How Does Tennessee Williams Put Such Emphases On The Body
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In this essay I address the question: why does Tennessee Williams put such emphases on the bodies, and movements of his characters in his short fiction Mysteries of the Joy Rio. From the first page: “Pablo had… a lustrous dark grace,” to last: “the moist, hot touch of his tremulous fingers,” Williams draws out images of the body and its movements in almost uncomfortably lucid descriptions. The descriptions start out more peculiar than unnerving, such as “his delicate frame disappeared sadly from view among the irrelevant curves of a sallow plumpness. One by one the perfections which he had owned were folded away as Pablo put on fat as a widow puts on black garments.” However, as the story grows darker, so do the character’s portraits becoming