A Street Car Named Desire: Historical Context and Setting

Many of the major themes of A Streetcar Named Desire are embodied in the history and culture of New Orleans. The lively setting of the French Quarter, with its streetcars, bars, entertainment, and jazz and blues music, rovides a rich bac!ground for the emotional events of the lay" the setting also draws symbolic attention to changes which were ta!ing lace in #merican society, es ecially in the $outh during the ost%&orld war '' years. The action ta!es lace between May and $e tember in a shabby a artment building in the wor!ing%class district of New Orleans in the ()*+,s, shortly after the $econd &orld &ar. The rotagonist, -lanche .ubois, comes to New Orleans from /aurel, Mississi i, the site of the family homestead. #lthough no scenes are set in /aurel, the effect of the town and its Old $outh culture on the main character, -lanche .u-ois, is im ortant. /aurel is a real town in southeastern Mississi i. 't has a resent o ulation of about (0,+++ and is the seat of 1ones 2ounty. /aurel, which was named after the laurel shrubs growing abundantly in nearby forests, ros ered early in the 3+th 2entury as a lumbering center. Tennessee &illiams, the author of A Streetcar Named Desire, was born in eastern Mississi i in the town of 2olumbus and was well aware of Mississi i customs and traditions.

Napoleonic Code
&hen $tanley feels he is being swindled by -lanche4s loss of -elle 5eve, he a eals to the Na oleonic 2ode, a set of laws devised by the French and im lemented when they ruled the region !nown now as /ouisiana. The state of /ouisiana continued to o erate under some of the rece ts of the Na oleonic 2ode, such as the 2ode4s em hasis on inheritance law6 any ro erty belonging to a s ouse rior to marriage becomes the ro erty of both s ouses once they are married. $tanley, therefore, is legally correct to claim that, by de riving $tella of her share of the family inheritance, -lanche has also de rived him.

The South
On a more general level, the lay re resents the decline of the aristocratic families traditionally associated with the $outh. These once%influential

families had lost their historical im ortance when the $outh4s agricultural base was unable to com ete with the new industrialization. The region4s agrarian economy, which had been in decline since the 2onfederate defeat in the 2ivil &ar, suffered further setbac!s after the First &orld &ar. # labor shortage hindered $outhern agriculture when large numbers of male laborers were absorbed by the military or defense%based industries. Many landowners, faced with large areas of land and no one to wor! on it, moved to urban areas. &ith the increasing industrialization that followed during the ()3+s through the ()*+s, the structure of the wor! force evolved more radically yet, incor orating large numbers of women, immigrants, and blac!s. &omen gained the right to vote in ()3+ and the old $outhern tradition of an agrarian family aristocracy ruled by men started to come to an end.

Womens Roles
$ome of -lanche4s difficulties can be traced to the narrow roles o en to females during this eriod #lthough she is an educated woman who has wor!ed as a teacher, -lanche is nonetheless constrained the e7 ectations of $outhern society. $he !nows that she needs men to lean on and to rotect her. $he has clearly !nown se7ual freedom in the ast, but understands that se7ual freedom does not fit the attern of chaste behavior to which a $outhern woman would be e7 ected to conform. 8er fear of rejection is realized when Mitch learns of love affairs bac! home. -y rejecting -lanche and claiming that she is not the ideal woman naively thought she was, Mitch draws attention to the discre ancy between how women really behaved and what ty e of behavior was ublicly e7 ected of them by society at large.

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&riting of the lay4s setting, &illiams noted that 9' write out of love of the $outh . . . :which; once had a way of life that ' am just old enough to remember < a culture that had grace, elegance, an inbred culture, not a society based on money.= Through the destruction of -lanche and her struggles with the contradictory demands of society, &illiams e7 ressed a lament for the destruction of the old $outh, ma!ing clear his understanding that such change was inevitable.

Compare & Contrast

1947: 8ungary becomes a $oviet satellite after 8ungarian 2ommunists, bac!ed by the 5ed #rmy, seize ower while >rime Minister Ferenc Nagy is on holiday. #nti%2ommunist sentiment builds in the ?.$. The

Truman .octrine announces lans to aid @reece and Tur!ey and ro oses economic aid to countries threatened by 2ommunist ta!eover. The 2'# is au thorized by 2ongress to counter Moscow4s attem ts to establish governments through local 2ommunist arties in &estern Auro e.

Today: 2ommunism has all but bro!en down since the colla se of the -erlin &all. 5evolutions in 2zechoslova!ia, >oland, and Aast @ermany, as well as the brea!%u of the $oviet ?nion have eliminated many of the barriers between Aast and &est. Aastern Auro ean countries are now undergoing a slow and difficult transformation to a mar!et economy. 1947: New technology6 the first commercial microwave oven is introduced by the 5aytheon 2o. of &altham, Massachusetts. Tubeless automobile tires, which seal themselves when unctured, are introduced by -.F. @oodrich. 8oward 8ughes4 new sea lane, the $ ruce @oose, the largest lane ever built, ta!es off for a one%mile flight across /ong -each 8arbor before it is retired for good.

Today: Most #merican homes have a microwave, as well as toasters, coffee ma!ers, freezers, and numerous other e7am les of electrical gadgetry. 2ars are common lace but their emissions, along with those from air lanes and heavy industry, contribute to the global roblem of ollution. 1947: New consumable goods a ear as #merica begins to recover from the effects of the $econd &orld &ar. Frozen orange juice concentrate sales in the ?.$. reach seven million cans. 5eddi%&hi introduces whi ed cream in aerosol cans. $ugar rationing ends on 1une ((. Monosodium glutamate :M$@; is mar!eted for the first time, and butylated hydro7yanisole :-8#; is introduced commercially to retard s oilage in foods. Today: #nnual sales of convenience food reach new heights every year. >rocessed and 9fast= food is readily available to #mericans" consumers who maintain unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles significantly increase their ris! of contracting heart disease and cancer. #dditives are common in food and new develo ments, such as genetically engineered foods, continue to ma!e headlines.