CONTEXT Flashcards
William’s mother
Tennessee Williams’s mother, Edwina Williams was a Southern Belle, born to a higher class and well-read Episcopal minister and an educated music teacher.
Rose Wlliams
his sister Rose, who later suffered from mental illness and was institutionalized for the same
Homosexuality
Williams was gay and lived in a time where homosexuality was seen as a mental illness, something that is reflected clearly in his work.
Williams’ struggles
Williams struggled with loneliness, alcoholism and depression, and depicted them in his work. (through Blanche)
Williams’ behaviour paralleled through Blanche
Williams repeatedly claimed “I am Blanche Dubois” he identified with her particularly in terms of their shared hysteria. They shared a propensity to mislead people concerning their age
Blanche in contrast with Stanley
Her tension with Stanley is caused by their clashing values, and many of the insults she hurls at him implying a sense of brutishness and vulgarity related to his status as a working-class immigrant.
Williams’ statement showing how he resonates with Blanche
Tenessee Williams stated that he only had ‘one major theme for my work which is the destruction of society on the non-conformist, sensitive individual’ once again reinforcing his relation to blanche, he was gay in a hetero world, shes unmarried and divorced
An controversial (to modern audiences) reaction of the audience at the time to Stanley’s rape of Blanche
Some critics deemed the rape as justified due to Blanche’s promiscuous, flirtatious nature. Some audiences even cheered during this.
Why was the rape justified by some?
-blanche’s promiscuous, flirtatious nature led the audience to believe that her rape was justified
-seen as the Darwinian ideology of survival of the fittest “gaudy seed bearer” (takes pleasure in his masculinity)
-Blanche was presented as the bourgeois and Stanley the reigning champion of the working classes as his rape over Blanche, he asserted all his control and gained power over Blanche so could have been seen as a victorious move.
New Orleans post ‘Great Depression’
While slavery was illegal, segregation was prevalent and this system perpetuated cheap labor based on race. However, amidst all this, after the Great Depression, New Orleans emerged as the champion of diversity and acceptance in these Southern States. With a large influx of immigrants from Europe and Africa
“Deep South” the contrasting elements.
A Streetcar Named Desire in “Deep South ‘’, yet we see two different sides to it. Mississippi and the old ways of intolerance towards difference and the “Other” are represented through the upper-class Dubois heritage, while New Orleans through Elysian Fields, showcases the more liberal South.
Slavery and the civil war
Slavery having been abolished in the South in 1865, as a result of the Civil War, leading to the decline of families like the Dubois. America in the twentieth century becomes centered around the idea of the American Dream
WW2 and ‘The American Dream’
-WW2 enabled a sense of American heroism to develop, a heroism that was based on overcoming the Great Depression of 1933 and defeating the Nazis.
-national spotlight was shone on working-class men like Stanley, who had survived the war, rejoined the workforce and were now seen as bearers of American hard-working spirit.
WW2 and women
During WW2, the percentage of women in the national workforce rose from 27% to 37%. After the war ended, they were pushed back into traditional domestic roles.
The typical gender roles of society and the exceptions in ASCND
- Stella and Stanley more or less portray the accepted societal gender roles.
-Blanche showcases masculine energy in her sexuality and arrogance.
-Mitch and Allan Grey are used to showcase sensitivity, a “feminine” trait. - clear throughout the plot that societal gender norms negatively impact all the main characters in the play driving them towards either death, mental or moral destruction.
