A Streetcar Named Desire Past And Present Essay

The Past and Present
Society and its values are always changing and shifting in American history. This is true for the pre-war and post-war eras of World War II. Before the war, America’s society was the conservative type which wanted to represent high culture and elite status. After the war, however, the values which society once held close, were not important to people anymore. In 1947, only two short years after World War II, Tennessee Williams wrote the play, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” to highlight how the shift in time brought change in society. Williams was very resistant to the emerging conservative ideals of the time period, which is perhaps because of his own experiences with an alternative lifestyle. In the play, Williams intertwines the past and present by using symbols such as characters, places, and music embedded in the stage directions to show how society should embrace the new values and morals that are emerging as the past dies. Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski are the two main characters that Williams uses to intertwine the past and present together and represent the differences in the old and new worlds. In the beginning of the

Before the war, society was one which valued aristocracy and high morals, however, the war brought much reform. Now, these values and morals were not as important as they once were. Williams was against the conservative way of life because he did not agree with its beliefs and practices, and instead wanted to live an alternative lifestyle. Because of this, he wrote, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” to show how the old society was dead and a new one was emerging which brought new views towards once disgraceful ways of life. He does this through the use of characters, places, and music embedded in stage directions. Tennessee Williams was a very powerful author who encouraged society to evolve and adapt to changing times, and ultimately, he achieved