Abandoned by her husband and left penniless, Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, lived in a small apartment in an alley in a lower-middle class area of the town with her two adult children Tom and Laura, who were a far cry from Amanda's youth during the Victorian era in Blue Mountain to her current situation of poverty and uncertainty. Being a single mother, Amanda was concerned about her family's financial security along with concerns about her daughter's lack of marriage prospects; because of this, her need to enrich her life by shaping that of her children led to illusions that overwhelmed reality which also brought out destructive illusions within her, her son Tom, and her daughter Laura. Blessed with beauty, charm and elegance, Amanda recalled living an affluent life in Blue Mountain where she was courted by several potential suitors and spent many nights attending balls and galas. The world he imagined was one of formality and ways in which a person's high expectations were part of being a socialite. As time passed, she married a man who did not meet the expectations of sophistication and monetary abundance she had visualized; therefore, shattering the lifestyle she imagined for herself and her children. Amanda's demanding and idealistic views, along with stories of past suitors, were too much for her husband to bear, so he eventually abandoned her and their children for another woman with whom he had been in a long-distance relationship. Poverty-stricken, Amanda and her family relied heavily on the modest income her son Tom earned from his job in a shoe warehouse and the little money he occasionally earned selling magazine subscriptions, while Laura was unable to contribute. . middle of paper ......since she loved her children and had the best intentions for their future, her idealistic views of the past interfered with the reality of the world in which they lived. The worries and expectations she placed on them were so damaging that they undermined her son's confidence in himself and diminished any dreams of a normal life for her daughter. Amanda's delusion affected her family and herself the most because she did not want to appreciate the bright, beautiful, kind children she had around her because she was too blinded by paranoia and the belief that nothing and no one was ever good enough. The result of his actions pushed his son Tom to finally leave home to join the merchant navy and his daughter to seek refuge in her fantasy world with no hope of a normal life. Amanda was a mother trapped in the perception of a reality that was only an illusion.