Introduction
Name: ___________________________
Date: _____________________________
Directions: Using the Google Search Engine and the articles listed below, write the answers to the questions which follow.
Websites:
https://www.biography.com/people/tennessee-williams-9532952
https://shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/w/williams/
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/tennessee-williams
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0931783/
https://www.wsj.com/.../in-new-york-the-tormented-triumphant-life-of-tennessee-williams
https://hyperallergic.com/436568/tennessee-williams-no-refuge-but-writing-morgan-library-museum/
https://www.shmoop.com/tennessee-williams/childhood.htm
Tennessee Williams
Introduction: Born into a tumultuous marriage and experiencing a painful childhood, Tennessee Williams became one of the greatest American playwrights to ever pen a drama. Williams' genius was in his ability to expose human emotions of disillusionment, loneliness, self-deception, loss of connection, retrogression, and "mendacity" through characters who are a paradox in strength and frailty, often attempting to live in the aristocratic Old South even though it only exists within their memories.
1.) Name the date, city and state, and with what full name Tennessee Williams was born ?
a. Date:
b.City and State:
c. Full Name:
2.) Who were his parents, and what were their professions/career choices?
a.Mother's Name: Career:
b.Father's Name: Career:
3.) When Tennessee's family moved to Missouri, he contracted ______________ which caused _________________.
4.) Tennessee's father favored his older son, Dakin, over Tennessee and called him a "__________________" which affected his son throughout his life.
5.) What did his mother do during his illness to alleviate boredom for him?
6.) Where did Tennessee Williams attend college? ( Two colleges)
7.) Which playwright had a huge impact on Tennessee Williams?
8.) Where did Tennessee get his nickname? (Two possible answers)
9.) a.) What is considered to be his greatest play?
b.) When was it published?
c.) What type of play is it?
10.) a.) Who was Rose?
b.) What procedure did she undergo?
c.) How did this affect Tennessee?
d.) Which character is based upon Rose?
e.) In which play does this character appear?
11.) What motif (recurring idea) occurs in many of Williams' plays?
12.)From what psychological state did Williams suffer from throughout most of his life?
13.) What did Tennessee Williams use as an inspiration for many of his plays/
14.) Which two plays were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama?
a.
b.
15.) Name three of Williams' plays which were made into motion pictures
a.
b.
c.
16.) When and where did Williams die, and what was his cause of death?
a. Date:
b .Location:
c. Cause of Death:
17.) What is the Southern Gothic style of writing?
18.) Define the following literary terms:
a. grotesque
b. stereotype
c. archetype
d. symbol
e. theme
f. metaphor
g. dialect
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
1.) Define "mendacity":
2.) Define tragic hero.
3.) Tennessee Williams won the ________________________ award for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the year ______________.
4.) Based upon the title of this play, what do you think the title means?