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UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE CATAMARCA FACULTAD DE HUMANIDADES LICENCIATURA EN INGLS

Subject: Literatura de Habla Inglesa despus de la 2da Guerra Mundial Professor: Silvia Luca Fernndez Student: Heber, Russo University Registration number: 1537 Academic year: 2012 TP n 6

A streetcar named desire: Male and female relationships

A Street Car named Desire (1947) by Tennessee Williams is a postmodernist play which exposes the life of post-war American society and the social differences which have an important effect in the characters interrelations. Social and domestic life is depicted through the representation of two male characters, Stanley Kowalski and Mitch. The views about the opposite gender are also depicted through Stanley and Mitch who seem to have two different attitudes towards the opposite gender. Under the background of a poor neighbourhood in New Orleans Kowalskis life and relationship with Stella and Blanche start to emerge to reveal his personality. Stanley is depicted as a dominant male who tries to impose his decisions by force and rudeness. Unlike Stella, he is of humble origins, probably coming from an immigrant polish family whose educational background can be seen through his behaviour. Stanley often treats Stella in a rude way who, in spite of the fact that he is not an affluent man, loves him and refuses to leave him, accepting many of the features of his harsh personality. The intermingling of classes as a result of changing post-war society can be observed through Stanley and Stella whose economic situation is a reflection of many people in the fifties who tried suffered the effects of the transition of a changing milieu. Kowalskis behaviour is strongly criticized by Blanche, Stellas sister who does not agree with the way he treats her and his lifestyle, furthermore, she constantly encourages her to leave him and to look for someone more suitable to her. Stanley embodies the features of a man affected by the drastic social changes which cause an imbalance reflected on different aspects of his life. His relation with Stella is the main

sign of how his frustrations derive in sudden changes of mood which his wife and his life at home. There is another male character who represents a fairly different image from Stanleys is Mitch who in spite of sharing some characteristics with Kowalski, has a more sensitive personality and it is reflected in his relationship with Blanche. Mitchs perspectives about emotional life are also very different from Stanleys; he gives the impression of enjoying family life more than his counterpart does. A major trait in Blanche and Stella is that (they) are bound to (there) his husbands economically and emotionally. Both women at a certain stand rely on their husbands to achieve contentment. In the play they cannot obtain economic stability without mens support, in the case of Blanche through marriage she is able to obtain a respectful status and economic safety. Marriage in the case of Blanche and Stella becomes a symbiotic relationship since both women depend on their men either economically or emotionally. In either case the only way to change the course of their lives is by means of resorting to the opposite gender. This is an aspect that reveals the remains of an old social system which did not leave completely behind old conceptions about gender relationships. Gender prejudices can also be observed through the relationship between Mitch and Blanche. Blanches promiscuous past has meant to her an undesirable image which at the long term brings trouble to her in his relationship with Mitch. There are two issues involved in the image Stanley and Mitch have about Blanche. First, Stanley uses her past in order to create an uncomfortable atmosphere around her which has an effect on the Mitchs views about her. Second, it is the how society prescripts the way women should behave act that affect to a great extent the means of achieving moral and economic independence. She cannot attain honour without mens approval of her actions; therefore, it is a sign of the way men still regulate society. Williams shows aspects of society that were supposed to vanish with an emergent society in which values were supposed to have changed because of the appearance of new conceptions, however, the play shows how deeply ingrained are old conceptions and the effect that they still have in modern societies.

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