In the play “The Glass Menagerie” The mother in this story Amanda is a proud, lively woman, she clings to memories of the past when she had plenty to be proud of. She recalls a time when she had many possible suitors who wanted her hand, but chose her children Laura and Tom’s father, who has left them. Amanda’s relationship with her children is overbearing but I believe she means well. She is very domineering towards her son Jim, even though he is a grown man; she is hurting him more than helping him by smothering him. Amanda does not support Tom’s dream of being a poet, referring to him as a dreamer. Amanda also wants the best for her daughter Laura, she tries to send her to business school because she realizes she doesn’t have the same effect on men that she had at her age. Laura is awfully shy about a crippled leg, Amanda acts in a way that doesn’t shine light onto her leg, wanting her daughter to feel normal.
Unfortunately towards the end of the play Amanda reveals her true colors about her unmarried crippled daughter to Tom in an attempt to coerce him to stay. I don’t believe that Amanda was a great parent, she wasn’t a bad one either, Amanda worked with what she could it just didn’t produce the best results. Her husband left her, in a time when being an unmarried woman was not seen as independent and empowering, but lacking. Her son wasn’t married, but she didn’t pressure him to find a wife, Amanda craved the support of a man