"The Glass Menagerie" – Character Analysis of Amanda Wingfield
Amanda Wingfield is the most prominent and dynamic character in the play. She is described by Williams as "a little woman of great but confused vitality clinging frantically to another time and place". In the play, Amanda appears to be a paranoiac as she was constantly worrying about her family's future, and coming up with seemingly foolish ways to 'secure' their lives. It is not until the end, that one sees her real self emerge, when she subtly revealed the angel-like beauty that was hidden in her all along.
In her younger days, she was a typical Southern Belle, brought up in a genteel family and pampered by her seventeen beaux. She received a traditional upbringing and was taught to value certain social distinctions, which she carried on until later in life, even when those values were already rejected by social norm. This explained her 'silliness' and 'weirdness' when meeting Jim and when talking to Tom or even Laura. Out of those seventeen gentleman callers, she chose a man she loved, but he in return fell in love with long distance, and abandoned her with her two children. Being the strong woman she was, Amanda raised both her children single-handedly, until they were grown-ups. She encouraged both her children to enroll in activities so that they could improve themselves, support the family, and so that they might be successful..
However, because of her desperate hopes for her children, she was extremely protective over her children, and was forever nagging at her son. Even on small things like eating, she still had something to say, for example, "Honey, don't push with your fingers. If you have to push with something, the thing to push with is a crust of bread. And chew - chew! Animals have sections in their stomach…" Also, because Amanda was so worried that Tom would end up drinking like his father did once, she would argue with him every time he came home from the movies. This, in the end, led to her son's departure for good.
Though strong she was,
In her younger days, she was a typical Southern Belle, brought up in a genteel family and pampered by her seventeen beaux. She received a traditional upbringing and was taught to value certain social distinctions, which she carried on until later in life, even when those values were already rejected by social norm. This explained her 'silliness' and 'weirdness' when meeting Jim and when talking to Tom or even Laura. Out of those seventeen gentleman callers, she chose a man she loved, but he in return fell in love with long distance, and abandoned her with her two children. Being the strong woman she was, Amanda raised both her children single-handedly, until they were grown-ups. She encouraged both her children to enroll in activities so that they could improve themselves, support the family, and so that they might be successful..
However, because of her desperate hopes for her children, she was extremely protective over her children, and was forever nagging at her son. Even on small things like eating, she still had something to say, for example, "Honey, don't push with your fingers. If you have to push with something, the thing to push with is a crust of bread. And chew - chew! Animals have sections in their stomach…" Also, because Amanda was so worried that Tom would end up drinking like his father did once, she would argue with him every time he came home from the movies. This, in the end, led to her son's departure for good.
Though strong she was,