Spring Storm

by Tennessee Williams (1937)

Setting:
Port Tyler, Mississippi near the Mississippi River.
Spring 1937

Synopsis:
A young couple, Heavenly and Dick, argue about their potential future together; because they reside in different social strata, their love is scandalous. The community gossips endlessly, and Heavenly’s family, her mother especially, urges her to kindle a relationship with Arthur, a classier, wealthier lad who has had his eye on Heavenly since grade school when she and the other school children ridiculed him for having excellent taste in literature. Arthur’s casts his admirer, Hertha, aside, leading her to run away from her workplace, to her death. Heavenly’s mother insists on apologizing to a painting of her once great ancestor, for reputation tarnishing deeds, but no painting has the power to secure Heavenly into a suitable relationship. By the end of the play, both Dick and Arthur have left Heavenly, and Heavenly is left thinking about the life of an old maid.

Thoughts:
Tennessee Williams wrote this play during the Great Depression, a time when many folks in high, Mississippi society were living outside of their means, waiting for opportunities to join children and assets in matrimony. Spring Storm discusses the idea that a woman can determine, for herself, who she wants to be sexually active with and whether she wants to be sexually active before marriage or not. This must have been shocking at the time. I appreciate the depth of his characters; until doing further research, I didn't realize that he was still at university in 1938. His class apparently passed it over, as if it had no merit, but now, it is plain to see the richness of the world that he’s created. Four young people, in a society that cramps their style, deal with untamed emotion in the only ways that they know how to, leading up to death and despair. I’d like to read it again sometime soon.