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Allusions
Scene 6
Explanation and Analysis—A Southern Girl:
In Scene 6, Amanda transforms into a Southern Belle, mimicking a younger version of herself. She does so because the Wingfields are accepting their first gentleman caller for Laura and, recalling the memory of when she, too, would host gentlemen callers, Amanda becomes a version of her past self. Not only does Amanda alter her appearance—and enough so for Tom to be “distinctly shocked” and for Jim to be "thrown off" by her heavy-handed "social charm"—but she also speaks in a different dialect:
we’re having a very light supper. I think light things are better fo’ this time of year. The same as light clothes are. Light clothes an’ light food are what warm weather calls fo’. You know our blood gets so thick during th’ winter — it takes a while fo’ us to adjust ou’selves! — when the season changes [...] I ran to the trunk an’ pulled out this light dress — terribly old! Historical almost! But feels so good — so good an’ co-ol, y’ know. . . .
Amanda begins speaking with a Southern dialect as she approaches Tom and Jim, marked by the abbreviations of “fo’,” “th’,” “an’,” and “ou’selves.” She is mimicking her younger self, recalling her life as a southern girl courting gentlemen and charming them with her “gay laughter and chatter.”
Amanda’s transformation, while surprising, is reasonable. The audience is already aware of the fact that memory is a key theme of the play, as Tom announces this in his opening monologue. With Jim being the first gentleman caller to visit the Wingfields’ home, Amanda prepares herself with great enthusiasm. This regression to a younger version of herself demonstrates how the entire family, not just Tom, is marred by memory and clings to the past in different ways. Amanda attempts to create the illusion that the state of her home (and she herself) is the same as when she was younger—that she is still a young woman with options, that her husband has not abandoned her. However, the play’s tragic ending, with Tom leaving his family just like his father, makes clear how the Wingfields’ relationship with memory may be flawed.
Related Themes:
