Tennessee WILLIAMS

A STREETCAR
NAMED
DESIRE
Adriana Stefana GMEZ
Johana Andrea CRUZ

Laura Estfani GARCA

plan
1. Tennessee Williams biography
2. Presentation of the play
3. Social context
4. Thesis statement
5. Definition of reality and illusion
6. Arguments and evidences
7. Conclusions

Tennessee Williams
Playwright Tennessee Williams was born on
March 26, 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi.
After college, he moved to New Orleans, a city
that would inspire much of his writing. On
March 31, 1945, his play, The Glass
Menagerie, opened on Broadway and two
years later A Streetcar Named Desire earned
Williams his first Pulitzer Prize. Many of
Williams' plays have been adapted to film
starring screen greats like Marlon Brando and
Elizabeth Taylor. Williams died in 1983.

Social context

A streetcar named desire

Thesis statement
Despite Blanche Dubois lives
in a world of illusion, Stanley
Kowalski brings her to reality
by destroying her plan to
recover her Southern Lady
status.

Definition of reality and

illusion

arguments
1) Blanche Dubois shapes her own reality on order
to survive and cope with some unpleasant
situations. Blanche is despaired and lonely by
the loss of her family home, Belle Rve, and the
suicide of her husband Allan Gray. Therefore,
she created an alternative reality based on her
past glories as a refuge from the present and
future. However, Stanley Kowalski does not
believe in her and reveals the truth about
Blanches dark past.
Na

Evidence No1
Evidence No 2
Evidence No 3

2) Stanley Kowalski is the antithesis of

the social reality Blanche Dubois
represents. While she exemplifies
the new migrant working class in
modern America after World War II,
her decline in the story illustrates
the
Old
Southern
aristocracys
decadence.

Evidence No1
Evidence No 2
Evidence No 3

3) The sense of reality of the characters

is influenced by their gender. The
way in which Blanche and Stanley
faced reality in the story are
different. Whereas she expresses her
fragile femininity throughout the
play, he tends to demonstrate his
masculinity by violence and sexual
aggression. Blanches rapes
by
Stanley symbolizes the final violation
of her world illusion.

Evidence No1
Evidence No 2
Evidence No 3

conclusions

bibliography
Mosaabad, A. The role of symbol in
delivering the conflict between reality and
illusion in Tennessee Williams A streetcar
named desire. Canadian Center of Science
and Education. Vol 1, No 2: December 2011.

Sontag, I. Symbols of illusion and realism

in Streetcar. Reality and illusion in
Tennessee Williams A streetcar named desire.
An analysis of frequent symbols seminar
paper. Norderstedt, Germany: Grin Verlag
Auflage, 2009