the glass menagerie

Brenna Slover
English 102 Research Paper
D. Veach
11/26/13
The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams was an American author of many classics. He was born on March 26 of 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi. He was the second child of Edwina and Cornelius Coffin Williams. His father was hardly ever home due to hard core drinking and his occupation as a shoe salesman. A+E networks describes him as, “a demanding salesman who preferred work instead of parenting.” He was said to be a very violent person who was in a very unhappy marriage full of jealousy. He was jealous of the attention Edwina was showing Tennessee because of his illness. Because of this he stayed gone most of the time. During Tennessee’s early years in life he had a respiratory infection called Diphtheria. This illness almost took his life, but left him instead to recuperate for almost a full year. “It was there he began to look inward, and to write— “because I found life unsatisfactory.””(EBC) Many believe that William’s found most of his inspiration for his writing in his dysfunctional family.
Mr. Williams went to Soldan High School, which is also the high school he refers to in The Glass Menagerie. At the age of 16 he won 3rd place on the essay, “Can a Good Wife Be a Good Sport.” He won five dollars for this essay. From 1929-1931 he joined journalism classes at the University of Missouri in Canada. He attended several different universities and also worked for his father at his shoe company briefly during his early years as an adult. For the extra income, Williams began entering his essays and short stories in writing contests. Many found him to be shy and nothing but a loner who spent all of his time in front of the typewriter. By the mid 30’s, Tennessee’s mother finally separated from his father because of his alcoholism and abusive temper. She could not take it anymore. They were separated but never divorced. In 1939, Williams moved to New Orleans, where he fell in love with the city itself. New Orleans was a huge inspiration of William’s work. While living here he wrote many award winning short stories like A Street Car Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie. He became a truly inspiring play writer. He won 100$ for one of his pieces that he wrote for a contest.
The Glass Menagerie is a short story play by Tennessee Williams written in 1941. Later on in 1944 it was published. A year later The Glass Menagerie was performed onstage in Broadway. This story is one of William’s more known pieces. Most of his stories reflect his life in many ways. In The Glass Menagerie there are 4 characters. Amanda, Laura, Tom and Jim O’Conner are the main characters while Amanda’s husband only gets spoken of throughout the story.