Transcript Historical Background

Kelso High School
English Department
A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar named Desire
by Tennessee Williams

Historical background
Although Williams was working on the play during
the Second World War, its setting in time (in the
years after World War Two) is of no real
importance.
What is important, however, is its setting in terms
of place:
America
Historical Background

Pre-Civil War (1861-65), the American South
was to a great extent representative of its
stereotypical image – think “Gone with the
Wind” – with cotton plantations, a landed
elite who flaunted their inherited wealth and
gentility and a slavery system based around
the flourishing industries of tobacco and
cotton.
The Stereotypical South
Historical Background


However, slavery was regarded as evil by
the Northern States, although the Southern
States regarded it as essential for their
tobacco and cotton industries
When Abraham Lincoln was elected
president in 1860 he promised (in a bid to
keep the Union from breaking up) that
slavery would continue to be legal in states
where it already existed
A Divided Country
Historical Background


At first the Northern half of the United States wanted
only to stop slavery spreading to other states, but
gradually as anti-slavery feeling grew stronger, the
total abolition of slavery became the declared aim of
the North
The Civil War occurred when the Southern States
tried to separate from the Union in order to protect
their “state rights” – amongst them the right to
practice slavery
Historical Background

The American Civil War ended with the
Confederate surrender in April 1865. As the
Southern States had lost the war, many
Southerners looked back wistfully to the
plantation life that had characterised their
region pre- Civil War
Historical Background

Yet as the traditional South declined, the
Northern States prospered. Industry
flourished and immigrants from all over the
world arrived to make America their new
home in a bid to achieve the American
Dream
The American Dream
Historical Background

In the play, the character of Blanche
symbolises the crumbling grandeur of
Southern plantations
Historical Background
Historical Background
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Stanley is the new American in the new
America
He is an immigrant who believes that he too
can achieve the American Dream