1. Tennessee Williams & A Streetcar Named Desire

2. Tennessee Williams March 26, 1911- February 25,1983
Born Thomas Lanier Williams in Columbus, Mississippi
Moved to Louisiana, setting of Streetcar
Eventually settled in Key West, Florida
Prolific Southern Gothic Writer, most famous for his plays

3. Tennessee Williams, Continued
Troubled family/childhood
Abusive father
2nd to brother Dakin
Mentally unstable mother & sister
Sister, Rose
Schizophrenic, institutionalized after failed lobotomy left her incapacitated
Devastated Tennessee

4. Tennessee Williams, Continued
Openly gay
Long term relationship with Frank Merlo until Merlo’s death
Never truly recovered
Gay bashed in Florida by group of teen boys
Works sometimes criticized for vulgarity or “excess” may merely be an attack on his sexuality

5. Tennessee Williams, Continued
Broken man
Feared insanity
Self-medicated with alcohol/drugs
Depression
Broken characters mirrored his broken life
Died in a hotel room after having apparently choked on a bottle cap

6. A Streetcar Named Desire
Perhaps his most famous play, won a Pulitzer
Culture clash: Blanche DuBois, a fading relic of the Old South, and Stanley Kowalski, a member of the rising industrial, urban working class

7. Cast: Blanche Dubois Dark twist on Southern Belle
Aging: state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty
Facade of social snobbery and sexual propriety
Insecure & pathetic
Snobbery/arrogance is attempt to make herself appear attractive to men
Totally dependent on male sexual admiration for her sense of self-esteem
Entire identity reliant on sexual worth

8. Blanche, Continued FALLEN WOMAN – lost everything
Family fortune & estate gone
Lost young husband to suicide
Looked down on socially due to her sexual promiscuity
Drinking problem, which she covers up poorly
Wears showy but cheap evening clothes
Chronicle of the crumbling of Blanche’s self-image & sanity
No realistic possibility of future happiness
All this is too much to take, thus her descent intp madness

9. Stanley Kowalski Animalistic vigor/crude & brutish
1st meet him yelling up at Stella, throwing MEAT at her
Gambling, sex, bowling, & drinking are his main modes of fun
Work, fighting, & sex
Polish: resents “Polack” slur
Represents new, more diverse America, the melting pot Blanche does NOT belong to because she is a relic from an obsolete social hierarchy
Parallels Emily Grierson
Intense hatred of Blanche motivated by the aristocratic past Blanche represents
Shows no remorse for his brutal actions

10. Mitch Lives with dying mother Sensitive, even picked on for this
Kind, decent human being, but simple & unrefined (clumsy, sweaty, unrefined interests)
Only person other than Stella who understands tragedy of Blanche’s madness
Genuinely cares for Blanche
(At first) hopes to marry Blanche so that he will have a woman to bring home to his dying mother
Mitch/Blanche drawn together by mutual need for companionship
Lacks Blanche’s romantic perspective & education
Blanche toys with his lack of intelligence, e.g. speaks to him in French

11. Stella Kowalski Blanche’s younger sister, about 25 years old
Mild disposition sets her apart from her more vulgar neighbors
Left Mississippi for New Orleans in late teens
Married lower-class Stanley
Shares a robust sexual relationship with Stanley
Violent but renewing
Torn between her sister and her husband
Who’s the crazy one—Blanche or Stella?
- Denial of reality at play’s end reveals Stella has more in common with Blanche than first conveyed

12. Pablo/Steve & Eunice
Steve and Eunice: Stella and Stanley’s friends, upstairs neighbors, and landlords
Represent low-class, carnal life of Elysian Fields (represent Stella’s low class, carnal life)
Eunice/Steve parallel Stanley/Stella
- Like Stella, Eunice accepts her husband’s affections despite his abuse of her
- Like Stanley, Steve is a hot-blooded physically fit male and an abusive husband
Pablo is Hispanic, emphasizing culturally diversity (the culturally diverse nature of the neighborhood)