American Literature

A critic has very rightly remarked about Williams, In his writing, in his eternal defense of those who think differently, who have different ways of being, Tennessee Williams represents a far higher morality, a far higher and more developed humanity, than do those who accuse him of immorality and lack of faith in humanity.
WILLIAMS BELIEFS -
Words are often what we want to express, what we want the world to know, what we ourselves want to realize about our own selves. This holds true for Williams. His plays, short stories, poems, all signify his beliefs, culture, faith and religion. That he was different is evident from his works. The tensions between sexuality, society, and Christianity were a part of Williams drama, signifying their presence in his life as well. He had spent most of his life as a wanderer, as an outcast. Nonetheless, his works give away the same.
THE THEME OF CRUELTY -
In James Njorneboes words, Williams fundamental theme is cruelty in three variants The cruelty of human beings (the masses cruelty to the individual), the cruelty of nature (in the animal-organic processes themselves), and the cruelty of God (as the one responsible for the whole cosmic-metaphysical system of cruelty, hunger, decay and death). That his plays to a rather high degree are full of overwrought, ruined and supersensitive people is a logical result of the fact that Tennessee Williams own meeting with reality, as seen through his writings, has been one big breakdown.
There are no good or bad people, Tennessee wrote. Some are a little better or a little worse, but all are activated more by misunderstanding than malice. Blindness to what is going on in each others hearts . . . nobody sees anybody truly but all through the flaws of their own egos. That is the way we all see each other in life. Vanity, fear, desire, competition--all such distortions within our own egos--conditions our vision of those in relation to us...
UNDERSTANDING Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
In a play like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof the theme is about morality, sexuality and how the society influences the same the protagonist of the play rejects his homosexual friend as the society influences him to think that their relationship might be an erotic one. This however forces the friend to commit suicide. This makes the protagonist rethink about himself as he gives in to the collective morality and the objections of people around him. As Sartre would have said, he gives in to the others and hence, becomes the murderer. His futility is well established in the following dialogue
 Look at Gooper. Look at what hes become. Is that what you wanted him to be And look at me. You put it very well indeed. Im a thirty-year-old kid, and pretty soon Im gonna be a fifty-year-old kid. I dont know what to believe in. Now whats the good of livin if youve got nothin to believe in Theres gotta be some, some purpose in life, some meanin. Look at me. For the sake of God, look at me before its too late. For once in your life, look at me as I really am. Look at me. Im a failure. Im a drunk. On my own in the open market, Im not worth the price of a decent burial.
The above words also depict Williams own feelings since it is known that Williams relationship with his own father was a sour one.
    Williams thoughts about institutionalized religion and public approach to churches and priests were very clear. They can be well traced in his plays. This he very clearly elucidates from the character of Revered Tooker in Cat in a Hot Tin Roof.
UNDERSTANDING SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER
Tennessee has been quoted I have had a life of required endurance, a life of clawing and scratching along a sheer surface and holding on tight with raw fingers to every inch of rock higher than the one caught hold of before. We see, Big Daddy as a preacher who is full of axioms and preaching. He says, Life is important. Theres nothing else to hold on onto.
Suddenly Last Summer continues the same, but in a different way in the form of a dazzlingly clear and cool analysis of our Western cultural crisis. The crowds murder of the individual is not lacking here either the protagonist, who does not appear in the play at all, is killed on the street by a flock of half-grown boys in a southern land. He was a poet, and his production consists in his writing one poem a year as he travels around the world with his millionaire mother, to squeeze all the refinement and pleasure out of life which they are both still capable of doing.
In its own way Suddenly Last Summer is Tennessee Williams most sinister play it too explores a character, good and healthy on the verge of encountering madness.
The image of the man who is killed by the flock of boys is enhanced by the fact that he himself collaborates in the murder, but also by another image which sets its stamp on the play the account of the birds who eat the newly-hatched turtles alive And the birds are naturally without guilt in their cruelty they are merely a part of nature, but part of a large nature, of an evil cosmos. These birds are in turn a vision of GodGod is evil. He has created this world of suffering and cruelty. Of course this is not Tennessee Williams conclusion That God is evil. It exists as a dread, as a possibility for an oversensitive person who in his writing is deeply engaged with the problem of evil in general. Williams pain is the pain of seeing, suffering at the sight of others sufferings.
It is sex without love that results in the catharsis of Sebastian in Suddenly Last Summer it is sex without love that drives Brick and Maggie apart. In fact, sex is a very big theme or motif in every play of Williams. In Suddenly Last Summer, Williams portrayal of the brother-sister incest has huge autobiographical overtones. Williams plays suggest that he strongly believes that the only way to get at each other is through sexual act. A stark difference to this thought is however shown in Shannon  Hanna Jelkes encounter in The Night of the Iguana.
UNDERSTANDING the Night of the Iguana -
In Hannahs words, Shanons problem, is the oldest one in the world  the need to believe in something or someone  almost anyone  almost anythingsomething..I have discovered something to believe inBroken gates between people so that they can reach each other, even if its just for the night only.
To quote a sentence from The Night of the IguanaWhen the Mexican painter Siqueiros did his portrait of the American poet Hart Crane he had to paint him with closed eyes because he couldnt paint his eyes openthere was too much suffering in them and he couldnt paint it. A critic very correctly notes, The problem is not just that the world is cruel, evil on an individual plane it is also this What is the person to do who feels not only his own pain, but also others How can one live in the world If one wants to quote the Gospels, one would have to say How can I overcome the world