Tennesse Williams- Life Experiences In His Works...
In every author's life, there is an event or sequence of childhood /early adulthood events that have shaped the author's life and general point of view. These events often color or influence the author's outlook and filter their way into the author's works. Tennessee Williams' personal life and experiences have been the direct subject matter for his dramas. He uses his experiences so as to universalize them through the means of the stage. Thus, his life is utilized over and over again in the creation of his dramas. "My work is emotionally autobiographical. It reflects the emotional currents of my life," say Williams.
Tennessee Williams was born on March 26, 1911 in the rectory of the Episcopal church in Columbus, Mississippi. His father was a violent and aggressive man. He had been a lieutenant in the Spanish-American War. This heritage of adventurousness and violence fused with his mother's romanticism and Southern gentility seems to have determined the conflict of emotions expressed in Williams' plays.
Shortly after their marriage, he became a traveling shoe salesman for the International Shoe Company. Since he was always on the road, Tennessee spent the first eight years of his life, along with his mother and his older sister Rose. At the age of five, young Williams became ill with diphtheria, the first of many illnesses. Williams' many illnesses made him a hypochondriac, and he remained delicate and shy. During these years, his sister Rose was his constant companion. He regarded her as a symbol of loveliness.
In 1918, Tennessee's family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, to join his father, who had been promoted to sales manager of a branch office. His parents were constantly quarreling, and he often became the object of his father's vindictiveness. His father remained alien to the needs and interests of his family. His mother conditioned by the necessity of raising a virtually fatherless family, became domination and demanding....
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