Joey Robinson - Defense of Amanda Wingeld - 2A - 4 Sept 2014

Amanda Wingeld is a character often criticized. However, when the part of the
story is told from the point-of-view of someone who dislikes Amanda, its difcult to read
the story and not develop a grudge towards her. From the mindset of a caring mother,
Amanda may seem to be someone who only wants, in her opinion, whats best for her
children.
From You smoke too much to stay fresh and pretty Amanda is nitpicking her
children to be the adults she wants them to grow up to be. Her helicopter parenting style
can be explained only by the stress that must have come upon her while raising children
such as Tom and Laura. Along with difcult home situations, both of Amandas children
have issues with leaving the house with no notion of where they are going. In this
sense, they have an escape from the house situation, including their mother. However,
for Amanda, there is no escape. her life is at the house, and besides her job on the
phone, there is nothing else for her to get away too.
In a sense, Amanda Wingeld oats back and forth between her dream world
and reality. In Amandas reality, Laura has hundreds of gentleman callers just waiting
to marry her. Just like when Amanda was younger, she hopes for Laura to have many
nice men to choose from when looking for a parter. But part of the dream is that
Amanda ignores Lauras cripple. Also, Toms part of the dream is his continuous support
of the family. Deep down, Amanda knows that just like his dad, Tom will eventually
pursue better things and leave his mother. Unfortunately, Amanda Wingeld knows the
difference between this fake world and reality, and uses her ability to go back and forth
as a defense mechanism against her boring, now empty, every-day life.