Tennessee Williams's Influence On American Society

Tennessee Williams was a profound American playwright born in 1911. He was considered ahead of his time when he wrote American drama in the 1900s. His first classic was The Glass Menagerie (1944) that was attributed to his unhappy past life. Afterwards, he wrote such American classics as A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959). Thomas Lanier Williams III was born in Columbus, Mississippi. His father Cornelius sold shoes for a living, while his mother Edwina took care of the children. As a child, Williams suffered from many illnesses that made his childhood more stagnant than imagined. Because of this, a resentment grew between his father and him, creating what Williams described as a touch family background and it provided

In 1939, Williams met Audrey Wood, who would later become his agent. With her help, he was awarded a grand as a recognition of one of his plays by the Rockefeller Foundation. Using this money, he wrote for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was started by President FDR as a program to help put people back to work. Arguably his most famous work, The Glass Menagerie, was written in 1944 in Chicago. The play started being performed in Chicago, but later moved to New York City and took off on the Broadway Circuit. Elia Kazan (who directed many of Williams’ greatest successes) said of Williams: “Everything in his life is in his plays, and everything in his plays is in his life” (Oakes 373). During 40s-60s, Williams career was booming and he had lots of

Mr. Williams had a whole relationship with a man. The public knew nothing of Tennessee’s sexual orientation or his relationship with Frank Merlo (“Gay Influence”). The relationship had many problems as many relationships do. Frank wanted Williams all to himself, but sadly Williams was not a faithful person. The relationship was finally released when both men were on set for the filming of The Glass Menagerie. Jack Warner, who is the head of the Warner Brothers, was the one that was producing the film when he ran into Frank on the set. “He walked up to Merlo and asked, ‘And what do you do, young man?’ Frank replied, ‘My job is to sleep with Mr. Williams”’ (“Gay Influence”). The revealing of his relationship took a toll on him and he went back to drinking and doing drugs. Frank felt betrayed by Williams doing this because Williams promised him that he would not do it. Honestly, Williams wondered why he was so prone on him not doing drugs because Frank smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day. He smoked so much until the point that he developed a hacking cough by the 1960s. Soon after, Frank died of inoperable lung cancer. The death sent Williams in a seven-year period of drugs, sex, and