The Glass Menagerie: Amanda

My opinion of the character Amanda changed throughout the play a few times. In the beginning of the play, I felt bad for Amanda because of her current situation. She was left by her husband as a single mother trying to take care of her two children. She was doing the best she could, and she always had the best interests of her children at heart. However, there were points where Amanda just seeemed annoying, controlling, selfish, and overwhelming. There were many times in the play where she is way too overprotective of Tom and Laura. For example, she criticizes the way Tom eats dinner one night. He basically says that he can't enjoy the food because his mother is watching him like a hawk while he eats. Amanda also angers Tom when he is drinking his coffee black. She tells him that it isn't healthy and that it can lead to cancer. It is during times like these where Amanda's parenting is too much to handle. Even though she is too protective of her kids, I started to feel sympathy for Amanda again at the end of the play. She has been abandoned twice by her husband and her only son. She has no one to take care of her or Laura, so she has to figure out how to get by once again.