The Glass Menagerie: Tom Wingdfield The story takes place from an undefined point in the future; the events of the play are framed by memories. Tom Wingfield usually smokes and stands on the fire escape while reciting his monologues. Tom remembers the winter and spring of 1937 in their apartment in St. Louis. The comedy is sentimental and unrealistic. The main characters in this play are Amanda Wingfield who appears to be a washed out southern belle who has delusions of grandeur, control, pushy, a little overwhelming and is stuck in the past and how things used to be. She was abandoned by what I understood to be her husband and the father of her two children Laura and Tom. Laura is Amanda's daughter and Tom's older sister who is slightly impaired not only physically but mentally. Let her limp make her awkward, insecure and fragile - this is why she has isolated herself from the outside world by interacting only with her mother who treats her like a child and is very energetic and pushy with her and her brother who she tries to treat as if she were not there nothing wrong with her, but he also treats her like a fragile minded little girl. Tom is Amanda's son and Laura's younger brother. Tom is the narrator and protagonist of the work, but he is also a character. He works in a shoe warehouse to support his sister, his mother and himself. He despises his job and secretly wants to pursue his dream of becoming a poet. He wants to get away from his mother and sister and live his own life, but he is trapped by guilt and doesn't want to leave his sister. He fears that if he leaves they won't be able to support themselves in their apartment since since his father abandoned his mother he has taken over the ro... middle of paper... er. I think Tom is a lot braver than me, but that might be because he's a boy. It is more acceptable for a male to leave the home and start his own life whereas with a female they tend not to leave so abruptly. I feel guilty because she has told me many times about how she became my mother and that she gave up her life to raise me and give me the best opportunities she could have as a single mother. I am very grateful and appreciate her probably more than she realizes. Also, I feel guilty because I am the only thing she has left of her, “daughter, (my mother).” I know that if something happened to me, like if I got in a car accident too, she would go completely crazy. I believe Amanda is bipolar and I would like to think my mother is too. They have a lot of similar traits, which is another way Tom and I connect and have a sort of kinship.