Character chart for Act I

Name	Role	Personality	details
Tom	The youngest son in the family	tolerant,	As the youngest son, he supports his whole family by doing the work that he doesn’t really like. Even though he has a dream of being a poet, he didn’t quit his job anyways. He still loves his family and work hard for his families. As the narrator of the play, the views that audiences have towards other characters are all depended on his impression of others. Therefor, after watching the play, people can tell that Tom doesn’t enjoy his life. He doesn’t want his mother to give him order all the time. He doesn’t want to be a worker in the shoe factory either. All he wanted was to be just like others in his age-go out at night, drinking and dancing-and even be a writer. However, all these are unrealistic for him because he has to keep doing his job in order to sustain his family.
Laura	The older sister in the family	naive, not sensible, careless	As the older sister in the family, Laura doesn’t do anything to help reduce the pressure they have. Even when mom paid for her to go into the typing school, she didn’t go. All she does was playing with her glass toys. Laura once liked a boy but they didn’t end up together. Laura has no confidence in herself that she didn’t think gentlemen callers will come to her house and ask for her hand.
Amanda	The mother in the family	harsh, narrow-minded, hopeless,	Amanda is really harsh on her children, especially Tom. She always mention that Tom is just like him father. Amanda grew up happily and had lots gentlemen callers chasing after her. However, she end up marring Tom’s father. After Tom’s father left her and their children, Amanda is on her own. She’s too old to go and get a job. Or even if she does get a job, it won’t be enough for the family to pay for the bill. Therefore, Amanda’s greatest wish was for Laura to get married as soon as possible and hopefully Laura’s husband will take care of her too.
Father	The father in the family	Cruel, irresponsible,	This character is quite different from other characters in the play. He only exist in people’s talking. All people can see about his is his picture which is hanging on the wall of the apartment. The father left Amanda and her children because he loved to go to places in long distances and wanted to go travel. Even he had left the family, he’s picture is always in the apartment to remind the rest of the family-they have such a tough life only because the man of the house had left. Tom is a lot like his father. He likes the outside world and wished to go and seize his dream. However, he stayed with his family. He will not abandon his family just like his father did.