A Streetcar Named Desire

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A Streetcar Named Desire focuses on the values of the values of the old south, replaced during the 1940s by industry and efficiency. When A Streetcar Named Desire was published in 1946, it was straight after the war had finished, so a typical man in this New Orleans society would have gone to war and served his country well. Williams uses Stanley as an accurate representation of this common man, his chief amusements are gambling, bowling, sex and drinking. Tennessee Williams brings in his own past into the play, he was a heavy drinker himself like Stanley and who also lived in Mississippi. Williams also connected with the new American taste for realism that emerged following the Second World War. Williams represents Stanley as a middle aged epitome of vital force. He was loyal to his friends, passionate to his wife and heartlessly cruel to Blanche. With his Polish ancestry, he represents the new heterogeneous America. He sees himself as a social pretension. Around 30 years of age, Stanley worked as an auto-parts salesman. Practically his forte and he had no patience for Blanche’s distortions of the truth. Williams represents Stanley as a very angry man, especially towards Blanche. `That’s how I’ll clear the table! [He seizes her am.] Don’t ever talk that way to me! “Pig—Polack—disgusting----vulgar----greasy” – them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister’s too much around here! What do you two think you are? A pair of queens? Remember what Huey Long said—“Every Man is a King!” And I am the king around here, so don’t forget it! [He hurls a cup and saucer to the floor.] My place is cleared! You want me to clear your places?’ Williams presents Stanley as a leader, someone who seems themselves above other which is reflecting a typical man in that era. Stanley’s relationship towards Stella although aggressive after drinking shows the family guy Williams

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