A World of Unachievable Expectations In the Glass Menagerie written by Tennessee Williams, Amanda, the mother of Tom and Laura proves herself to be a loving mother but in her love, she remains blind to the damage she is inflicting upon her children. She fails to raise her children to her vision. And her manipulation of her son causes him to run away while her attempts to assimilate her daughter into society cause her to become increasingly isolated. Tom and Laura both suffer emotionally at the hands of their mother as they fail to meet her expectations of success. Amanda attempts to turn Tom into a man of gentlemanly stature while Tom himself aspires for a completely different life; one of adventure. The two characters clash as Amanda looks
…show more content…
Amanda provides Laura with as many opportunities as she can for her to become a sociable individual, despite Laura’s disapproval. First, Amanda sends Laura to college and when that fails, she gets Tom to bring a gentleman caller to Laura. However, such events served only to traumatize Laura as she had rejected doing either of these things in the first place, being forced by her mother. Both of these experiences isolated her further and sent her deeper into a world of fantasy, a world of little glass ornaments that she treats as an escape from reality. Both Tom and Laura attempt to escape Amanda’s control by retreating within worlds of illusion, the glass menagerie being Laura’s personal escape, and the movie theatre being Tom’s. Laura is different than other individuals yet Amanda does not accept her differences. Rather than accepting Laura as she is, she actively attempts to change her and this causes Laura to become increasingly insecure as even her own mother refuses to accept her as she is. She is belittled by her mother quite harshly at times, “So what are we going to do with the rest of our lives? Stay home and watch parades go by? Amuse ourselves with the glass menagerie, darling?”(34) And she is left silently surrendering to her mother’s criticism of her very being. Amanda’s attempts at reforming her daughter cause her to suffer as she shrinks further into a shell of isolation. However, Amanda remains blind to her uneasiness and continues her attempts to reform her daughter. Laura suffers the same as Tom as she completely loses her sense of self and eventually develops habits to cope with her mother’s emotional abuse. She instinctively reaches for her glass pieces as a source of comfort when her mother forces her to that she do something she knows is not possible. After finding out about Laura’s failure to attend classes, Amanda says “Girls that aren’t cut out for business careers usually wind up
Amanda provides Laura with as many opportunities as she can for her to become a sociable individual, despite Laura’s disapproval. First, Amanda sends Laura to college and when that fails, she gets Tom to bring a gentleman caller to Laura. However, such events served only to traumatize Laura as she had rejected doing either of these things in the first place, being forced by her mother. Both of these experiences isolated her further and sent her deeper into a world of fantasy, a world of little glass ornaments that she treats as an escape from reality. Both Tom and Laura attempt to escape Amanda’s control by retreating within worlds of illusion, the glass menagerie being Laura’s personal escape, and the movie theatre being Tom’s. Laura is different than other individuals yet Amanda does not accept her differences. Rather than accepting Laura as she is, she actively attempts to change her and this causes Laura to become increasingly insecure as even her own mother refuses to accept her as she is. She is belittled by her mother quite harshly at times, “So what are we going to do with the rest of our lives? Stay home and watch parades go by? Amuse ourselves with the glass menagerie, darling?”(34) And she is left silently surrendering to her mother’s criticism of her very being. Amanda’s attempts at reforming her daughter cause her to suffer as she shrinks further into a shell of isolation. However, Amanda remains blind to her uneasiness and continues her attempts to reform her daughter. Laura suffers the same as Tom as she completely loses her sense of self and eventually develops habits to cope with her mother’s emotional abuse. She instinctively reaches for her glass pieces as a source of comfort when her mother forces her to that she do something she knows is not possible. After finding out about Laura’s failure to attend classes, Amanda says “Girls that aren’t cut out for business careers usually wind up