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New Orleans in A Streetcar Named Desire

Tony Coult discusses the significance of New Orleans as the setting for Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire, emphasizing how the city's geography and cultural context shape the narrative. The play reflects post-war America, addressing themes of sexual desire, gender relations, and class divisions through its characters, particularly Stanley Kowalski and Blanche duBois. Coult argues that the setting is integral to the play's emotional depth and complexity, making it impossible to envision the story in any other location.

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14 views3 pages

New Orleans in A Streetcar Named Desire

Tony Coult discusses the significance of New Orleans as the setting for Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire, emphasizing how the city's geography and cultural context shape the narrative. The play reflects post-war America, addressing themes of sexual desire, gender relations, and class divisions through its characters, particularly Stanley Kowalski and Blanche duBois. Coult argues that the setting is integral to the play's emotional depth and complexity, making it impossible to envision the story in any other location.

Uploaded by

Dhruv CV
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

07/09/2021, 09:53 English & Media Centre | Articles | emagazine

Setting of A Streetcar Named Desire


Tony Coult argues that while it is important to place Tennessee Williams'
work in its historical context, it is an appreciation of geography that
illuminates A Streetcar Named Desire, a play that could be set nowhere
else but New Orleans.

A lightning conductor
Studying a play in its context is usually about asking why a play gets written, at a particular time and
for a particular culture. It is about asking what feelings and ideas are lurking in the culture, ready to be
given form in the public domain by the imaginations of the playwright and actors. For instance,
Tennessee Williams' 20th-century masterpiece A Streetcar Named Desire acted on its first audiences
in 1947 as a kind of lightning conductor. Like the summer atmosphere above Louisiana where it is set,
the culture was full of crackling, unresolved energies. Williams' play caused these to be grounded in
powerful lightning flashes of emotional energy. It relieved a pressure by giving form to necessary
truths about sexual desire, gender relations, and historically-rooted class divisions for an America
pulling itself out of the trauma of war and facing a new world - industrialised and with many of the
traditional social structures of family and culture disrupted. These were matters that had been dealt
with before in American drama, but never before in such an emotionally raw and sexually frank way.

The historical context


One way of looking at the historical context is to see Stanley Kowalski as a symbol of this modern
world, a masculine world (the women who had staffed the factories and farms in wartime were
expected to ebb back into their conventional domestic roles), a world of machines and a harsh
individualist brutality. This urban, working-class male, his overalls stained with grease, encounters his
visiting sister-in-law Blanche duBois ('from the woods', if we translate her name) who comes from an
old, aristocratic rural culture. She is 'antebellum', like many of the New Orleans mansion houses that
Williams lived in. That is, she is a relic of a time before the Civil War that divided America. Her
connections with that vanished world of genteel white gentlefolk presiding over a slave economy, are
signalled in the name of the estate she once had a stake in - Belle Reve. A Beautiful Dream, and like a
dream, insubstantial. America in this postwar world needed to face up to this old class divide but it
also needed to deal with the new kinds of gender relations challenging the traditional demands of a
largely patriarchal society.

The context of place


There's another kind of context that needs thinking about, though, and that's the context of place. For
writers like Williams place is at least as much a part of feeling and atmosphere as is time. Williams
went to live in the city of New Orleans in 1938, drawn by its liberal, sexually-tolerant ethos. (To be gay
in much of America at this time was not easy.) His Streetcar stage directions, typically for him, are
richly detailed and fluidly readable. We are in no doubt where we are, and what we are looking at:

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07/09/2021, 09:53 English & Media Centre | Articles | emagazine

The exterior of a two-storey corner building on a street in New Orleans which is named Elysian
Fields and runs between the L & N tracks and the [Mississippi] river.

A central character
That is how the playscript starts and you'd be daft to relocate the play to New York, New Zealand or
Newham. It's as if New Orleans is a character in this play, one that holds the anxieties, passions, and
historical past in the fabric of its streets, levees, and riverbanks. Its 'raffish charm' and 'atmosphere of
decay' (Williams' phrases) create an atmosphere and a sensual grounding for the complex interactions
between Stanley, his wife Stella and her sister Blanche. There is a sensuous particularity about the
space Williams wants the actors and designer to create:

You can almost feel the warm breath of the brown river beyond the river warehouse with the
faint redolences of bananas and coffee.

Sex, death and desire


So what makes New Orleans so powerful and appropriate a setting? There's a rather arcane (some
would say pseudo) science, called psychogeography. Look it up on the net and you find yourself in
the company of all manner of pranksters and conspiracy-pedlars, as well as interesting novelists like
Iain Sinclair. Nevertheless it's a handy concept for thinking about the very active role that the city plays
in Streetcar. The very title gives a clue - out-of-towner Blanche arrives in the city and follows advice
to catch the streetcar whose terminus is Desire Street. It's the one with 'Desire' on the front. She has
to change to the Cemeteries Line. So that's Sex and Death, major themes pulsing through the play,
marked out in terms of mass transit! She has to get off at Elysian Fields, a street in the east of the city,
and the resting place, in Greek mythology, of the souls of heroes who have died. Blanche duBois,
already deeply damaged emotionally, and economically vulnerable, has come in search of a hero who
can rescue and protect her, only to suffer full-blown mental breakdown at the hands of Stanley
Kowalski, one of the great anti-heroes of Western literature.

Queen City of the Inland Sea [...] among cities, the most feminine of women [...]

Early guidebook of New Orleans

Vitality, fertility and variety


New Orleans is a port city, historically a source of vitality, fertility and variety. In the group of men
playing cards are a man with Polish roots (Stanley), Latin-American origins (Pablo), the streets have a
Negro lady (unfortunately nameless), and a Mexican flower-seller. Even Blanche and Stella's surname
reminds us that this part of the Deep South is steeped in French culture, as is the port's name. There's
an openness, a fertility about the idea of ports, that perhaps appealed to the gay sensibility of Williams,
and he certainly found it an island of anti-Puritan bohemianism in the heart of a Puritan culture when
he set up home there in 1938.
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07/09/2021, 09:53 English & Media Centre | Articles | emagazine

The setting of a Streetcar isn't just incidental. It's right at the heart of what Williams is most interested
in writing about.

Article Written By: Tony Coult teaches on BA and MA courses at Loughborough University and runs
drama workshops at Guy's and St Thomas's hospital in London.

From emagazine 37, September 2007

Print

© 2021 | English & Media Centre. All rights reserved. Website by Studio 24

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Common questions

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New Orleans enhances the thematic elements in "A Streetcar Named Desire" by providing a backdrop that embodies both cultural diversity and a sense of decay, which mirror the play's exploration of sexual desire, gender relations, and class divisions. The city's vibrant yet decaying atmosphere, described as having a 'raffish charm,' underlines the tension between the old aristocratic world Blanche comes from and the new industrial world represented by Stanley Kowalski. Additionally, New Orleans as a port city symbolizes vitality and bohemianism, reflecting the sexual and social undercurrents in the play .

New Orleans serves as a 'character' in "A Streetcar Named Desire" by providing an integral atmosphere that affects how characters interact and develop. The city's 'raffish charm' and 'atmosphere of decay' encapsulate the play's themes of desire, decay, and cultural tension. By making New Orleans a symbolic force, Williams allows the setting to shape the narrative and the emotional and psychological conflicts faced by characters like Blanche and Stanley, enhancing the realism and impact of the story .

The historical and geographical contexts in "A Streetcar Named Desire" intertwine to create a rich tapestry that shapes the narrative and thematic focus of the play. The historical setting post-World War II informs the tensions between traditional Southern aristocracy and modern industrialism, as seen in the clash between Blanche and Stanley. Geographically, New Orleans provides a distinctly vibrant and decaying backdrop that embodies the chaos and transition of the time. This integration of context enriches the narrative by elevating themes of class conflict, gender roles, and personal identity amid societal change .

Tennessee Williams portrays gender relations in "A Streetcar Named Desire" through the contrasting roles and dynamics between male and female characters. The play reflects societal expectations of women returning to domestic roles post-World War II, illustrated by Stella Kowalski's subservience to Stanley's dominance. Meanwhile, Blanche's struggle represents the conflict between the fading Southern belle archetype and the harsh realities of a patriarchal, industrial society. Williams critiques the rigid gender roles of the time by highlighting the destructiveness of these societal norms on individual identities and relationships .

The interplay between sex and death is a central theme in "A Streetcar Named Desire," symbolized through the geographic and narrative elements of the play. Blanche's journey on the streetcar named 'Desire' followed by the 'Cemeteries' line symbolizes this connection, with her final destination being Elysian Fields, associating her path with both erotic and existential dimensions. This metaphorical journey underscores the conflicts Blanche faces with her own sexual desires and the inevitability of her downfall, highlighting the broader themes of impermanence and decay within the New Orleans setting .

Tennessee Williams uses psychogeography in "A Streetcar Named Desire" to emphasize the deeply intertwined relationship between the characters and their setting. The notion that the city of New Orleans actively participates in the narrative is exemplified by the protagonist Blanche's journey, which involves taking a streetcar named 'Desire' and transitioning to the 'Cemeteries' line, symbolizing the themes of sexual desire and mortality present throughout the play. The geographical setting thus reflects and reinforces the characters' emotional and psychological states .

The setting of New Orleans contributes significantly to the sociocultural diversity depicted in "A Streetcar Named Desire." As a port city known for its vitality, fertility, and variety, New Orleans provides a rich backdrop for the play's exploration of different cultural and social intersections. This diversity is evident in the characters' varying ancestries and backgrounds, such as those of Stanley with Polish roots and Pablo with Latin-American origins, reflecting the multicultural fabric of the city and adding depth to the play's narrative .

Blanche DuBois's name holds significant thematic implications in "A Streetcar Named Desire." Her first name, Blanche, means 'white,' symbolizing purity and fragility, which contrasts with her troubled, morally ambiguous past. Her surname, DuBois, translates to 'of the woods,' suggesting her connection to a natural, perhaps primitive state of being. Together, her name encapsulates her descent from a genteel past into a chaotic present, mirroring Blanche's struggle to maintain her identity amidst the decaying social structures of the post-war American South .

Stanley Kowalski symbolizes the post-war American society by embodying masculinity, industrialization, and individualist brutality. His character represents the urban, working-class male whose presence signals a shift from traditional, rural, aristocratic values to a modern, mechanized world. This is illustrated through his interactions with Blanche, a relic of the old Southern aristocracy, as they highlight the conflict between historical class divisions and the new social order emerging in post-war America .

Williams’ stage directions in "A Streetcar Named Desire" are crafted with rich detail to enhance the sensuous atmosphere and emotional intensity of the play. Descriptions of the visual and olfactory elements, such as the 'warm breath of the brown river' and 'faint redolences of bananas and coffee,' imbue the setting with a tactile reality that draws the audience into the experience. This attention to environmental detail not only grounds the narrative in New Orleans's distinctive ambiance but also intensifies the emotional interactions between characters, heightening the play's dramatic impact .

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