measure up to his mother’s expectations. The world has changed and he feels his mother needs to wake up. While Laura humors her mother’s past, Tom mocks her and does not believe the things she says about her past.
Despite Tom’s blatant resistance to everything Amanda says, she still loves him. She wants him to move up in the business world and aspire to be more than a warehouse worker. Amanda is also very wary of him starting to drink. She accuses him of drinking a lot. Amanda treats Tom like an adult and a child. He is the family’s only source of income, therefore, she treats him like an adult because he is in charge of paying the bills and caring for the family financially. She puts so much responsibility on him that it seems quite overwhelming. He was forcibly given the task of finding a man for Laura, then when he accidentally pairs her up with an engaged man he is blamed rather harshly.
However, she micro-manages him. Amanda tells the way to chew, when to wake up, manage his career, and live his life. She smothers him, but with good intentions. Unfortunately, she clings on to him so tight that she ultimately ends up pushing him away and being the reason that he leaves. As he walks out the door she screeches at him, “Go, then! Go to the moon-you selfish dreamer!” It is clear that Amanda needs Tom but it is unfair for her to put her son in the position of the breadwinner and “father” of the household.
Blocking him from living his life normally, and putting him under the pressure of supporting the family – especially on a low salary – makes the reader think that Amanda is not showing love to her son. In the end people see that Amanda does ignorant and insensitive things for all the right reasons. She has an unconditional love for both her children despite what her actions and dialogue seems to imply. The reader cannot help but feel sympathy for Amanda when faced with how far she has fallen. A lesser person would have broken given the circumstances. The writer uses one specific stage instruction to perfectly describe Amanda Wingfield.
It states, “Amanda appears to be making a comforting speech to Laura who is huddled upon the sofa.— Now that we cannot hear the mother’s speech, her silliness is gone and she has dignity and tragic beauty. Amanda’s gestures are slow and graceful, almost dance-like, as she comforts her daughter.” These few sentences give the readers a glimpse of what Amanda is truly like without her words as a distraction. Amanda Wingfield is a beautiful women with a big heart who cares deeply for her children.
