The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, set in St.
Louis, America during the depression of the 1930s is an influential and stirring play. The play is formed with four characters. Amanda, Tom, Laura and Mr. Wingfield.
Amanda is the mother of Tom and Laura, Amanda's son and daughter. Amanda is also the widow of Mr. Wingfield because Mr. Winfield left her sixteen years ago with Tom and Laura.
Tom is a poet with a hunger for adventure and has a great desire to escape from the prison environment his mother has created for him at her home.Laura cannot be well described in the passage as she only has one line to say in the script provided. This script can show many key points about the characters and their relationship with one another. Amanda in this passage is seen as a person who wants total domination, total control over things that happen in and around her household. She can also be seen as a person who is frustrated and is angered by people who try to stand up to her and fail to comply with her demands.Her name Amanda means "worthy of being loved" conversely it can also mean that if she is deprived of loving regard that she can be a totally evils person, a witch as in Tom's words.
For Example" You will hear more, you-", "I'm not through talking to you" the first quote has the word "will" written in italics suggesting that it is said in a harsh voice indicating the dominating effect of Amanda. The second quote shows clearly Amanda ordering Tom and also the anger she has against Tom because Tom doesn't want to go down under the grip of her mother.This also further strengthened by Amanda's comment: you're going to listen, and no more insolence from you. Amanda is person who has come from the Southern parts of America where she lived a life of elegant living conditions and social beliefs. She still lives in this past and lacks a sense of reality in her life.
It is due to this fact that she has a self belief that it is Tom's moral obligation is to provide as a substitute head of the family. However for Tom this means that he has to stay in Amanda's household. To him Amanda's home is an abstract prison.This can be seen by action such as Amanda grabbing Tom when he tries going out to the movies after the heated conversation.
This can show that Amanda wants to live has the need to live in her past life but because she is now old and is unable to provide for herself by herself and because her husband left her she is now purposely making to Tom provide for her so she can reminisce her past. Comments such as: " I think you've been doing things that you are ashamed of, that's why you act like this, nobody goes to the movies after night" shows how much Amanda believes that rather than Tom wasting time in the movies he should be providing for her.Tom at present is Amanda's only form of income. Tom works in a shoe warehouse to provide for her and Laura. This is by far the only relationship existing between Tom and Amanda.
How important Tom is to Amanda can be seen by her comment "What right do you have to jeopardize your job, Jeopardize the security of all of us? How'd you think we'd manage if you were" this shows how important Tom is to Amanda nut more as a source of wealth rather than as her son.Tom is simply tired of Amanda's constant nagging which can be seen in most of the comments by her in this passage. This can be shown by Tom's comment "what do you think I'm at? Aren't I supposed to have any patience to reach the end of, mother? It clearly expresses Tom's feeling about Amanda's constant nagging about his behaviour and his life. "Mother I'd be where he is - gone! " This shows again his frustration against Amanda For Tom the warehouse and Amanda's house are abstract prisons. The home is a tightly confined place.This shown by Amanda pulling Toms' jacket.
Another the example that proves this point is Amanda's comment "you g et three hours' sleep and then you go to work" this shows how little time Tom wants to spend in Amanda's household due to the environment Amanda has put up which show that even without the tall walls, barbed wire fencing and the solid iron bars to him it still is a prison. However the tom has the greatest desire to escape from the shoe warehouse. To him it is a place where he gets to experience hell in real life.His comment "look I'd rather somebody picked up a crowbar and battered out my brains - than go back mornings" this suggest how he feels about the warehouse in stark manner.
"I'm going to the movies". This is Tom's only means of temporary escape from Amanda and The warehouse. This passage has provided a lot of information about the characters of Amanda and Tom and about the relationship between Tom and Amanda. It shows how much Amanda wants to dominate over him and also what serious effect loosing Tom could have on her life and also on Laura's and what Tom feels about Amanda.
