There are important autobiographical aspects in The Glass Menagerie and the characters which it depicts. These biographical connections are important in understanding the characters. Tennessee Williams

On the other hand, Amanda can be considered as a devoting mother who strongly wants her children to prosper in life, so that she hardly tries to influence their lives. According to Darryl Erwin Haley:

In fact, examining the similarities of the characters of the play and the real characters in Williams life gives a deeper insight into their personality. Tennessee Williams’ actual first name was Thomas and he gave it to his narrator. Williams, just as Tom, worked for a shoe company but detested his job and wrote poems. Both deserted their families in the end. Like his characters, Tennessee Willliams frequently, and without any explanation, changed the location of his inhabitance. Both felt guilty for leaving a beloved, troubled sister. Tom’s sister Laura who is physically impaired and terminally shy is to some extent a representation of Tennessee’s beloved sister Rose, whom the family had lobotomized in an ill-fated attempt to cure her psychological problems. Amanda Wingfield, the energetic and manipulative southern belle, is also a dramatic portrait of Williams' own mother, Edwina.

Thompson compares the absent father to the "God of the modern world, absent and incommunicado" (16). Therefore, as God, the father does not communicate with other characters of the play. However, he has such a great influence on the personality and mentality of them that can by no means be denied. He is the main cause of the tensions and stresses of Amanda and consequently Tom and Laura. This absent father is the cause of the combative relationships of other characters.

In his first soliloquy, Tom introduces his father as "a fifth character in the play" (5). Tom calls his father as "a telephone man who fell in love with long distances" (24) Williams makes the audience or the reader to meet the father before any other character: "A blown-up photograph of the father hangs on the wall of the living room, to the left of the archway. It is the face of a very handsome young man in a doughboy's First World War cap. He is gallantly smiling, ineluctably smiling, as if to say 'I will be smiling forever' "(5).

She is a woman paralyzed by the prospect of being abandoned a second time, her fear exacerbated by the presence of an unemployable, crippled daughter. At the root of this fear is her absent husband; her verbal harassment of Tom and pathetic encouragement of Laura stem from a desire to provide, emotionally and financially, for her dysfunctional family.

Some topics in this essay:
Tom Laura, Glass Menagerie, Williams Tom, Myth Symbol, Eric Levy, Erwin Haley, World War, Amanda Tom, Tennessee Williams, Obviously Amanda, glass menagerie, illusionary world, tom laura, collection glass menagerie, family responsibilities, eric levy, tennessee williams, collection glass, absent father, character play, characters play, emotional financial insecurities, establish true communication, glass menagerie characters, memory myth symbol,