Throughout scenes one through four of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, Amanda places too much pressure on Laura, and consequently strips Laura of the ability to make her own decisions and lead her own life. Not only does Amanda's control keep Laura from pursuing her own interests, but it also hinders her ability to be productive and fit into society, because she knows that she must succeed or else her mother will consider her an immense failure. When Amanda pays to put Laura through business college, Laura is overwhelmed by nerves because she is finally placed in a position where what she does could make or break her relationship with her mother as well as her entire future. She becomes so overwhelmed that according to her teacher her "hands shook so she couldn't hit the right keys! The first time we gave a speed test she broke down completely"(2.16). Rather than facing her own problems, she retreats into her own imagination and leads a life completely different than her mother anticipates. She is so terrified of admitting to her mother that she has stopped attending school that she spends countless days walking around, visiting the zoo and walking around the parks in order to avoid her priorities while convincing Amanda that she is still in school. From the beginning, Amanda does not simply want Laura to find a job so that she can be happy and lead the best life possible, but rather so that she can provide for her family and secure a financially stable future. There is no actual feeling of love or concern motivating Amanda's decision to force Laura to find a job or find a husband. Amanda does not realize that she is to blame for Laura's nerves, and instead places the blame on Laura. Upon discovering Laura's dishonesty, Amanda scolds Laura, "So what are we going to do for the rest of our lives? Stay home and watch the parades go by? Amuse ourselves with the Glass Menagerie, Darling? ... We won't have a business career-- We've given that up because it gave us nervous indigestion!"(2.34) This constant source of pressure and dissatisfaction does nothing to aid Laura in overcoming her shyness, and in fact serves as a catalyst. Amanda convinces Laura that she is a failure by exposing the child-like qualities of her actions rather than encouraging her to improve her life. Laura finds so much pleasure in her glass distractions that when they shatter, she finds it difficult to hide her disappointment. When Tom's jacket shatters Laura's glass, she "cries out as if wounded"(3.18) and "covers her face and turns away"(3.18). Since Laura has invested so much in her glass, and become so familiar with using it as her escape from reality, she is unable to function without it and is physically and emotionally hurt by the loss of such sentimental items. This proves that Amanda's constant pressure that she places on Laura does not help her, because she in turn becomes too invested in distractions such as glass which could shatter and break at any moment.
In my own life I know what it's like to be pressured into doing something to the point where it becomes terrifying to do. Not only wanting to please others, but wanting to prove to myself that I am capable of doing something is enough to trigger nerves that could hinder my ability to think clearly and perform properly. Sometimes no matter how focused you are I think that external forces and pressures can be a distraction. For example, when basketball players are shooting free throws, they often miss shots that they could easily make as a result of the pressure and the amount of people watching them and wanting them to succeed.
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