Scene 2 of The Glass Menagerie

Today in class we were having a very interesting discussion about Scene 2 of The Glass Menagerie that I just had to blog about.  At one point we were discussing whether Laura's refusal to attend school was part of her trying to be independent or if she just did not have the drive.   I believe that her absence from school was her trying to break free of her mother's shadow.  I do not think that Laura did not have the drive; I think her drive was that she did not want to end up like her mother.  In my view, Tom and Laura see Amanda as the enemy - as the exact antipode of what they hope to be.  Laura did not want to beguile her mother by not going to school, she just realized that not every woman has to follow the stereotype that Amanda wants her to follow.  She saw business school as being quixotic for her, and she wanted to follow her own path.