Amanda Wingfield Symbolism
Ficara 1
Victoria Ficara
Professor Nick
GT Reading Spring 2015
27 February 2015 Amanda: Lost in the World of the Past
Tennessee Williams’ character Amanda Wingfield from
The Glass Menagerie is a bold and manipulative woman obsessed with and cemented in the past. Years ago, Amanda was abandoned by her husband and was forced to raise two children alone during the Great
Depression. Haunted by the rejection of her husband, she is determined to keep her children close, even if it means using guilt and criticism to manipulate every aspect of their lives.
Amanda’s controlling behavior is what drove Mr. Wingfield away, and is now steering her son,
Tom, toward a similar escape. This essay will explore several of the symbols, be they objects or …show more content…
Williams uses three symbols that reveal and develop Amanda’s character. One is the character Jim O 'Connor: for Amanda, Jim represents the days of her youth, when she went frolicking about picking flowers and supposedly having seventeen gentlemen callers on one
Sunday afternoon because he reminds her of the life she once had, carefree and filled with affections and the attention of gentlemen callers. Another symbol is flowers, particularly jonquils because Amanda always talks about them when mentioning her past. Lastly, the apartment’s fire escape symbolizes the way for Amanda Wingfield to bring a man into the house to save herself and her daughter from the fate of becoming a spinster. She is always expecting gentlemen callers to come and court Laura as they had when Amanda was her daughter’s age. “Not one gentleman caller? It can 't be true! There must be a flood, there must have been a tornado!” LAURA: “It isn …show more content…
We must all learn to face life and move beyond the past even if we have faced devastation. If we do not move forward, one can potentially end up like Amanda, grief stricken, lonely, and living in a fantasy world caught in one’s past.
Ficara 4
Works Cited
1. Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Glass Menagerie Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and
Plans."
Shmoop.com
. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.. http://shmoop.com/glassmenagerie/dreamshopesplanstheme.html ,
2. Shmoop Editorial Team. "Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie."
Shmoop.com
.
Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. http://www.shmoop.com/glassmenagerie/amandawingfield.html 3. St. Rosemary Educational Institution. "Symbolism in The Glass Menagerie." http://schoolworkhelper.net/. St. Rosemary Educational Institution, Last Update:
2015. Web. Retrieved on: Friday 20th February 2015. http://schoolworkhelper.net/symbolismintheglassmenagerie/ .
4. Williams, Tennessee,
The Glass Menagerie,
New York, Reprinted by permission of
Random House Inc. 1945,
Victoria Ficara
Professor Nick
GT Reading Spring 2015
27 February 2015 Amanda: Lost in the World of the Past
Tennessee Williams’ character Amanda Wingfield from
The Glass Menagerie is a bold and manipulative woman obsessed with and cemented in the past. Years ago, Amanda was abandoned by her husband and was forced to raise two children alone during the Great
Depression. Haunted by the rejection of her husband, she is determined to keep her children close, even if it means using guilt and criticism to manipulate every aspect of their lives.
Amanda’s controlling behavior is what drove Mr. Wingfield away, and is now steering her son,
Tom, toward a similar escape. This essay will explore several of the symbols, be they objects or …show more content…
Williams uses three symbols that reveal and develop Amanda’s character. One is the character Jim O 'Connor: for Amanda, Jim represents the days of her youth, when she went frolicking about picking flowers and supposedly having seventeen gentlemen callers on one
Sunday afternoon because he reminds her of the life she once had, carefree and filled with affections and the attention of gentlemen callers. Another symbol is flowers, particularly jonquils because Amanda always talks about them when mentioning her past. Lastly, the apartment’s fire escape symbolizes the way for Amanda Wingfield to bring a man into the house to save herself and her daughter from the fate of becoming a spinster. She is always expecting gentlemen callers to come and court Laura as they had when Amanda was her daughter’s age. “Not one gentleman caller? It can 't be true! There must be a flood, there must have been a tornado!” LAURA: “It isn …show more content…
We must all learn to face life and move beyond the past even if we have faced devastation. If we do not move forward, one can potentially end up like Amanda, grief stricken, lonely, and living in a fantasy world caught in one’s past.
Ficara 4
Works Cited
1. Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Glass Menagerie Theme of Dreams, Hopes, and
Plans."
Shmoop.com
. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.. http://shmoop.com/glassmenagerie/dreamshopesplanstheme.html ,
2. Shmoop Editorial Team. "Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie."
Shmoop.com
.
Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. http://www.shmoop.com/glassmenagerie/amandawingfield.html 3. St. Rosemary Educational Institution. "Symbolism in The Glass Menagerie." http://schoolworkhelper.net/. St. Rosemary Educational Institution, Last Update:
2015. Web. Retrieved on: Friday 20th February 2015. http://schoolworkhelper.net/symbolismintheglassmenagerie/ .
4. Williams, Tennessee,
The Glass Menagerie,
New York, Reprinted by permission of
Random House Inc. 1945,