Summer and Smoke: Analysis of Major Characters
"Summer and Smoke" is a play that explores the complex dynamics between its major characters in the small town of Glorious Hill, Mississippi, during the early 20th century. Central to the narrative are Alma Winemiller and John Buchanan, childhood friends whose relationship embodies a fundamental disconnect—Alma is deeply spiritual and sensitive, while John tends to prioritize physicality and practicality. This fundamental difference complicates their attempts at meaningful communication and connection throughout their lives.
Alma, the daughter of a disillusioned minister, grapples with emotional turmoil and seeks support from John’s father, indicative of her vulnerability. John, who struggles with his identity as a physician and his tumultuous relationship with his own father, ultimately embarks on a journey toward understanding the deeper aspects of love and empathy. Other significant characters include Reverend Winemiller, whose lack of genuine faith and empathy exacerbates the family's dysfunction, and Rosa Gonzales, who adds a layer of complexity through her relationship with John. The interactions among these characters highlight themes of love, social acceptance, and the search for identity, culminating in pivotal moments that underscore the tragic elements of their lives.
Summer and Smoke: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Tennessee Williams
First published: 1948
Genre: Play
Locale: Glorious Hill, Mississippi
Plot: Psychological
Time: c. the early 1900's and 1916
Alma Winemiller, the daughter of a minister in Glorious Hill, a small town in Mississippi. In the prologue, she and John Buchanan are shown as children at a fountain of Eternity in the town in the early years of the twentieth century. The scene shows their pattern as children to foreshadow their pattern as adults: attracted to each other but unable to achieve true communication because she is sensitive and primarily spiritual (as she says, Alma means soul) and he, though capable of a degree of sensitivity, is primarily physical. He is thus representative, in a sense, of the anatomy chart that he shows Alma near the end of the play. As an adult, Alma is given to panic attacks and frequently goes to John's father for help, even in the middle of the night.
John Buchanan, the son of a physician, frequently at odds with his father. As an adult and a physician himself, he is uncertain that he wants to join his father's practice. The Buchanans and Winemillers are next-door neighbors. In the end, John achieves an understanding of “soul” and will be a successful and empathic physician and husband.
The Reverend Winemiller, Alma's father. Incapable of empathy and lacking genuine faith, he is unsuccessful in all of his roles, as minister, father, and husband.
Mrs. Winemiller, Alma's mother, who is in a permanent psychological state of “perverse childishness.” She is primarily interested in eating ice cream.
Dr. Buchanan, John's father. Early in the play, he correctly calls his son a drunkard and a lecher, though it becomes clear that they do feel affection for each other. He treats Alma with great sympathy and does not object to her middle-of-the-night visits.
Rosa Gonzales, a young Mexican woman whose father owns the gambling casino on Moon Lake and who has a relationship with John.
Nellie Ewell, a younger woman and vocal student of Alma. Her mother goes to trains to attract traveling salesman. As the daughter of a loose woman, Nellie is unaccepted in the community.
Mrs. Bassett, a member of a not-very-successful book club, which has an abortive meeting at Alma's house.
Mr. Gonzales, Rosa's father. He enters the Buchanan house, seeking Rosa. Dr. Buchanan enters, is insulted at seeing the Gonzaleses in his house, orders them out, and attacks Mr. Gonzales with a cane. Gonzales shoots and kills him.