The Glass Menagerie Scenes 3 - 4
Over the next few months, Amanda becomes obsessed with finding Laura a suitable husband. She believed that this endeavor required that she gain access to a greater amount of funds so that she could make their apartment more presentable, and deck Laura in pretty clothes and accessories. In pursuit of this goal, Amanda aggressively works as a telemarketer, collecting subscriptions for a magazine called The Companion, that sought to target the women of her age group. She was unable to get together a significant amount of money, and instead, she turned to Tom. She ends up getting into a huge argument with Tom over the idea of a gentleman caller, while Laura is highlighted through bright light as she observes their fight. Amanda wants Tom’s help in her search, but Tom feels too trapped by his current situation and is unwilling to take a greater part in his mother’s plans. He is frustrated by her constant interference in his life, particularly because she would not allow him to read a novel by D.H. Lawrence. Amanda goes on to criticize Tom for staying out till very late every evening. She doesn’t believe that he goes to the movies so often, and for so long, particularly because he returns home in a thoroughly drunken state. She accuses of him being careless and treating his responsibilities towards his family without even consideration.
On the other hand, Tom is frustrated by the job he has in the warehouse, and he doesn’t wish to work at the warehouse. He is angry that he has had to give up on the pursuit of his dreams just to support his family, and he thinks that his mother is ungrateful for the sacrifices that he has made for her and his sister. He points at the picture of his father and claims that if he didn’t truly care for them then he would be absent like his father. As Tom heads to the movies again in the middle of the fight, he calls his mother an old witch in anger and throws his old coat across the room. The coat hits Laura’s glass menagerie and causes a piece to break, which severely upsets Laura. Amanda becomes very upset by Tom calling her a witch and promises to not speak to him again until he apologizes to her. After she storms away, Tom cleans up the pieces of broken glass in regret and leaves without addressing Laura, who is visibly upset.
Tom returns home at five in the morning and struggles to find his keys to the apartment. Laura finds him on his knees searching for the key that had dropped out of his pocket along with a whole load of ticket stubs, and an empty bottle. He is visibly drunk and tells Laura about all the shows he had seen at the movies when she asks him where he had been. He makes particular mention of a magician that had escaped a nailed coffin without removing any of the nails. Tom wishes he knew how to perform the trick as it might help him out of his present difficult life. Laura helps him to bed, but the clock soon hits six o’clock, and the alarm in Amanda’s room goes off. She asks Laura to wake Tom up and asks her to get butter from the local grocer. Laura finds Tom already sitting up in bed and pleads with him to make peace with their mother.
As Laura rushes out of the house, she suffers a small fall on the stairs, that brings both Tom and Amanda to the door. They ensure that she is alright, and then remember that they aren’t speaking to one another. Tom comes into the kitchen to drink his coffee, and Amanda turns her face away from him. Eventually, Tom works up to the decision of apologizing to his mother, and she immediately begins to cry. He comforts her, and she in turn encourages him not to give up or become morose. She begs him to promise her that he will never become a drunkard, and Tom does so with slight amusement. Amanda confesses that she had sent Laura away this morning to speak to him in private about her. She had recently found Laura crying and believed that it was because Laura thought that he was unhappy with his life.
Amanda asks Tom why he stays out so late every night, and cannot understand why he would go to the movies so often when he tells her so. He explains that he craves adventure, and his job at the warehouse does not give him the opportunity. She argues that he should be able to do without adventure because he isn’t a base animal that relies only on instinct, but rather a Christian adult who should be more concerned about activities of the mind and the spirit. She reveals that she has seen his mail, and is aware that he wishes to join the corp of merchant sailors. She doesn’t wish to stop him, but she insists that he first find someone to care for Laura in the form of a husband. She elaborates that she would like him to find a clean living individual in the warehouse and invite him over so that they can try to find Laura a suitable man. Tom agrees very reluctantly as he heads off to work, and his acceptance of her proposal pleases Amanda immensely.
Analysis
Tom’s monologues from the fire escape reflect his desire to leave the Wingfield apartment, and his inability to escape. He is tied to the apartment even in the future, as he was in the past, due to the responsibilities he feels he owes his family. Amanda’s dramatic performances depict her out-of-touch understanding of the world and her own corrupted self-image. She sees herself as a heroine from a story like Gone with the Wind and does not recognize her life’s actual conditions. Readers also have a closer look at her controlling behavior through her interactions with Tom and Laura. She controls Tom by censoring his books, being constantly aware of how his work schedule, and questioning him about his attempts to lead a life of his choosing. All of this makes Tom jealous of his father, but he is haunted by guilt and remorse at such thoughts.
In the heated argument with Amanda, Tom breaks the glass menagerie. This is representative of his shattering the bubble of existence that the Wingfields had created for themselves and foreshadowing his eventual departure from the apartment. That night, Tom returns home drunk, fascinated by the coffin trick, he recognizes the symbolic significance of it in his own life. Tom’s father drives the characters without being present, Amanda is terrified of Tom following his father’s footsteps, and attempts to redirect his course as she does not wish to face another abandonment.
Laura attempts to keep the peace between the family members, and even though she leaves, she remains at the center as she becomes the reason for their reconciliation. The stage directions reflect her importance through light. She is centrally lit in the scene of Tom’s argument with his mother, even though she has no lines herself within that sequence. Laura is the emotional core of the Wingfield family, the other two seem to function mostly with her in mind. It is evident that though Tom loves his mother, Laura is perhaps the only reason why Tom keeps returning to the apartment. This is alluded to by Tom himself in the closing sequence of the play, as he says that he had been more loyal to Laura over the years than he had intended.
Tom’s father drives the characters without being present, Amanda is terrified of Tom following his father’s footsteps, and attempts to redirect his course as she does not wish to face another abandonment.
