In the character of Amanda in The Glass Menagerie, I also see Mrs. Dalton from Richard Wright's Native Son. Both characters believe they are helping people who need help, but never really listen to that person's side. Amanda does consider her daughter's position as a mentally disabled person, who clearly doesn't want to go to business school or try and marry a "gentleman caller". She only wishes for her daughter to blend in to the society around her, and does so by pushing for her to look as pretty as possible at all times, so that a man can come marry her after her failed attempt at getting a job. In this time period, women could either marry, or do clerical work. Since Laura already skipped her classes, Amanda wants to quickly marry her off so she doesn't have to worry about being taken care of as she grows old.
In Native Son, this same ignorance can be seen in Mrs. Dalton. Yes on the surface it seemed she wanted to help Mr. Greene, but it's clear she most likely didn't take into consideration Mr. Greene's perspective. Even if he did go to night school, his position was most likely not to improve, and the comfort he felt working for the Dalton's was surely much better than the racism he'd have to confront in the real world. Mrs. Dalton ignored that, and forced him to go to night school, believing she'd done something to help him,