Amanda the Worrier

Amanda: "I'll tell you what I wished for on the moon. Success and happiness for my precious children! I wish for that whenever there's a moon, and when there isn't a moon, I wish for it, too."
The Glass Menagerie, Scene 5, pg. 1256


Amanda Wingfield, the mother of Laura and Tom, is immediately classified as a nervous woman with a life of paranoia. This characteristic is portrayed throughout the play through many of the different statements that she makes toward her children. First off, Amanda seems to have a chronic worry about her children's success and future lives. In the quote above she says that she frequently wishes for success and happiness for her children. It seems to be all she really wants in her life. At this point in her life, Amanda feels the need to keep the family together since her husband has run away. Too many things have gone wrong in her life and she doesn't want it to get in the way of her children's future lives as well. She is rather preoccupied with Laura and Tom's futures because they seem to lack ambition. Laura stays at home tending to her glass sculptures, while Tom slips out of the house during the night to supposedly go to the movies. Upon discovering that Laura is skipping classes at the business college and due to her argument with Tom over his whereabouts, Amanda's worries concerning her two children grow deeper. Amanda has a fear that Tom may end up like his father and become drunk, selfish, and then leave the family. She worries over his smoking habits and instincts of being a man that is "a lover, a hunter, and a fighter" (iv.1253). She desperately wishes her children were normal and that they were married, polite, sociable, outgoing, and, overall well-liked.

Amanda's worries concerning her children seem to be caused by a few different past events. First off, the fact that her husband left has impacted her constant paranoia. His running off has caused the family to be a little less stable and independent. But also, her worries may be rooted in her past. She had a lovely childhood and young life. She constantly reminisces about her time with all of her gentleman callers. When Jim O'Connor comes over, Amanda pulls out one of her old dresses and relives her own gentleman caller days. Amanda's past experiences have given her high expectations of her daughter Laura. She expects that Laura should have men lining outside their door to come and meet her. Because this is not the case, Amanda worries about Laura and tries to ignore the fact that she is crippled. By reverting back to her past memories, Amanda is able to cling to what was once happy and attempts to  make Laura feel the same way toward gentleman callers, in hopes that she is happy one day too.