Tennessee Williams “the Glass Menagerie, a Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with Wilson’s Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

This article is about comparing and contrasting the works of Tennessee Williams “The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with Wilson’s “Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”.. I will be comparing the similarities of their works and the differences in their works. They do not share the same qualities but both were skilled and unique writers, different in many ways, but uniquely similar in some ways.

Tennessee Williams and August Wilson were two of the best play writes of the postwar period. I will be comparing and contrasting the work of William’s “The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with Wilson’s “Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”. Although they were different in their writing styles they both were unique and outstanding in their writings, and were similar in some ways. Wilson’s writings seem to have come from the different cultural traditions which was related to him being biracial, but more so from an Afican Ameican perspective. William’s writings seem to have related to his unstable household and troublesome life. The combination of nationality, sexual prefrence and troublesome home life is what fueled their phenomenal writings.

August Wilson was the child of an Anglo Saxon American mother and African American father. Although Wilson was an atheous (did not believe in God) his award winning drama “Fences”, set in the 1950’s was a domestic drama that examines the psychological battles of the secular “ blues man” in a Christian oriented African American society. Unlike Wilson the main character Troy in the drama “Fences” did not openly blaspheme against God for his misfortunes, yet his obvious disregard for the saving grace of the church still reflects his less vocal form of atheism. While Christianity does not interest Troy, he adopts the game of baseball as a more relevant metaphor for his life.

Tennessee William’s (born Thomas Lanier Williams) drama “The Glass Menagerie” was similar to August Wilson’s “Fences” due to the associatation of the main characters Troy in “Fences”, and Tom in “The Glass Menagerie” being a reflection of the two writers. At age twelve William’s father’s job transferred him to St. Louis Missouri for a managerial position. Away from the security and familiarity of his rural upbringing, Williams became the subject of ridicule among his new urban peers and unsympathetic father, who nicknamed his shy and sickly son “Miss Nancy”. He then began to write poetry and short fiction to relieve the strain of such derision and alienation. He did not deal with the different

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