A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams Life and personality reflected many of the

problems he built into his characters. Considered a playwright who is a conspicuous

exception to the dichotomy between “high” and “low” culture

Williams’s version of the South = sexual ambivalence, self-delusion and irrational violence

Gives very specific directions as to how to stage the drama (music and light play important roles)

Characters Blanche Dubois – women in her 30s, homeless, focus

of the play, moves in with her sister to a poor neighborhood in New Orleans

Stanley Kowalski – Blanche’s brother-in-law, often violent, “manly”

Stella Kowalski – normal, average, happy woman, foil to her sister

Harold Mitchell (Mitch) – young unmarried man who lives with his mother, attracted to Blanche

Eunice and Steve Hubbell, Young Man, Pablo Gonzalez, Colored Woman, Mexican Woman, A Doctor and a Nurse

Your assignment for viewing the movie… Every day we view the movie I want you

to journal (at least one page in length) your questions and observations of what is happening, what characters say and do, and meaning of the actions and dialogue. If you are absent for the day just write it in the notes. These will be collected for a quiz grade at the conclusion of the movie.