Amanda Wingfield

Amanda Wingfield is a character in the play The Glass Menagerie, which is set in St. Louis in 1973. She is from a genteel southern family and has a prominent southern upbringing. She is a mother to two children, Tom and Laura; her husband abandoned the family and left her to raise two children. Amanda loves her children immensely and lives for them, but can often come across as overbearing and constantly nagging to both Tom and Laura. It is as if Amanda fluctuates between illusion and reality; like she closes her eyes to the brutal realistic world. Through her actions, it seems as if she is living in an illusionary world of her youth. Some would say she is evil, but I think she is just deeply flawed. It is as if the fluctuation between these two worlds is her only defense between the loneliness and emptiness of what her life has become.
Amanda is different from most people. Her southern upbringing is extremely apparent. She lives in her own little world and crosses back and forth
She pushes Tom so hard because she does not want him to be like his father and she wants so much for him to be happy. Without realizing that Tom is different from her or what she wants him to be she cannot acknowledge the fact that he will one day leave in search of the adventure that he wishes he had now. I don’t think she is completely able to live in this illusion she has created. The pressures of everyday living force her to face many unpleasant facts. The biggest of these is realizing Laura may not marry. We see her tell Laura, “I know so well what becomes of unmarried women who are not prepared to occupy a position.” Even if she does fail to acknowledge Laura’s defects, she is realistic enough to understand Laura’s difficult position. Furthermore, she has seen the letter that Tom received from the Merchant Marines and knows that he plans to leave someday. After facing these brutal facts she tries to get Tom to set up a gentlemen caller for