Hi, my name is Michael Cody Blair. I am going to tell you about The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.

 

    The Glass Menagerie is a play set in St. Louis during the 1940's. Amanda Wingfield is the character discussed on this page. Amanda is the faded Southern belle, who constantly dreams of her youth, and is in a dream world most of the time. Amanda  is an over-bearing mother who dotes on her children, Tom and Laura. Amanda is a loving mother, but her meddling and nagging make it very hard for her children to be happy and successful. Amanda always  looks for the positive side of things. She refuses to accept that her daughter Laura is a cripple and is extremely shy and a weakling. Amanda believes that finding a "suitor" for Laura will solve all of the Wingfield's problems. She pushes her son Tom into making a deal with her. If he finds a husband for Laura, then he will be free to pursue his own interests. Again, Amanda believes that a husband for Laura will be just what the family needs. For Amanda, memory is an escape. Amanda wishes that her life would revert back to her earlier years when she was the "darling' of Blue Mountain. Amanda Wingfield is a dreamer and a schemer. Her relationship with her children becomes difficult and unbearable at times. Her only son, Tom, will end up abandoning her just as her husband had done earlier. Her daughter Laura is very fragile just like her glass figurines and easily "broken" and destroyed. It is hard for Amanda to accept that her children do not share the same dreams  and ambitions as herself. The play uses a dreamlike atmosphere to help create a powerful and moving  representation of family, memories, and personal losses.