As soon as Tom makes the momentous announcement that a gentleman caller is coming, Amanda begins immediately to make plans. As much as she has harped on the subject to Tom, she then begins to put him through a third degree and begins to find fault with Tom because he doesn’t know enough about Jim O’Connor.
Since Tom will be blamed for the evening’s failure, we should note that Tom tells her there is no need to make a fuss for Mr. O’Connor. He also emphasizes that he doesn’t know about Mr. O’Connor’s private life. Thus Amanda’s later accusations are falsely made.
Note also Tom’s futile attempt to make Amanda look at Laura realistically. She willfully ignores all of Tom’s efforts to evaluate Laura realistically. She refuses to allow Tom to refer to Laura as crippled. But as Tom points out, Laura is more than crippled; she is a girl who lives in a world of little glass ornaments and old phonograph records. But Amanda refuses to recognize these and thinks only that this will be the gentleman caller who will marry Laura.
