This document contains research on key contextual themes that can be linked to 'A Streetcar Named Desire' or themes that were present around the publication so may have influenced Williams's writing.
The themes researched include: Williams himself, Old America versus New America, Southern Gothic...
A Streetcar Named Desire context
Set: The French Quarter of New Orleans
Published: 1947
Produced: 1947
Conflict and tension seem to arise from the fact that the play occurs one hot summer
between May and September
Williams
Williams’s father was a heavy drinker and a poker player. He had a violent
relationship with his wife Edwina. Some scholars have linked the figure of Williams’s
father to Stanley Kowalski.
Edwina was from a wealthy family and was considered to be higher social class than
her father. She was also prone to attacks of hysteria.
Williams’ mother arranged for his sister to be institutionalised for the rest of her life
as she started suffering from a mental illness.
Williams suffered from depression and mental illness
Williams was an openly homosexual man at a time when it was illegal
Williams’s first major success was ‘The Glass Menagerie’ in 1945
New America versus Old America
Blanche embodies the ideals of the ‘Old South’ - class and race were still important,
people depended on family for survival, in the 1930’s it was seen as something
romantic where people attended balls and lived in colonial houses.
Southern ladies were seen as ‘Belles’; fragile and delicate
Stanley - ‘New America’ - where a man can be anything he wants, everyone is born
equally
Stan is machoistic
Many blacks resent the term ‘Old South’ as it symbolises a time of slavery, a time
before the civil war
Immigrants are the foundation of America, yet Blanche harbour resentment about
them and fosters antiquated ideals about the social elite.
Blanche is all about the past. Stanley has no past, he is always constantly in the
present. Everything we know is what we see in front of us.
During the 1940’s women were seen as property and whatever they said often went
unnoticed
The once influential families had now lost their historical importance. Therefore
when the Old South is losing authority the New South is gaining momentum.
Belle Reve is typical of the plantations that were being sold off as the aristocracy
bowed out to new urbanisation
Southern Gothic Genre
Gothic literature focuses on fear and death
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