Amanda Wingfield in the play The Glass Menagerie, written by Tennessee Williams, was portrayed as a clueless southern belle trying to control her children's lives. In The Glass Menagerie, Amanda is the matriarch of her small family who first appears as a woman concerned about her children's futures, before becoming so controlling that she begins to hinder her children's futures. Amanda was a single mother who could never understand reality. The Glass Menagerie was a memory game that told the story of a family trapped in destructive patterns. After being abandoned by her husband sixteen years ago, Amanda found herself stuck between two completely different worlds; worlds of illusion and reality. It seemed that when the world got too harsh or too harsh for Amanda, she would just close her eyes and act like nothing was happening. When the real world became too overbearing for Amanda, she remembered the days of her youth and how great they were. It was simply Amanda's way of staying optimistic and staying out of reality. Amanda made the relationship between her and her children very difficult because she never tried to understand her children's different personalities. Amanda was determined to try to shape her children's lives the way she wanted, rather than letting them choose and lead their own lives. The way Amanda was helping the children didn't allow her to connect with them the way each of them needed. Because of her unanimous opinion, she failed to see that Laura was a shy girl with low self-esteem and that she needed a mother to show her how to behave in public and that Tom simply needed to change his ways. work and have someone to talk to. . Tom eventually left home because he realized his weak parent...... middle of paper ... and escaped the unrealistic world their mother had offered them. “GLASS HOUSE”. New Yorker 81.7 (April 4, 2005): 102-103. Academic research completed. EBSCO. December 29, 2008 DiSchiavi, Michael. “Tennessee Williams Women in a Man's World.” Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 15.4 (July 2008): 18-18. LGBT life with full text. EBSCO. 28 December 2008.Fambrough, Preston. “Williams’ GLASS MENAGERIE.” Explainer 63.2 (Winter 2005 2005): 100-102. Academic research completed. EBSCO. January 3, 2009. Schwarzbaum, Lisa. “Nice patina.” Entertainment Weekly (April 2005): 77-77. Canadian Reference Center. EBSCO. January 2, 2009. Smith, Sean. “HEART OF ‘GLASS’.” Newsweek 145.13 (March 28, 2005): 50-51. Canadian Reference Center. EBSCO. January 4, 2009. Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. New York: Penguin Group,1987