Streetcar context Flashcards
What was Tennesse’s childhood like :
difficult - parents unhappy, father alcoholic
Who was Tennesse’s mother?
Edwina Williams she was a southern belle
What tensions does the play explore ?
a move away from old money into modernity and diversity
What does Blanche represent ?
being unable to keep up with a rapidly changing society
What are Blanches insults to stanley related to ?
his status as an immigrant of working class origins
When was slavery abolished in the South and what did it cause to arise ?
1865 as a result of civil war
caused America to be centered around the American Dream
What does Stanley represent ?
the American Dream and go-getter attitude of immigrants and working class as they believed they could achieve what they desired through hard work, perseverance and individualism
this is at odds with everything that allows Blanche to live in her belle reve fantasy
What was the period after WW2 defined by ?
sense of American herosim pinned on surviving great Depression and defeating Nazis - resulted in a national spotlight being put on working-class men who had survived war and returned to the workforce ( bearer of American hardworking spirit)
What did the championing of masculinity result in for women ?
it placed women like stella in more domestic roles beside the men - despite women having joined the workforce in the absence of men they were being shoved back into traditional roles
Post-war New Orleans :
a space faced with questioning of traditional gender roles and the collapse of conservative southern ideals
Where did Williams grow up ?
St Louis, Mississippi a southern state that previously allowed slavery
maybe he sympathised with Blanche as his own mother was also previously a southern belle and had attacks of hysteria
What did Williams father adhere to ?
masculine American ideals
What happened to Williams when rose was institutionalised and lobotomised ?
he had a nervous breakdown
Williams private life and father ridicule ?
he was gay when it was illegal
his father ridiculed his ‘softness’
this resulted in him having a strong relationship with the idea of softness being crushed by masculine aggression - could correlate to the rape scene
