gentlemen caller from his work to introduce to Laura. Amanda explains to Tom that she knows that he wants to leave them, but he should at least be responsible enough to take care of his sister's destiny before he departs. Tom and Laura do have a close relationship, and he obliges with Amanda's request to bring home a gentlemen caller for his sister. For Tom movies were always exciting for him and were another avenue of escape from the world. In the play, Amanda constantly questions Tom about his daily “leaves to the movies.” Tom tries to explain that he loves the movies so much, but Amanda does not believe that his evenings are so innocent. Meanwhile, Laura is very shy girl and does not want to be involved with the world outside of their apartment. She collects tiny glass animals and she treasures them more than actually participating in daily contact with the public. It comes to the point where Amanda enrolls her in a business school, hoping Laura will have some sort of trade and be able to support herself in the future. But, Laura is so shy that she does not attend classes and is eventually dropped from the enrollment. Amanda somehow convinced Tom into inviting a nice young man from the shoe warehouse over to their apartment for dinner. When Jim O'Connor comes to dinner, Laura recognizes him as the boy that she had a crush on in high school. After dinner, Amanda tells Jim to keep Laura accompanied in the parlor. Initially, Laura is petrified, but she begins to feel more comfortable around him as they reminisce over high school days. Jim dances with Laura and kisses her, only to reveal that he is engaged to another woman and must leave. This, seemingly, is the turning point of the play. Amanda believes that Tom has purposely made them look like fools and eventually got Tom to leave, just as his father had. At the end of the play, Tom realizes that he will never be able to forget the sister he had left beh...
