... deal with the idea of delusion. The play – which explores the themes of abandonment and the impossibility of true escape - is set in St Louis in the late 1930s. After his father abandoned his family, Tom Wingfield is left to support his overbearing mother, Amanda, and his painfully shy ... sister, Laura. Tom is a dreamer who is desperate to change his circumstances: he struggles to live with his domineering mother and he longs to quit his mundane job at the shoe ... factory. Yet Tom's love for his 'crippled' sister means that he cannot follow his dreams guilt free. The fantasy Amanda ...

• Word Count: 1567
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... , the truth behind the illusion is autobiographical. Tom is the playwright's stand-in. Tennessee Williams (born Thomas Lanier Williams) was an aspiring poet in St. Louis when he lived with his family and, at his father's behest, worked in a shoe factory. His older sister Rose was, in childhood, his one true friend and, in adulthood, a mentally unstable woman whose clashes with Williams's mother repeatedly pushed an ... already crumbling family to the brink of collapse. Rose shared Laura's delicateness and fantasy, though her grasp on reality was looser or perhaps became so as the environ...

• Word Count: 5517
• Approx Pages: 22
• Grade Level: High School

... plays] is autobiographical and no word is autobiographical. You can't do creative work and adhere to facts. For instance, in my new play there is a boy who is living in a house that I lived in, and undergoing some of the experiences that I underwent as a young writer. But his personality is totally different from mine. He talks quite differently from the way that I talk, so I ... insight into their personality. Tennessee Williams" actual first name was Thomas and he gave it to his narrator. Williams, just as Tom, worked for a shoe company but detested his job and wrote poems. Both deser...

• Word Count: 3081
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School