Parallels Between the Life of William and a Streetcar Named Desire and the Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams is one of America's greatest playwrights. He constantly shocked audiences with themes such as homosexuality, drug addiction and rape. He freed himself from taboos on such topics, paving the way for future playwrights. He was also an excellent writer. One of the things he is famous for is his dialogues, which are very poetic. Williams wrote about his life. The Glass Menagerie is a very autobiographical work. A Streetcar Named Desire, although intended for a play that anyone can relate to, also contained characters and situations from his life. In both plays, the characters are drawn from his life. The other relationship I would like to discuss is the similarities between The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire, which have similar characters and themes in all of them. Tennessee Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams, in 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi. He had an older sister named Rose, born in 1909; his younger brother, Dakin, was born in 1919. Williams lived with his mother and parents in small Southern towns. His father was a shoe peddler, who was rarely at home. The first years of his life were very idyllic. His father was rarely around, so he wasn't teased as much and he enjoyed living with his grandparents. In fact, after working in the factory, he went to stay with them to recover. He was very close to his sister Rose and took care of her when she was older. In 1918, Tom's father found work as the manager of a shoe company in St. Louis. Tom hated the big city. His father constantly teased him that he was a sissy, calling him Miss Nancy. His mother...center of card...the plays deal with many common themes, often themes from Williams' own life. He was a writer who broke taboos and wrote about depraved people, people going crazy and many other topics that were not considered appropriate at the time. His life was very chaotic. He always felt guilty towards his sister. Bibliography A tram called Desiderio. By Tennessee Williams. Scottish Dir. Whitney. Arlecchino Productions, Olympia. September 1998.2. “Remember Tennessee Williams.” Tom Sullivan. June 21, 2000. http://www.lambda.net/~maximum/williams.html Roudane, Mathew C. Ed. The Cambridge Companion of Tennessee Williams. New York: Cambridge Press, 1997 Williams, Tennessee. “The glass menagerie”. An Anthology of American Literature: From Realism to the Present. By Tennessee Williams. Ed. McMichael, George et. al. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. 1445-
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