Author(s)

Zhiwei Wang

Corresponding Author

Zhiwei Wang

Abstract

Tennessee Williams is undoubtedly an outstanding dramatist after O 'Neill in the history of American drama. Many of his works are about the description of southern belle, among which Summer and Smoke is one of the representative works. Alma, the heroine of Summer and Smoke, is a typical southern belle and has obvious characteristics of performativity. Behind her performativity is the domination of patriarchal discipline and Puritan asceticism. Therefore, from the perspective of performativity, this paper mainly discusses Alma's re-evaluation of self in the collision between soul and body, and finally she constructs her true self.

Keywords

Tennessee williams; Summer and smoke; Southern belle; Performativity