Unit 4. post 1

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Scene 1 & 2

Scene one seems to act as an introduction to the characters of the play, as well as the environment and emotion that is present between characters. Tom, the narrator and a character in the story, first introduces us to his mother, Amanda. She is characterized as an overly reminiscent person who dwells in the past. Her obsession with her own past and success as an attraction to gentlemen callers seems to drag on to her children. Amanda seems to micromanage everything her children do in the house. For example, as the family is sitting down for dinner after Tom's introduction, Tom becomes tired of his mother nagging him about how to eat saying, "I haven't enjoyed one bite of this dinner because of your constant directions on how to eat it.(Williams, 1237)"

After our introduction to Amanda, we meet the sister of Tom, Laura. She is shy and receded from her emotional attachment to her mother. In scene two, we find that after only a few days of business school, Laura dropped out because she could not handle the pressure, or maybe the social obligation of interacting with other people.

Laura calls herself a cripple but her mother denies that statement, in almost a delusional fit, and reassures her that Laura will have just as many gentlemen callers as Amanda did when she was young. However, Laura denies that she is going to have any gentlemen callers, which upsets Amanda.

For some reason, Amanda seems completely detached with reality. Perhaps it is her being traumatized from her separation from her husband who is absent and present in the plot at the same time.