Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh Quiz

Take our free Tennessee Williams quiz below, with 25 multiple choice questions that help you test your knowledge. Determine which chapters, themes and styles you already know and what you need to study for your upcoming essay, midterm, or final exam. Take the free quiz now!

What was the darker side of Tennessee's success following "The Glass Menagerie?" (from The Erotics of Absence)

Williams' descent into alcoholism and drug addiction.

The playwright's inability to sustain an intimate relationship.

His resentment at feeling "bullied" by fans and sycophants, and a growing sense of paranoia that he had written himself out in the face of success by other playwrights such as Arthur Miller.

Williams' loss of confidence in himself as an honest artist.

Who became executor of Williams literary estate? (from The Erotics of Absence)

Audrey Wood.

Dakin Williams.

Elia Kazan.

Maria Britneva.

What did Tennessee Williams find most discouraging about his engagement with Hollywood over production of "The Glass Menagerie?" (from The Erotics of Absence)

The fact the studio wanted to sensationalize presentation of the drama, instead of respecting it as a work of art.

The fact that "script doctors," or "the cornball department," as Williams called them, wanted to rewrite the ending into something more palatable to them.

That the studio insisted on shooting it in black and white, instead of color.

The refusal of the movie studio to cast Laurette Taylor as Amanda WIngfield.

How did Tennessee Williams characterize his life? (from The Sudden Subway)

As the struggle of a gay artist to be accepted despite his sexual preference.

As a search for sanity and serenity is a life and world filled with madness.

As a constant discovery and revelation of truth.

As "a never-ending contest with the squares of the world."

What did Dakin Williams do to intervene in his brother's downward spiral after the dearth of Frank Merlo? (from Waving and Drowning)

Dakin bought Tennessee a dog, to replace the one that had attacked him in Key West.

Dakin affirmed for his brother that they were the products of an insane family and that they were, in fact, sane.

He convinced Tennessee to come with him for a visit to their sister, Rose.

Dakin convinced Tennessee to come with him to a specialty hospital in St. Louis to be treated by a world-renown psychiatrist.