Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire :: A Streetcar Named Desire Literature Essays

Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire The play, ‘A street car named desire’ was written by an author named Tennessee Williams. His real name was Thomas Lanier. He assumed the name ‘Tennessee’ in 1938 because he said, â€Å"the Williams fought the Indians for Tennessee.† Tennessee was born on March 26th 1911 in Columbus Mississippi. When he was a teenager he realised the life of a young writer was going to be something similar to the defence of the stockade against a band of peasants. A description reminiscent of Blanches battles with Stanley in the street car named desire is what Tennessee was trying to refer to his own life. The play was set in New Orleans which is named Elysian Fields and runs between the L&N tracks and the river. Elysian Fields is quite a poor and run down area but unlike most other American cities, it has a raffish charm. The houses mostly have a white frame, have a weathered grey colour with rickety outside stairs In scene 1-3 it is all about Blanche getting used to New Orleans. She finds it difficult to like and fit in because it is much different to where she lived before (Belle Reve). This is because Belle Reve was a very upper-class area where as New Orleans is more average, run down and has a mixed community. Blanche doesn’t like New Orleans or where Stella is living. She is very snobbish and thinks it is a dump. â€Å"I thought you would never come back to this horrible place.† this shows that Blanche does not approve of, or likes where Stella is living. Blanche is also implying that she is more superior by the way she is talking. â€Å" I didn’t mean to say that I meant to be nice about it and say – Oh. † this shows that Blanche knows it is a horrible place, but she didn’t want to be rude, so she was meant to say â€Å" Oh † to make it sound as if she likes the place that Stella and Stanley are living in. In scene 2 Stanley starts demonstrating his dislikes for Blanche. He does this because he thinks Blanche sold Belle Reve and kept the money for herself. â€Å"I think you have been swindled.† In scene 2 there is an argument between Stanley and Blanche about Belle Reve. Stanley is angry because he wants proof on paper that Belle Reve was not sold by Blanche for herself. Blanche ends up wining the argument by proving Stanley wrong about Belle Reve, that it was infact lost and not sold by Blanche.