days She cannot accept that time has changed This blind love for the past makes her live in dreams not in truth Amanda s Control over Tom Amanda wants Tom to behave like the ideal gentleman of her past She forgets that times are hard and life is cruel She scolds Tom for smoking going to the movies and writing poetry She says in Scene You live in a dream you manufacture illusions This line shows that Amanda herself cannot see reality She forces Tom to follow old manners but Tom wants freedom Her constant control and complaining make home life unbearable She wants him to be like her Southern heroes but Tom only feels trapped His heart longs to escape just as his father did Amanda s False Hope for Laura Amanda s obsession also hurts Laura s peace She wants Laura to act like a proper Southern lady But Laura is shy weak and afraid of people Amanda sends her to business school but she fails Then she dreams of a gentleman caller for Laura Her dream is really for herself not her daughter She wants to live her youth again through Laura When Jim visits Amanda decorates the apartment and wears her old gown like in her past days Williams uses this scene to show her vanity and her need to escape reality When Jim finally says he is engaged Amanda s dream breaks Her false hope ruins Laura s calm world The broken unicorn becomes the sign of the broken dream In Scene Laura softly says Now he will feel more at home with the other horses Amanda s Blindness to Reality Amanda cannot face the truth She calls Tom selfish but she does not see her own selfishness She uses her memories to hide the family s poverty She says All pretty girls are a trap and men expect them to be She still thinks the world is like her Blue Mountain youth Her obsession creates misery for everyone She loses Tom s love Laura s trust and her own peace In the end Tom leaves home to find freedom He says sadly in Scene Blow out your candles Laura and so goodbye This line shows that Amanda s blindness has left only darkness behind Amanda as Victim and Cause Williams does not show Amanda as cruel but as lost She is both a victim and a cause of sorrow The world has changed but she still lives in her dreams Her past was once beautiful but now it is poison to her family In Conclusion it is clear that Amanda s obsession with the past destroys the present of her family Her illusions control and false hopes bring unhappiness to all Tennessee Williams shows that living in memory is dangerous Amanda s past becomes the chain that dooms her family s future