Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire
Setting: New Orleans, LA during the 1940s. Mostly in the Kowalski Small apartment.
Thomas "Tom " Lanier
Born in Columbus, Mississippi
Father: drunk, violent, aggressive, traveling salesman
Mother: Overprotective Southern Belle
1929: Studied Journalism at 18 Years Old
...until angry father withdrew him and he was forced to work at a shoe company.
Had a nervous breakdown from stress of school, family, and denial to pursue his interests (writing and theater).
Why NOLA?
- Old world French architecture meets the new world.
- Old Chivalry meets the animal instincts of desire and procreation.
- The facade of upper class refinement vs. the growing lower class blue collar worker.
- Post World War II
The Birth of "Tennessee" Williams
- Earned his BA in English from the University of Iowa in 1937
- Moved to New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) to reinvent himself
- Professional Name: Tennessee
- Openly gay after failed heterosexual relationships
Meanwhile back at home...
- Sister suffered from schizophrenia
- Tried lobotomy to cure her.
- Lived the rest of her life at a mental hospital
- Tennessee never forgave his parents or himself for what happened to his sister.
- Drank himself to oblivion because of this
Allen Grey
Harold "Mitch" Mitchell
Blanche's husband
that commits suicide
likes
Conflicts
Poker friend
sisters
married
Blanche Dubois
Stanley Kowalski
Stella Kowalski
Abandoned family
English teacher. Lost everything
in MS and forced to live with Kowalskis.
Poker friend
Steve
upstairs neighbor
- Blanche's fantasies vs. Reality
- Blanche's fantasies with Mitch
- Blanche's superiority vs. Stanley's ego
- Stella's love for Blanche vs. Stella's dependency on Stanley
Young Collector
Eunice Hubbell
Poker friend
Pablo
Shep Huntleigh
Topics That Lead to Theme
As You Read...
What does this say about the American experience in the scope of love and relationships?
What is different/similar between this play that takes place after WWII and The Lost Generation (WWI)?
- Fantasy/Illusion vs. Reality
- The Transformation of the "Old South" to the "New South"
- Cruelty
- Primal vs. Civil Nature
- Desire
- Loneliness
- Gender Roles