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American Literature Unit 20 Tennessee Williams. Tennessee Williams (1911-1983). born in Columbus, Mississippi Died in the Elysee Hotel in New York One of the most important playwrights in American literary history: Eugene O ’ Neill, Arthur Miller. “Tennessee” Williams.
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Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) • born in Columbus, Mississippi • Died in the Elysee Hotel in New York • One of the most important playwrights in American literary history: Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller
“Tennessee” Williams • Original name: Thomas Lanier Williams • "Tennessee": his father was from Tennessee, his friends called him Tennessee for his southern accent
Family • Mother: Southern lady, educated, refined, daughter of the Minister, aggressive • Father: traveling salesman, distant from home, abusive • Family resembles that of D. H. Lawrence, sexually disturbed boy: clinging to Mother while alienated from Father
Sister Rose • Rose: elder Sister, emotionally disturbed and spent most of her life in mental institutions • Closely attached to his sister, felt lonely after she was hospitalized, turned to writing for expression, began to publish at an early age.
Homosexuality • Frank Merlo, met in 1947, died in 1961. Williams’ most productive years • Homosexuality plays a subtle but important part in most of his plays
His major works • The Glass Menagerie 1944 《玻璃动物园》 • A Streetcar Named Desire 1947 《欲望号街车》 • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1955 《热铁皮屋顶上的猫》
Awards • Two Pulitzer Prizes (A Streetcar Named Desire , Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) • The first playwright to receive in the same year (1947): The Pulitzer Prize for Drama, The Donaldson Award, The New York Drama Critics Circle Award
Epigraph • “The Broken Tower” by Hart Crane And So it was I entered the broken world, To trace the visionary company of love, its voice An instant in the wind (I know not whither hurled) But not for long to hold each desperate choice.
Major Characters in Streetcar STELLA ALLAN STANLEY BLANCHE SHEP HUNTLEIGH MITCH
Scene One • Blanche’s arrival at Elysian Fields and her encounter with Stanley. • Four parts: • Meat scene: P 223-224 • Blanche with Eunice: P 224-226 • Blanche with Stella: P 226-231 • Blanche with Stanley: P 231-233
The Meat • Symbol • animal instincts in Stanley • the harmonious sexual relation between Stanley and Stella.
Blanche’s appearance • What is the reaction of Blanche at the first sight of Stella’s home? • Shocked disbelief • What are the effects/impressions of her appearance? • Incongruous to the setting • Daintily dressed • Delicate beauty • Moth (fragile, doomed)
Blanche DuBois: The White Woods • From the South, French ancestry, the gentry society, a lady. • “a cultivated woman, a woman of intelligence and breeding” • Can “enrich a man’s life immeasurably” • ideal beau: Shep Huntleigh - rich and aristocratic, polite to women.
Blanche vs. Eunice • Eunice: represents the local people • kind, warm-hearted, inquisitive, getting close with strangers quickly, not educated • Blanche: out of place, incongruous, incompatible • Polite, educated, aristocratic, good manners, alert, keep the distance
Blanche & Stella • Blanche is hysterical, talkative, active • Stella is submissive, passive, silent • The loss of Belle Reve (beautiful dream) • Their family background: From the South, genteel and rich, but the prosperity of aristocratic ancestry is collapsing, down-falling
Stanley Kowalski: the Polack • Strong, compactly built • Animal joy • Pleasure with women • Power, pride of a richly feathered bird among hens • The gaudy seed-bearer
Scene Seven • Lie Number One (Page 234-35) • The hotel of Flamingo • Not interfering in the private social life of the personalities there • Requested to turn in her room key – for permanently • Blanche’s reputation: ruined, notorious
Lie Number Two (Page 235) • Practically told by the mayor to get out of town • Kicked out of school • Gotten mixed up with a 17-year-old boy • Blanche’s sexuality is “perverse”, unacceptable to the society, doomed to be “kicked out”.
Streetcar Named “Desire” • They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at — Elysian Fields! • DESIRE: pursuit of her sexual desires • CEMETRIES: loss of Belle Reve, expelled from Laurel • ELYSIAN FIELDS: raped and driven to madness
Rhetorical Techniques • Prevailing Symbolism: Names, Meat, Moth, Lyrics… • Comparison and Contrast • Stage setting, light and music effects (Psychological Realism)
Text-based Questions • What does the title of the play stand for? • What is Stanley and Stella’s neighborhood like? • What is Belle Reve? • What does Stanley know about Blanche’s past?
General Questions • If a friend of yours is happily dating someone and you find out something bad about that person, should you tell your friend? • What is expected of a woman in today’s society? Consider career, marriage, family. Now consider what is expected of a man?
Further reading • The Glass Menagerie, 1944 • The Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams • Modern American Drama 1945-2000
Homework • With regard to the play, write a 400-word essay on one of the following topics: • The reasons for Blanche’s tragedy • Symbolism in A Streetcar Named Desire • Civilization and Human Nature, which to choose?
