Effects of an Absentee Father

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

While The Glass Menagerie only has four official characters, a fifth character, Mr. Wingfield, plays a critical role in characterization and the production of conflict.  In the first scene, Amanda, with a tinge of resentment, reveals to the audience that Mr. Wingfield has long sense abandoned the family and left her alone to raise their children.  This abandonment profoundly affects Amanda, disposing her to paranoia and obsession.  Accordingly, in the third scene, Amanda acts upon her paranoia.  After interrogating Tom about where he goes at night, Amanda replies, dissatisfied with Tom's answer, "I don't believe that you go every night to the movies," (Williams 1246).  The paranoia resulting from Mr. Wingfield's departure has forced Amanda to distrust her son.  Furthermore, responding to such paranoia, Tom becomes enraged and verbally attacks his mother with hurtful names and overly sarcastic rants.  Thus, Mr. Wingfield, even though not physically present in the play, influences the work strongly.  Without his actions, Amanda and Tom could have been two completely different characters rather than their paranoid and emotionally reactive selves. Also, Wingfield's abandonment indirectly drives the external conflict between Amanda and Tom.   Finally, had Mr. Wingfield remained with his family, almost all conflict in the play would not exist, except for Laura's need for a gentleman caller.  However, that need would be lessened as Amanda would not obsess over Laura's future as much knowing that she had a provider, her father, to support her in times of need.