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 * Tennessee Williams by Joseph Figueroa**

Tennessee Williams was one of the most influential dramatists during the World War II era. Born in Columbus, Mississippi, Tennessee did not have the perfect childhood. Sources state that Tennessee’s father Cornelius was often abusive toward Tennessee and would refer to him as “Miss Nancy” (Williams, Tennessee) because he chose books over sports. Tennessee was very close to his older sister Rose, who was often in institutions for schizophrenia. He attended the University of Iowa, Washington University, and the University of Missouri, where he studied American Literature, Poetry and earned a B.A. Degree Tennessee’s work had no relation to events that took place in his life like other author but displayed his current emotions at the time. Themes that took place in Tennessee Williams’ pieces included, the Anti hero, Predicament of Women, Spiritual Stability, Illusion vs. Reality, and Repressed Passion. Tennessee’s works displayed his dislike for hypocrisy and sent a message of separating the strong from the weak in society. Tennessee Williams’ __Cat on a Hot Tin Roof__ is considered his most controversial piece exploring the idea of homosexuality and the greed of people within a family (Williams Tennessee). The best pieces of Tennessee Williams included //__Battle of Angels__// 1940, //__The Glass Menagerie__// 1944, and his most famous //__A Streetcar Named Desire__// 1947(Stanton, Stephen). These plays made Tennessee Williams one of the major play writers of the twentieth century along with, Arthur Miller, and Eugene O’Neill. Fellow play writers and critics saw Tennessee as a poetic innovator who refused to limited or restricted and became one of the co-founders of “New Drama” (Williams, Tennessee). Though Tennessee did not write about events that have happened in his life, he did write about his feelings and things that where dear to him. For example in Tennessee’s pieces, the viewer can see the display of the embracement of homosexuality, for which Tennessee was a homosexual. (Hamilton, Carole) Members of Tennessee’s family where strong personal factors in his dramas. His sister Rose is displayed as a character Laura in, //__The Glass Menagerie__// 1944. In Tennessee’s plays, poems, and personal essays where all drawn up from experiences from his persona. “Williams saw himself as a shy, sensitive gifted man trapped in a world where “mendacity” replaced communication, brute violence replaced love, and loneliness was, all too often, the standard human condition. (Tennessee, Williams). Tennessee felt compelled to “express his poetic vision” Therefore with the more he wrote the stronger the themes and the messages in his pieces became and the more popular his pieces became. A common message in his work exhibited a concern with time and place and how it affects men and women. People took notice of this message and can now be seen in many author pieces today. Tennessee William’s pieces of poetry and plays have helped shape American playwrights into what they are today. His message and wide variety of themes can affect a wide variety of people with what he has to say. With his own experiences and feelings displayed in his pieces, this made Tennessee Williams one of the most famous play writers and dramatists of the twentieth century.

//__Drama for Students__// was a very useful source for this project. It gave a brief biography of the author then analyzed the works of the author. Within the analysis it explained themes used in the plays. It also explained messages within the plays and analyzed the plots of the plays. I would recommend this source to any one who is looking for an analysis of all the works of Tennessee Williams.
 * __Annotated Bibliography__**
 * 1) Hamilton, Carole. __Drama for Students__. 17. The Gale Group Inc, 2003.

2.Stanton, Stephen. __Tennessee__ __Williams__. New York: Prentice Hall Inc, 1994.

In this resource, many authors analyze Tennessee Williams works. It shows the date in which the where published and performed and also showed common themes between the plays. Along with themes it also gave the reader a more in-depth idea of how Tennessee Williams relates to the play, how his emotions are brought into his work rather then experiences. I would recommend that they add some photographs in the book to show the reader what the author looked like. This would be a good resource to someone who is trying to understand Tennessee Williams work a little better.

3."Williams, Tennessee (1911-1983)." //DISCovering Biography//. Online ed. Detroit : Gale, 2003. //Student// //Resource Center// //- Gold//. Gale. Fuquay Varina High School/WCPS/. 29 May. 2008 http://www.galenet.com/servlet/srcx This essay is a short biography of Tennessee Williams life. The essay explains his childhood all the way up to his adulthood. Also it gives background information on his schooling as a child and in college. It tells the reader about his most famous works, how successful the where and when they where performed. I recommend this source to anyone who is looking for a lot of information and doesn’t want to go through the hassle of looking through a lot of books. This source was very useful to me and provided the most amount of information.

4."Tennessee Williams." 1-3. __EBSCO__. Literary Reference Center. 23 May 2008 .

This resource showed autobiographical resources, along with an evaluation of selected criticism section. This pieces show other sources that show what people though of Tennessee Williams work along with what they thought of him. This source can be useful in looking for other sources on what people thought, and their analysis of Tennessee Williams. If I could change one thing about this source I would include quotes and pieces of writing for other people of their criticism and analysis of Tennessee Williams.