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¶ … Tennessee Williams reflect his personal struggles and serve as vehicles for poignant social commentary. From "Glass Menagerie" to "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" to "A Streetcar Named Desire," Williams served up a set of masterpieces that delighted critics and audiences alike. His screenplays are among some of the most famous in American history, as big name film stars like Elisabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Kirk Douglas, and Paul Newman filled his leading roles. Plays like "A Streetcar Named Desire," for which Williams earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1948, unearthed unpleasant realities in American family and social life. Filled with irony, dark humor, and symbolism, "A Streetcar Named Desire" remains one of the most significant screenplays in American literary history.
Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams in 1911, in Columbus Missouri. In 1939 began using the name Tennessee. His childhood was filled with turmoil and struggle, which prompted Williams to weave themes of pain and abuse into his writing. His sister Rose had schizophrenia and received one of the first prefrontal lobotomies performed in the United States. Her...
His mental and emotional instability did wonders for his creativity, however, and that same year he gained some fame as a playwright. All Williams's plays tend to address controversial and complex issues including homosexuality, wife beating, and mental illness, even as they attempt to uncover deeper existential issues underlying these unpleasant realities. "Streetcar" is no exception.
Blanche DuBois is the protagonist in "A Streetcar Named Desire," and her refined, snobbish attitudes clash severely with her brother-in-law Stanley. Events in Blanche's life, including the loss of her family's estate, cause her to move to New Orleans to live with her sister and brother-in-law. A remnant of the Southern aristocracy, Blanche struggles with her past, present, and future. Her denial of and lies about her past, coupled with her fears of aging and isolation, lead up to her eventual commitment to a mental asylum. Her sister Stella is pregnant and gives birth by the end of the play. Her marriage to Stanley is ugly at times and abusive, but moments of…
Another theme that tends to occur in many of the main plays is that of the outsider or the marginalized, sensitive individual who feels an outcast in society. The central theme on which he based most of his plays is, "the negative impact that conventional society has upon the "sensitive nonconformist individual" (Haley, D.E). This theme can possibly be linked to Williams' homosexuality in a time when homosexuals were not
Blurring the Gap Between Fiction and Real Life This is a paper that outlines how modern literature integrates personal experiences of the writers into works of fiction. It has 5 sources. It is quite interesting to note the means by which eminent writers attract attention to their ideas and literary content. On closer examination, we may come to the conclusion that the means by which public attention may be grabbed has
Williams and His Work Williams used the theater as a way to vent his own heart -- as Lahr notes, the playwright produced works that allowed him "to be simple, direct and terrible" (Lahr xiv). Thus, Williams' plays were "an emotional autobiography" (Lahr xiv). Beginning with his first success, The Glass Menagerie, Williams showed that he would draw from his own life and experiences to put something dramatic on the stage
Women and the Home Front in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee during the Civil War This paper examines the living conditions and attitudes that shaped the lives of the women in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee during and after the American Civil War. The thesis statement should deal with the breakdown of long standing ties between the people of the mountains as they chose to fight for the
Amanda is a former southern belle, who enjoyed a very comfortable and somewhat decadent upbringing. After her husband leaves, and she struggles to raise and financially support her children alone, her social life suffers, making her frustrated and lonely just like her highly introverted daughter. This is perhaps why she is so focused upon finding a suitor (and eventually husband) for Laura. She does not want her daughter to
2) states: An eligible employee shall be entitled to a total of seven days of leave because of the death of a parent, spouse, son, daughter, or person for whom the employee serves as designated representative... If the deceased died in the line of duty as a member of the uniformed services. Such leave is intended to permit the employee to prepare for or attend the burial ceremony of the