1. A Streetcar Named Desire
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
enotes.com. A Streetcar Named Desire. Summary and Study Guide, enotes.com, Inc., n.d. Web. 3 Jan

2. Historical Context
The history and culture of New Orleans embody the major themes of the play.
The French Quarter provides a rich background for the emotional events of the play (streetcars, bars, entertainment, jazz and blues music)
This setting symbolizes the changes taking place in American society in the post-WW II years.

3. Some Specific Examples…
The Napoleonic Code
The South
Women’s Roles

4. Napoleonic Code
a set of laws devised by the French and implemented when they ruled the region known now as Louisiana
the Code's emphasis on inheritance law
any property belonging to a spouse prior to marriage becomes the property of both spouses once they are married
by depriving Stella of her share of the family inheritance, Blanche has also deprived Stanley

5. The South
The play represents the decline of the aristocratic families traditionally associated with the South.
The South's agricultural base was unable to compete with the new industrialization.
Once-influential families lost their historical importance.
After WW I, the agrarian society of the South declined.

6. A farm labor shortage occurred when large numbers of males were absorbed into wartime industries.
The structure of the workforce evolved radically, incorporating large numbers of women, immigrants, and blacks.
The male-dominated Southern agrarian aristocracy ended when women gained the vote in 1920.

7. Women’s Roles
Only narrow roles were open to women, which affected Blanche who is constrained by the expectations of Southern society.
She needs men to lean on and to protect her.
Sexual freedom does not fit the pattern of chaste behavior to which a Southern woman would be expected to conform.
She greatly fears rejection by men and can’t deal with it.

8. The Woman as Symbol in Streetcar
Tennessee Williams (the playwright) destroys Blanche as she struggles with the contradictory demands of society.
This is symbolic of Williams’ lament for the destruction of the old South.
Williams understood that the change was inevitable, but it was also lamentable to him from a romantic perspective.