The American Dream and "A Streetcar Named Desire"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how in "A Streetcar Named Desire", the American Dream is contrastingly represented in two key characters: Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski, the latter holding Southern ideals and hoping for a life of privilege, comfort and protection; the former believing in a life characterised by toil, an impulsive and reckless sense of spontaneity, and eventual reward and success. It looks at how by adopting an intriguing setting in New Orleans, a series of crucial and symbolic minor characters, and a plot which slowly but meaningfully unravels itself, Tennessee Williams creates content for a screenplay which provides a fascinating interpretation of the American Dream.

From the Paper:

"Firstly, the characters of Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski provide a differing interpretation of the American Dream. Blanche was born and raised in the deep American South, into a world where her every need, wish and desire would be catered for. She would dwell in a lavish mansion with her family, receive a quality education, be waited upon by coloured servants, and, furthermore, would eventually marry an equally privileged young man who could provide for her the protection which she was accustomed to. This is not so much protection in a physical sense, but rather, the guardianship of her honour. This would involve preventing her from being exposed to cursing, abuse cruelty, and anything else that would seem improper in an upper class Southern society. "

More papers on The American Dream and "A Streetcar Named Desire":

• Comparison Essay # 119219 : "Blanche Dubois and Willy Loman"
• Film Review # 134274 : "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "A Streetcar Named Desire"
• Book Review # 129165 : "Mitch, Blanche and "A Streetcar Named Desire"

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