TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

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This was the famous birthplace of Tennessee Williams and now is the

Columbus Welcome Center

TENNESSEE AS A CHILD, HIS

MOTHER, AND SISTER ROSE.

A rare and peaceful time in their lives

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

was born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1911 to Cornelius and Edwina Williams. We know him today as the great Tennessee Williams. He was a master writer of plays which two of his most famous plays would eventually receive the Pulitzer Prize and eventually would be made into movies. But behind this wonderful master mind was a very depressed and confused man.

Tennessee struggled through out his life with his identity. He knew that he was different and felt differently but he knew he was unable to express these feelings openly.

As he grew older and began to attend college, which is where he got the nickname “Tennessee”, his writings began to reflect his life. In 1938 he moved to New Orleans and

officially took on the name Tennessee and began a new life as one of our great play writes .

THE STRUGGLES OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

Three of his most famous plays would go on to become successful movies. Two of them would win the Pulitzer Prize. He needed to reflect on his life and he did through these plays. He would show the world who Tennessee

Williams really was and that he had finally accepted that he was gay.

THE PLAYS OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

Tennessee Williams complexity of sexual attraction between a man and a woman. Here the aggressiveness of the characters and how they react are carefully portrayed in a manner to where she is sexually vulnerable and he is confidently strong.

A STREET CAR NAMED DESIRE

Tennessee Williams always portrayed the man in a very masculine and domineering way. He aimed for the audience to see the man as the desirable one.

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Tennessee was all about showing brutal violence in his plays and movies

The Glass Menagerie was a reflection of his life. He even named the main character Tom, which was short for

his real name Thomas.

THE GLASS MENAGERIE

The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie

Laura entertains Jim O’Conner, the man that Tom set up for her while Tom and his mother clean up the

kitchen. She is showing Jim what is

left of the unbroken glass

figurines that Tom accidentally broke

From “The Glass Menagerie” Amanda, who is the mother, is very overbearing and controlling and is watching Laura and Jim. At this moment she is upset with Tom because she just found out that Jim is already engaged. Tennessee had many symbolic meanings behind his plays that reflected portions of his personal life. His own mother Edwina was a spoiled Southern Belle who was overbearing yet she was very nurturing. She smothered Tennessee as a child. This was most likely due to the Diphtheria that he contracted at a very young age.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Tennessee Williams based this play solely in the bedroom. This was the movie that seemed to be based off his one true love, Frank Merlo

Maggie wanted so bad for Brick to love her and the only person he loved was now dead.

The life of Tennessee

Williams and his many

struggles to overcome

his identity was not

easy for him. When he

finally accepted who he

was, he finally was at

peace. For his writings

and his plays, one of

his directors said it

great, “Everything in

his life is in his plays,

everything in his plays

is in his life”.

Tennessee Williams

died unexpectedly in

his New York residence

on February 24, 1983.