Describe each character's world in "The Glass Menagerie".

The three principle characters in The Glass Menagerie are Amanda Wingfield, Tom Wingfield and Laura Wingfield.

Amanda, the mother of Tom and Laura, world is defined by her past experiences when she was a girl in the Blue Mountains. Amanda clings to the past, particularly to a story that she tells over and over about how she had 17 gentleman callers one Sunday afternoon.  Her life is dominated by her memories of a past that is probably exaggerated and the fact that she is an abandoned wife.

Abandoned by her husband years earlier, Amanda raised her two children alone in an era when there was no government support, no welfare programs, no food stamps.  She more than likely had to depend on the generosity of family and whatever little jobs she could get in order to survive financially.  Now, her son Tom pays the bills in the household, and Amanda is consumed with the idea of getting Laura a husband.

Amanda's world is dominated by her concern for her children, now adults, Tom is 22 and Laura 24, and what there future will be, particularly Laura's since she is slightly crippled and has no prospects for a husband and has no job.

Amanda's preoccupation with her children also shape their world, particularly Tom's world.  Tom, an angry, bitter, young man, who both admires and resents his absent father, is miserable.  He works in a shoe factory warehouse to support his family, while dreaming of becoming a writer.  Tom is also eager to escape the confining apartment where his mother constantly instructs him on how to live his life.  She is controlling, demanding and is driven by the terrible thought that Tom will turn out like his father.  Tom's world is rounded out with his nightly trips to the movies, a habit that his mother despises.

Laura's world revolves around her glass collection, or glass menagerie.  Laura is a young woman who is totally content to stay in the house, or apartment, and simply listen to the old record player that her father left behind and polish her glass figures.  Laura is terribly shy and is lacking in self-confidence.  Her mother takes the lead in trying to shape her future, first by enrolling her business college in an attempt to help her get skilled enough to secure a job so she could support herself, and then when that fails, Amanda puts all her efforts into finding Laura a husband.

Laura's shyness is more of a handicap than her physical disability that is barely noticeable.  She is easily dominated by her mother, less resistant than Tom.