There is a difference between being a good mom and a bad mom. What characteristics set the good mom’s from the bad ones? Amanda's actions in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams were made clear from the beginning on which type of mom she will be. First, she was an bossy person. Especially when it came to her children, constantly putting them down and making them feel as if they weren’t good enough and couldn't do anything right. Secondly, she would make decisions for her children, allowing them to have little say in their own futures. Finally, she placed a large part of her responsibilities on Tom. Despite any views people may have on determining if a mother is good or bad, it was made clear that Amanda was a little more on the selfish side of things, putting her needs ahead of her children's. Amanda seemed like she cared more for herself than her own children. Being bossy is one of Amanda's characteristics that stand out the most. She points out her children’s weaknesses more than their strengths, when she expresses this trait. She would constantly degrade her children on what...
Are all mothers fit for motherhood? The concept of motherhood is scrutinized in the stories “The Rocking Horse Winner” and “Tears Idle Tears”. In “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H Lawrence the mother, Hester, unpremeditatedly provokes her son into providing for her through gambling. In the story “Tears Idle Tears” by Elizabeth Bowen, Mrs. Dickinson disregards her son’s emotions and puts more emphasis in her appearance than her son’s wellbeing. Hester and Mrs. Dickinson both were inadequate mothers. Both the mothers were materialistic, pretended to love their offspring, and their dominance hindered their children’s progress in life.
In The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, we embark on the task of seeing a family living in the post WWII era. The mother is Amanda, living in her own world and wanting only the best for her son, Tom. Tom, a dreamer, tired of Amanda’s overbearing and constant pursuit of him taking care of the family, wants to pursue his own goals of becoming a poet. He is constantly criticized and bombarded by his mother for being unsuccessful. This drives him to drinking and lying about his whereabouts, and eventually at the end of the play, he ends up leaving. An example of Amanda and Tom’s quarrel I when he quotes, “I haven’t enjoyed one bit of this dinner because of your constant directions on how to eat it. It’s you that makes me rush through meals with your hawklike attention to every bit I take.”(302) Laura, on the other hand, is shy and out of touch with reality because of a slight disability, in which she is comfort...
She is very strict and very gossipy and later becomes Scout and Jem 's guardian in a way.
...oes not make mothers” ~ Anonymous (Quotations about mothers, 2011). Daisy seems to be more of a child than a mother, and Ma brings out the characteristics people would want in their ideal mothers. The mother they would want is the one that cares about them, is always there for them, and takes real responsibility for their job as a parent.
Mothers always tend to want the best for their children so that their kids do not struggle in life and become dependent on their parents. Rose Mary Walls from “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls acts like the complete opposite from mothers who want the best for their kids. Rose Mary goes through her own struggles throughout the book but she decides to create wrong choices by not working when her children need her the most. Each of her four children are brilliant in their own ways especially Jeannette and Lori who find their way out of Welches and head to New York followed then by Brian. The three of them became successful on their own but their mom did help them in a different way when compared to other mothers. The youngest daughter, Maureen,
Amanda Wingfield is mother of Tom and Laura. She is a middle-aged southern belle whose husband has abandoned her. She spends her time reminiscing about the past and nagging her children. Amanda is completely dependent on her son Tom for finical security and holds him fully responsible for her daughter Laura's future. Amanda is obsessed with her past as she constantly reminds Tom and Laura of that " one Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain when she once received seventeen gentlemen callers" (pg.32). The reader cannot even be sure that this actually happened. However, it is clear that despite its possible falsity, Amanda has come to believe it. Amanda also refuses to acknowledge that her daughter Laura is crippled and refers to her handicap as " a little defect-hardly noticeable" (pg.45). Only for brief moments does she ever admit that her daughter is crippled and then she resorts back into to her world of denial and delusion. Amanda puts the weight of Laura's success in life on her son Tom's shoulders. When Tom finally finds a man to come over to the house for diner and meet Laura, Amanda blows the situation way out of proportion. She believes that this gentlemen caller, Jim, is going to be the man to rescue Laura. When in fact neither herself nor Laura has even met this man Jim yet. She tries to explain to Laura how to entertain a gentleman caller; she says-talking about her past " They knew how to entertain their gentlemen callers. It wasn't enough for a girl to be possessed of a pretty face and a graceful figure although I wasn't slighted in either respect.
Amanda is also well characterized by the glass menagerie. The glass sits in a case, open for display and inspection for all. Amanda try’s to portray herself as a loving mother, doing everything she can for her children, and caring nothing for herself, when in fact, she is quite selfish and demanding. Amanda claims that she devotes her life to her children, and that she would do anything for them, but is very suspicious of Tom’s activities, and continually pressures Tom, trying to force him in finding a gentleman caller for Laura, believing that Laura is lonely and needs a companion, perhaps to get married. Like the glass, her schemes are very transparent, and people can see straight through them to the other side, where ...
Laura's mother and brother shared some of her fragile tendencies. Amanda, Laura's mother, continually lives in the past. Her reflection of her teenage years continually haunts Laura. To the point where she forces her to see a "Gentleman Caller" it is then that Tom reminds his mother not to "expect to much of Laura" she is unlike other girls. But Laura's mother has not allowed herself nor the rest of the family to see Laura as different from other girls. Amanda continually lives in the past when she was young a pretty and lived on the plantation. Laura must feel she can never live up to her mothers expectations. Her mother continually reminds her of her differences throughout the play.
However, I disagree with Patrick’s decision of sending Amanda back to her own mother because he thinks parenting should be a right. I know that every mother loves her child. Helene also loves her daughter. But it does not mean that she can be a good mother and she has the ability to take care of her child. In the beginning, Helene was not really concerned about her daughter’s disappearance. Her daughter had disappeared for three days already. She could still ...
We all feel unhappiness at some point in our lives. It’s human to feel like you want more or something is not good enough for you. You want more out of life. You want to do something to make you happy. In The Glass Menagerie Tom, Laura, and Amanda Wingfield all expierence unhappiness through out the play in their own way. They are a family but their goals and dreams are quite different from each other. Their dreams and goals lead to their unhappiness because they seem impossible to reach. One reason that holds them back from being happy is the decade they are living in. The story is taking place in the 1940’s right after the great depression. Times are tough so dreams and future goals have to be moved to the back of the to do list while you
mother Amanda and here two children Tom and Laura. Amanda has a life that is
All of the characters in The Glass Menagerie have specific symbols in the play representing
The worries and expectations she placed upon them were so damaging that it held her son’s confidence in himself back and diminished any dreams of a normal life for the daughter. Amanda’s illusion affected the family and herself the most because she did not want to appreciate the bright, beautiful, and kind children she had around her because she was too blinded by paranoia and the belief that nothing and nobody was ever good enough. The result of her actions drove her son Tom to finally leave home to join the Merchant Marines and her daughter to seek shelter in her own world of fantasy with no hope for a normal life. Amanda was a mother trapped in her perception of a reality that was only an illusion.
providing for them. The idea of the sense of duty she has for Tom and
Amanda Wingfield (mother) is the most unrealistic of all the characters. She clings desperately to the past as she repeatedly relives the memories of receivin...