The Wingfield Way

13 Pages 3293 Words

his control to the extreme. Amanda constantly bombards Tom with commands in almost every scene. She begins her direction by reminding Tom how to eat properly. First he is pushing the food wrong and then he is chewing improperly. After they manage to finish supper, she then criticizes him for smoking. Things continue on like this throughout the entire play. She decides to return his books to the library because she believes that they are “filth.” Tom cannot do anything right in the eyes of his mother. She even tells him how to comb his hair. Amanda also directs her daughter. She sends Laura to Business College and then decides to find her a man. Amanda tries to decide all of the directions in which Laura’s life turns. Because of her desperation for her children to succeed, Amanda turns into a dictator. She “manipulates her children’s lives through an almost constant barrage of criticism and guilt” (Jolemore).
Amanda’s desperation leads her to deny reality. This coping strategy is called a defense mechanism. Ego-defense mechanisms are defined as a “type of reaction designed to maintain an individual’s feelings of adequacy and worth rather than to cope directly with the stress situation” (Carson, Butcher G-6). Amanda utilizes these self-defense tools in order to deal with her anxieties and also the reality of day-to-day life. If an individual uses these mechanisms excessively, they will become unable to face reality and do not solve their problems (Keltner, Schwecke, and Bostrom 30). Amanda “cannot see things as they really are; she can only see what she wants” (Jolemore). When talking to Tom about Laura, Amanda questions, “In what way is she peculiar-may I ask?” (Williams 713). Amanda will not admit that Laura is different from other girls despite the fact that Laura “lives in a world of little glass ornaments” and “plays old phonograph records and–that’s about all” (W...