The Glass Menagerie: Scenes 1-4

       The Glass Menagerie, a semi-autobiographical play written by Tennessee Williams, contrasts the strength and support of family with the pain of disappointment. Amanda Wingfield loves her children, yet she is apprehensive about her unpopular daughter's lack of suitors. She also worries that Tom will someday abandon her and Laura the same way her husband did. Motherhood meets manager in Scenes 1 through 4 of The Glass Menagerie. 
       Amanda is a strong believer in gender roles. She is preoccupied with her daughter's marital status, and is constantly describing the multitude of suitors that were after her when she was single. Amanda sees no future for Laura other than being a wife, and not a conversation between them goes by without some variation of her calling for Laura to "resume your seat, little sister- I want you to stay fresh and pretty- for gentleman callers!" (7). Though Amanda thinks she is stressing this point out of love for her daughter, it comes across as controlling and overbearing to her two children.
       Tom doesn't escape the scrutiny of his mother as well. Since their father "was a telephone man who fell in love with long distances" (5) and abandoned the family, Tom has become the designated breadwinner, which is fully supported by Amanda. Unsatisfied with his work, Tom often escapes at nights to the "movies" and "stage shows," (26-27) which is worrisome for his mother. Amanda is concerned that he, like his father, will find something more worthwhile than his family and desert them. Her worry of abandonment appears to outweigh her concern for his happiness, and in this way Amanda becomes more of a supervisor than a mother.

       The affiliation between familial love and self-preservation is highlighted through the relationships between Amanda and her two children.