The Amanda Aspect of Carrie, the Heroine of Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie

Naturalist writers, such as Tennessee Williams, place characters in situations they have to adapt to. The idea of naturalism comes from Social Darwinism, or constantly evolving to adapt to changing surroundings, In The Glass Menagerie, Amanda Wingfield is unable to adapt to the harsh realities of the present. In Amanda’s life, men have constantly contributed to a false reality. Caught up in the illusion of her Southern upbringing, Amanda has learned that a man will support a woman. Therefore, she never stops believing that a gentleman will soon call upon Laura and make everything right.

Due to her husband’s absence, Amanda constantly lives in the past in order to forget the harsh realities of the present. Due to her upbringing in southern society, Amanda has learned that a man will support a woman. Growing up on a southern plantation did not teach Amanda how to properly take care of a family by herself. In her mind, the duties of the household are solely the man’s responsibility.

By placing the family duties on the man of the house, Amanda continues to never grow or adapt to her surroundings. Once her husband leaves, Amanda refuses to take any responsibility and relies on Tom to carry the family through the rough times. “What right have you got to jeopardize your job? Jeopardize the security of us all? How do you think we’d manage if you were? The heavy responsibility eventually causes Tom to escape, following in the footsteps of his father.

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Amanda cannot survive without the support of a man because her upbringing never taught her how to support herself. In this aspect, Amanda is similar to Carrie, a character in Theodor Dreiser’s Sister Carrie. Amanda and Carrie both rely on men to survive.

By the end of the play, it is assumed that Tom’s absence eventually leads to Amanda and Laura‘s ultimate demise. When life becomes unbearable, Amanda recalls the days of her youth when she had seventeen gentleman callers at Blue Mountain. By telling this story so often it is no longer an illusion for Amanda, but a reality if a gentleman caller calls upon Laura, Amanda believes that everything will be made right and she will be free of responsibility. She lives in the reality that gentleman callers will appear any day and assume all of the responsibility for Laura Facing some of the brutal facts, Amanda arranges for Tom to bring home a gentleman caller. “ I mean that as soon as Laura has got somebody to take care of her, married, a home of her own, independently, then you’ll be free to go wherever you please, on land, on sea, whichever way the wind blows you.

Because the reality of an unmarried daughter is so upsetting to her, Amanda chooses to live in the past. The idea of overwhelming responsibility eventually leads to the abandonment of Amanda’s husband Due to his absence, Amanda constantly lives in the past and is unable to accept the harsh realities of the present. Therefore, she does not evolve or adapt to her surroundings, but instead is constantly moving backward Amanda uses living in the past as an escape from reality, which stems from the dependency she has grown to have on men Although she does not attach many emotional aspects to her marriage, she confesses to Tom that she did love his father. Amanda talks as if her husband’s abandonment had no effect on her, but in truth being left by her husband would have been an awful ordeal.

By pretending the abandonment meant nothing to her, Amanda ends up creating a world for herself, Amanda Wingfield lives in a world between illusion and reality When faced with the harsh realities of her life, she escapes from the truth and slips into the past. The main cause for this escape is the men in her life Men constantly have contributed to a sense of false reality in Amanda’s life. Her southern upbringing implanted the idea that a woman is useless without a man, After her husband leaves the family, Amanda refuses to acknowledge the present and is faced with a meaningless life. By living vicariously through her children and living in the past, Amanda is never fully moving forward but is stuck in the past.