The Glass Menagerie Motivation

Individuals in our society have dreams and places in their imagination where they go to escape from the real world. People dream about being rich and living extravagant lives, like the protagonist Tom Wingfield. Other individuals try to live their fantasies through other people because they never had the chance to live them while they still could, like Tom’s mother Amanda Wingfield. Then there are human beings who enjoy keeping to themselves and quite frankly do not have dreams, just like Tom’s sister Laura Wingfield. In Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, the three main characters have their own life plans but are all derailed because of each other’s influence on one another. Tom, Laura and Amanda all want to escape in their own individual ways.
Since, Amanda could not fulfill this dream she wants Laura to do so in her place. Amanda assumes she might not find a husband so she enrolls Laura in a typewriting class. Amanda is not pleased when she finds out that Laura dropped out of the class within the first few days because of her chronic shyness. Amanda exclaims: “Oh! I felt so weak I could barely keep off my feet! I had to sit down while they got me a glass of water! Fifty dollars’ tuition, all of our plans - my hopes and ambitions for you – just gone up the spout, just gone up the spout like that!” (14). All Amanda wants is for Laura to live a good life and not make the mistakes she made, like marry the wrong husband. Amanda is a very extraverted character, just like Tom, which means all of her emotions are on the outside and she expresses herself. At the end of the play when Amanda gets mad at Tom for setting Laura up with a married man, she lets out all the anger she has been holding in for all these years. This argument is what ultimately pushes Tom to leaving. Amanda is fed up with Laura not listening to her and trying to find a husband and she is fed up with Tom acting and turning into her