A Streetcar Named Desire Analysis

In Tennessee Williams’, A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche represents the Old South while Stella and her husband Stanley represent the New South. Throughout the play, we see how Blanche of the rich plantation in Mississippi Belle Reve is the complete opposite of Stella’s husband Stanley. Blanche representing the Old South, is used to her lavished lifestyle of living with money, she is legitimate and is constantly asking about her appearance. She shows off her wealth and is very serious about her manners. While Stanley is vulgar and judges women based off of their looks, using his own perception to decide how he should smile at the woman. Blanche’s last name is Dubois, her name shows specifically why she is grouped under or represents the Old South. The Old South, which was racist, Blanche’s name and appearance segregates her faint idea that whites are greater than blacks. Stanley has an “animalistic” attitude and he is disturbing to Blanche. The Old South and New South are very similar but they also contrast each other in many ways.

Blanche sees Stanley as a terrible person and an animal, she speaks to Stanley’s spouse Stella about this and how different he is from the boys back in Belle Reve. Blanche explains Stanley, “He acts like an animal, has an animal’s habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one! There’s even something – sub-human – something not quite to the stage of humanity yet!” (Mays 1807) Blanche says that Stanley belongs with apes and is not human like because of

DeFazio 2 his “animalistic” characteristics. Even though these traits of Stanley don’t apply to all men of the New South, Blanche’s description of Stanley shows how the New South and the Old South contrast each other. Her observation ...

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... New South are comparable but contrast each other in more ways, the lavished lifestyle, attitude, and people are all different from the Old to the New South. Stanley representing the New South, is seen as an animalistic man through Blanche’s eyes and he’s so different than the men back in Belle Reve. The wealth in the Old South differs from the wealth in the New South, Blanche is very wealthy and she loves to show it off. Lastly, the standards and people of both eras are different. The people of the Old South are appalled by the standards of those of the New South. The main difference is wealth, there has always been an uneven distribution of wealth in the U.S. but most of the people in the New South weren’t as fortunate of those in the Old South. Overall, the Old South is represented through Blanche and the New South is represented through Stella and Stanley.