Thomas Lanier (Tennessee) WIlliams

Thomas Lanier Williams is the subject of this biography, and a moving force on most of the secondary characters. A shy, slightly-built boy with somewhat effeminate features, Tom was picked on and ridiculed by his father, a traveling salesman who was frequently not at home and when he was present, became an out-of-control drunk.

Edwina, Tennessee's mother, was a God-fearing southern woman who had trouble understanding Tom (who became Tennessee) and particularly his homosexuality. She seems to have been the negotiator in the family who tried to temper her husband's alcoholic behavior.

Rose Williams, Tennessee's sister, was a precariously-balanced girl who withdrew from her family and the world into fantasy. Eventually, her withdrawal was seen as a sign of serious mental illness. Her parents decided to have their daughter undergo a frontal lobotomy, a brutal and archaic procedure that separates the cerebral cortex from the...