The Glass Menagerie Film Analysis

The Glass Menagerie is a play of a family who is incredibly unstable. The play is about many other things, however the childlike minds of the main characters are a main point of the film. Each character of the film is caught within their own fantasy. Their inability to stay in reality hurts each character differently. Restoration is not actually attained in this film, however there was a desire from the mother, Amanda, for restoration. This movie is not a good depiction of restoration because no restoration actually takes place. A simple definition of restoration is putting things back to the way they were. Laura has always been aloof and crippled, and Tom never seemed to be interested in the reality in front of him so there is nothing to put back. Amanda is however trying to recreate her youth through the many reminiscing’s of her past the forcing of Laura to get gentlemen callers, and the nagging of Tom to stay home are Amanda’s way of trying to seek restoration. Although incredibly flawed, Amanda does try her best for the people she loves, Tom and Laura. Her feeble attempts at restoration only show that care that she has for her family even though her the way she shows it is flawed.
In the first scene of the movie the watchers can see Amanda reminiscing about the seventeen gentlemen callers she
“Of the three Wingfields, reality has by far the weakest grasp on Laura. The private world in which she lives is populated by glass animals—objects that, like Laura’s inner life, are incredibly fanciful and dangerously delicate,” (SparkNotes Editors). This is problematic and inconsiderate on the part of Amanda. She knows that Laura has many issues but she does not choose to acknowledge them because she wants to relive her youth through her daughter but she cannot do that when her daughter is ill, physically and