Parallels in the Life of William and a Streetcar Named Desire and Glass MenagerieTennessee Williams is one of America's greatest playwrights. He constantly shocked audiences with themes such as homosexuality, drug addiction and rape. He breaks free from taboos on these subjects and opens the way for future playwrights. He was also a very good writer. One of the things he is famous for is his dialogue, which is very poetic. Williams wrote about his life. The Glass Menagerie is a very autobiographical piece. A Streetcar Named Desire, although intended for a play that everyone can relate to, also contained characters and situations from his life. In both plays, the characters are taken 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. 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 traveling shoe salesman and rarely stayed 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, he went to live with them after working at the factory in order to recuperate. He was very close to his sister Rose and took care of her when she was older. In 1918, Tom's father got a job as manager of a shoe company in St. Louis. Tom hated the big city. His father constantly teased him by calling him a sissy, calling him Miss Nancy. His mother...... middle of paper...... the plays address 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 themes that were not considered appropriate at the time. His own life was very chaotic. He always felt guilty towards his sister.Bibliography A Streetcar Named Desire. By Tennessee Williams. Real. Scottish Whitney. Harlequin 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 to Tennessee Williams. New York: Cambridge Press, 1997 Williams, TN. “The Glass Menagerie”. Anthology of American Literature: From Realism to the Present. By Tennessee Williams. Ed. McMichael, George et. al. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. 1445-