Tennessee Williams was born in 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi and struggled with his identity as a gay man for much of his life. He took the name "Tennessee" in college and officially changed it when he moved to New Orleans in 1938. Three of his most famous plays, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, reflected his personal struggles and ultimately helped him accept his sexuality. Williams drew from his own life for his complex characters and symbolic themes in his Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, which also became successful films after his death in 1983.

1. TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

2. TThis was the famous birthplace of Tennessee Williams and now is the Columbus Welcome Center

3. Tennessee as a child, his mother, and sister Rose. A rare and peaceful time in their lives

4. TENNESSEE WILLIAMSwas 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.

5. 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

6. 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.

7. THE PLAYS OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

8. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRETennessee 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.

9. A STREET CAR NAMED DESIRETennessee Williams always portrayed the man in a very masculine and domineering way. He aimed for the audience to see the manas the desirable one.

10. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRETennessee was all about showing brutal violence in his plays and movies

11. 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

12. The Glass MenagerieLaura 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 brokeThe Glass Menagerie

13. 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.

14. Cat on a Hot Tin RoofTennessee Williams based this play solely in the bedroom. This was the movie that seemed to be based off his one true love, Frank Merlo

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

16. 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.