In describing Amanda's personality she can only be described as a southern belle desperately clinging to the past, before her dreams are destroyed by the harsh realities of the world. Amanda devastated after her daughter Laura's failure to cope in Business College, becomes obsessed with finding her a gentleman caller so that she can marry and be well supported. For Amanda, the fire escape is symbolic of her hopes and dreams--hopes and dreams that a gentleman caller will arrive. Thus Jim comes into the apartment, at the time when Amanda's hopes have been peaked for the marriage of Laura. To Amanda, Jim represents the days of her youth, when she went frolicking about picking jonquils and supposedly having "seventeen gentlemen callers on one Sunday afternoon." Although Amanda desires to see Laura settled down with a nice young man, it is hard to tell whether she wanted a gentleman caller to be invited for Laura or for herself. Amanda associates Tom with her dead husband it !
             shows by her consistently accusing Tom of being selfish. Amanda is psychologically a good case study on the borderline personality. Her highs, such as her excitement over a gentleman caller, and her lows, such as blaming Tom for all failures in their present life, marks her as an individual desperately needing professional psychological therapy.
             2. Laura Wingfield is a very complex and important character to the play. The development of Laura's character over the course of the plot is presented in her collection of glass, which represents her own private world. Set apart from reality, a place where she can hide and be safe. The events that happen to Laura's glass collection affects Laura's emotional state greatly. When Amanda tells Laura to practice typing, Laura instead plays with her glass. When Amanda is heard walking up the fire escape, she quickly hides her collection. She does this to hide her secret wo...