A Streetcar Named Desire - Context

New Orleans - Social Culture - Multiculturalism

- Mix of Creole, American, African American + Central Americans

- Major outlying city in the Deep South

New Orleans - Social Culture - Jazz

- Birthplace of jazz

- Popular in 1930s + 1940s

New Orleans - Social Culture - Mardi Gras

- Celebrated on Shrove Tuesday to prepare for lent

New Orleans - Economic transformation

- Became centre of a manufacturing boom during the war

- Factories helped produce military goods

- Economic boom lasted after the war was over

- Bigger boom after discovery of gas + oil in Mexico/America

Old South

- Older caucasian population

- Traditional values

- Strong religious influence (Evangelic Protestantism)

- Conventional roles

- Romanticism of past (Antebellum)

Old vs New America - Economic

- Old South = more agrarian economy (dependency on cheap labour, previously slaves)

- New America = more industrial + urban focused

Old vs New America - Social Structure

- South = depends on social hierarchy + tradition

Old vs New America - Values

- Old South = emphasise personal freedom + region identity

- New America = emphasis on cultural inclusion + openess

Post War Femininity

- Women expected to return to being housewives or take up female jobs (secratary)

- Female sexuality returned to pre-1941 standards forcing women back into traditional way of life

- Demonising female sexuality made it more likely for women to conform to traditional standards

Masculinity

- Men who had returned from war had to adapt to role of husband + father

- Expected to make an idyllic nuclear family + contribute to nation’s advance

- Only considered a real man if they provided for their family

- Resulted in men rejecting help (particularly with PTSD)
- Resulted in many man abusing their wives

Sexuality

- Blanche becomes a catalyst in Allan Grey’s suicide

- Claims he ‘disgusts’ her

- Many lavender marriages were introduced

- Homosexuality was considered a mental disorder until 1973

Blanche - Fallen Woman

- Affair with a young student + sexual encounters at Flamingo hotel align with this trope

- Guilt over her husband haunts her, much like religious penance

- Light + darkness motif reflect her guilt

- Avoidance of light - symbolic of her attempt to escape truth + moral judgement

- Similar to a sinner seeking refuge from divine scrutiny

- "God love you for a liar!" (scene 3) - irony + subconscious appeal to divine mercy

- "Suddenly there was God so quickly!" (scene 9) - reminiscing husband’s death, implies moment of divine reckoning or judgement.

Blanche’s ending - religious

- Clings to romantic ideals hoping Mitch can save her from her past

- Alike to a sinner seeking absolution

- Tries to present herself as modest + refined mirroring Christian ideas of confession + rebirth

- Final scene has religious undertones

- White dress evokes images of sacrificial figure or saint-like martyr

- Final words "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers,"

- Suggests blind faith, resembles a prayer, resigns herself to her fate

- Tragic fate is a punishment for her sins, reinforces play’s engagement with religious + moral justice.

Sexual Morality

Blanche’s past, including her affair with a student and her time in Laurel’s hotel, clashes with the expectations of female purity in traditional Southern society.

Masculine Morality

Stanley’s aggression and dominance reflect a survival of the fittest mentality, where power justifies actions.

Mitch’s Hypocrisy

Initially upholding traditional morals, Mitch turns on Blanche when he learns of her past, showing societal double standards for men and women.

Moral Ambiguity

The play questions whether morality is absolute or shaped by social circumstances, especially in Blanche’s case, where deception becomes her means of survival.

Tennessee Williams - Sister

- Suffered from schizophrenia

- Had a lobotomy

- Reflected in Blanche’s mental instability, madness + vulnerability