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    A Study Guide for Jesse Lynch Williams's "Why Marry?"
    A Study Guide for Jesse Lynch Williams's "Why Marry?"
    A Study Guide for Jesse Lynch Williams's "Why Marry?"
    Ebook51 pages39 minutes

    A Study Guide for Jesse Lynch Williams's "Why Marry?"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Jesse Lynch Williams's "Why Marry?", excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateMay 15, 2018
    ISBN9781410393449
    A Study Guide for Jesse Lynch Williams's "Why Marry?"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Jesse Lynch Williams's "Why Marry?" - Gale

      14

      Why Marry?

      Jesse Lynch Williams

      1917

      Introduction

      Jesse Lynch Williams, an author of short fiction, novels, and plays, is perhaps best known for being the recipient of the first Pulitzer Prize for Drama, in 1918, for his play Why Marry?, which was first produced in 1917. The work was originally published in 1914 as a three-act play titled And So They Were Married: A Comedy of the New Woman. In Why Marry?, Williams examines contemporary views on marriage, divorce, and gender roles. The character of Helen epitomizes the cultural phenomenon of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries known as the New Woman. The term was used to describe women with feminist ideals who generally frowned on marriage and who sought higher education, professional careers, and financial independence. Williams, through the character of Helen, appears to challenge conventional views on marriage and gender roles, but as the play progresses, the other characters in the play increasingly view Helen's opposition to marriage as something unnatural and strange. By the play's conclusion, Helen's stance on marriage reaches a critical juncture. Why Marry?is available in a modern reprint published in 2013.

      Author Biography

      Williams was born in Sterling, Illinois, on August 17, 1871, to Meade and Elizabeth Williams. Educated at Princeton University, Williams received a bachelor's degree in 1892, then a master's degree in 1895, and would be awarded an honorary doctorate of literature in 1919. Williams married Alice Laidlaw in 1898; the couple had three children over the course of their marriage. While he pursued his studies at Princeton, Williams, along with cofounder Booth Tarkington, established a theatrical group known as the Triangle Club, which remains in existence. During his years as a graduate student, Williams wrote a collection of short stories, Princeton Stories, which was published in 1895.

      After receiving his master's degree, Williams worked as a reporter for the New York Sun. He continued to write and publish literary work during his years as a journalist. He based a 1906 play, The Stolen Story, on his experiences as a newspaper reporter. Like many of his dramatic works, The Stolen Story was an adaptation of an earlier work of fiction, in this case, a short story Williams had published in the 1899 collection The Stolen Story and Other Newspaper Stories. His 1917 play Why Marry? won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1918. Williams went on to publish Why Not?, a play in which he explores the experiences of divorced individuals, in 1922.

      Williams also served as a fellow in creative arts at the University of Michigan and was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and of the Authors League of America. He died on September 14, 1929, at the home of a friend in Herkimer, New York.

      Plot Summary

      Act I

      Why Marry? is a three-act play. As the first act opens, Rex, who is twenty-seven, is chasing Jean, who is twenty-five. The stage direction indicates that the couple is running through a garden and that Jean intends to let Rex catch her. When he does, they quarrel about something that Jean said to him. The tone is light, and they both laugh. Rex holds

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