Thomas Lanier Williams, aka Tennessee Williams was born on March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi. He was the second of three children. During his childhood, Williams’s father had a drinking problem and a violent temper which would often lead to him abusing his wife and kids. After high school, Williams went to the University of Missouri for two years until he was pulled out by his father. He later started working at a shoe factory but quit soon after to pursue his dream of writing by enrolling at Washington Univeristy and the Univeristy of Iowa with a degree in English. After graduating, Williams moved to New Orleans and began writing plays and books full-time. After a very successful career, Williams died at age 71 on February 25, 1983 by choking on a bottle cap.

Williams's most famous work was a play called "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", this was a story about a man named Brick and his family. Brick struggles with depression, an alcohol addiction, secrets, the suicide of his best friend, and his fathers cancer. His family is also constantly lying to each other and lying about each other which causes tension. The play was eventually turned into a movie and was hugely successful.

The quote I chose was from William's book, A Collection of Stories, where he says, "Why did I write? Because I found life unsatisfactory.” This quote represents Williams because he was abused as a child and lived a very difficult and complicated life so he used writing as a way to escape from all of the pain that he went through in his life.

Tennessee Williams is considered one of the three best American playwrights of the 20th century. Williams is said to have brought a very realistic view of human nature and life in America into his plays. Because of Williams, we have numerous brilliant plays like Sweet Bird of Youth and a Streetcar named Desire to read and enjoy.

In my opinion, Tennessee Williams is one of the greatest playwrighters of all time. Despite having an incredibly rough childhood and a difficult life in general, he produced some of the most brilliant and well-liked plays in American history and even earned two Pulitzer Prizes for them.

My essential question, how can dishonesty ruin relationships, comes from Williams play, Cat on a hot tin roof. In the play, the family is torn apart over the lies they tell each other. Lying can ruin trust set up between people in relationships, can cause people to feel guilty, and can cause stress and anxiety on both in the relationship.