The actual time that he grew had an absolute effect upon Williams's writing. Williams believed that, " young people thought change and adventure were possible though sex, liquor, bars, dance halls, movies and hot swing music- (Austill 101). Since most of the young were trying to get away from the actual woes of the great depression, they looked for escape. They tried to drink and party the time away; hence they did not actually have to concentrate upon real life. Jan Austill believes this is ascertained in A Streetcar Named Desire, by the dance hall that is across from the apartment building (120). An exit away from each place in the story, such as the fire escape on the side of a tenement, further showed a way to elude or escape from problems.
Tennesse had voluminous influence from his family who were trying to escape from their own problems. His father and mother in particular were of vital importance to his writing. Williams's father was an abusive, drunken shoe salesman (Hippograph Page). He traveled a lot therefore, he was not a big part of William's life. Dad Williams moved his family sixteen times in fifteen years, this contributed to Williams's misgivings of father figures. In Streetcar, there was no father personage in the story at all. The closest relationship to a father, in that story, was Blanche's unstable mother (Hippograph Page). .
While on the subject of mothers, they had a special place in Williams writing. He often modeled them after his own mother. They were controlling, a little unstable, and .
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dependent upon the other characters. A prime example of this would be Edwina, from The Glass Menagerie (Fritcher). Both women were encouraged to leave the spouses, by their children. Moreover, Jack Frichter thought both Williams's mother and Edwina had multiple issues with their lives (Frichter Page).
Another of the integral parts of Williams writing was his compelling view on sanity.