Cultural Context: Polish Immigration to America

• There were 2 million Polish immigrants to the United States

• Immigration officials found out that a majority entered the United States with deliberate plans for working on farms and factories

• In the 20th century, many Polish Americans were ashamed of their identities, and thousands changed their names to fit into American society.

Influence:

• Stanley has not changed his surname, but his forename is distinctly American rather than Polish ( a Polish equivalent would be ‘Stanislav’). Records show that the name ‘Stanley’ was at its most popular for babies born around 1910 which meant many American males in the 1940’s were called Stanley. Stanley is born in America but is not ashamed of his Polish roots.

Represented as inferior ‘Polacks’

• The Polish immigrants of the late 19th and early 20th century wave were largely poor, uneducated and willing to settle for manual labour positions.

• Pseudo-scientific studies conducted on Polish immigrants in the early 20th century reinforced the stereotyping of this social group as being inferior to white Americans.

So?

• Stanley is presented as uneducated, his language is basic and lacks the poetry of Blanche’s speech. Stanley’s interests are also unsophisticated - sex, poker, bowling ect.

• In the US Congress, a study said Poles were undesirable immigrants because of their ‘inherently unstable personalitites’.

• Future U.S. President Woodrow Wilson called Poles ‘men of the meaner sport’ who possessed neither skill nor an inititative of quick intelligence.’

Influence:

• Stanley’s brutality and violent outbursts reflect this negative stereotype.

• American civilization was in decline and society as a whole would suffer from a steady increase in inferior intelligence.

• The American media spread an image of the Polish male as a ‘jock’- typically large, strong, and tough athetically, but lacking intelligence.

Influence:

• Stanley is physically strong and athletic figure whose language reflects lack of education.

A growing threat to the old social order

• Polish youths created nearly 150 street gangs in Chicago in the 1920s.

• Polish youths in Detroit and Chicago created the single largest group of inmates in juvenile prisons

• Polish men in particular were romanticised as objects of raw sexual energy in the early 20th century.

Influence:

• Stanley appears in a sweaty shirt after bowling, which he removes in front of Blanche.

• Historian John Radzilowski notes that the theme of vivacious young immigrants replacing dying old white populations was common in America until the 1960s and 70s.

Influence:

• The baby Stanley fathers with Stella could be read as a symbol for a New America - even Blanche acknowledges that Stanley may represent the new blood her family line/the country needs to survive.