Thus far…

Ok, I tried to combine everything we have come up with so far.  I altered the polar attitudes according to what you were saying Jason, but if I didn't say it the way you meant, you can just either edit this, or add a comment and I'll add/replace things.  I think we should try and find some political stuff maybe? It's possible that there isn't any, I don't remember finding it.  We can also incorporate "professional politics" (the way people get along, so it kind of crosses over with social).  And also, religious can include moral ideas, like strength of family and the values of the people.  I'll add stuff too in a bit.

Environmental Facts:

1. Geographical

·       Set in New Orleans

·       Exterior of a corner building on a street called "Elysian Fields"
*Elysian Fields-ancient Greek version of the afterlife; heaven.
between the river and the train tracks in a poor section of New Orleans with "raffish [crude] charm

·       House #632

·       Steve and Eunice live upstairs
Stanley and Stella live downstairs

·       There are two rooms (kitchen and bedroom) and a bathroom.

·       There is a bar within earshot

·       bowling alley down the street

2. Date

·       Sc. I: Early May evening

·       Sc. III: Early morning: 2:30 AM

·       Sc. VII: Late afternoon in mid-September

3. Economic

·       Shabby, faded, everything is falling apart
Blanche DuBois: dressed in a white suit appropriate for an upper-crust social event

·       Stanley and Mitch are in denim "work clothes"

·       Blanche is shocked that Stella has no maid

·       Stanley controls the household finances (Stella does not receive a "regular allowance"; possible that this is the norm?).

 

4. Political

5. Social

·       Stanley treats Stella badly: yells at her

·       Blanche DuBois: dressed in a white suit appropriate for an upper-crust social event

·       Blanche and Stella are originally from Laurel, Mississippi

·       Blanche is a school teacher

·       Stella is pregnant

·       Stanley and Mitch are 28-30 years old, and in denim "work clothes"

·       Stella looks 25 and has "a background obviously quite different from her husband's" (4)

·       Stella, Eunice and Blanche are white

·       Blanche is around 5 years older than Stella. They are sisters.

·       Stanley is Polish, and a Master Sergeant in the Engineers Corps

·       Blanche has an acquaintance named Shep Huntleigh, who she dated in college. Shep has become fairly wealthy through the oil business. Social

·       Stanley controls the household finances (Stella does not receive a "regular allowance"; possible that this is the norm?).

·       Stanley is a Capricorn.

·       Blanche (claims she) is a Virgo.

·       Blanche can speak at least a few phrases of French; Mitch cannot

·       Blanche has "old-fashioned ideals."

·       Mitch's mother worries that he will not marry before she dies

·       Stanley and Mitch work at the same plant and play on the same bowling team

6. Religious

·       Blanche references God and being made in His image; implies that she is a Christian.

Previous Action:

·       Blanche lost Belle Reve estate after the deaths of her and Stella's remaing relatives.  It was lost on a foreclosed mortgage.

·       She has taken a leave of absence from teaching "for her nerves" but later it is discovered it was because she slept with a 17 year old student.

·       Stella is pregnant.

·       Blanche was married before to a man named Allan, but after she discovered he was homosexual, he committed suicide.

·       Steve has been engaging in behavior giving Eunice cause to suspect him of infidelity

·       Mitch and Stanley served together in the "Two-forty-first."

·       Blanche was kicked out of The Flamingo Hotel for her promiscuous behavior, and ruined her reputation in Laurel.

Polar attitudes of main characters:

·       Blanche: Starts the play with a superior ability to ignore the aspects of her reality she does not like, by masking herself in a web of lies. By the end of the play, the web has untangled, and she falls into insanity to avoid acknowledging the stress of her past behavior.

·       Stella: Stella begins the play hoping to help her sister, and ends the play having given up on her.  She also has fluctuations with her relationship with Stanley: She seems relatively content at the beginning of the play, attempts to leave him in the middle for a brief period, returns to him, and ends the play purposefully ignoring his rotten behavior so that she can attempt to be happy with him.

·       Stanley: Stanley does not change much throughout the play.  He is violent and head strong at the beginning, and violent and headstrong at the end.

·       Mitch:  At the start of the play, Mitch is very polite and respectful to Blanche, believing her to be a pure woman.  By the end of the play, he has become disrespectful after learning of her past, but also depressed at her mental state

One thought on “Thus far…”

  1. Political facts can be how the characters interact and background research allows us to make some generalizations. There is an obvious relationship between the historical context and character development of Stanley and Blanche.

    The script was published in 1946, which was just after the conclusion of World War II and during the Technological Revolution (second Industrial Revolution). Americans idealized the middle/lower class men who served in the war. The characteristics which make a great soldier (strong, savage, detached) became accepted within the home and family. Also, Americans’ attitudes towards the upper class was unfavorable. Following the Great Depression, after a period of high unemployment rates, many Americans disliked the affluent who were unaffected.

    The given circumstance of the political climate makes a stark contrast between the class status of Stanley and Blanche. Stanley represents the working class. He is a decorated soldier. His behavior is acceptable, even when he is violent. In contrast, Blanche cannot catch a break. Blanche’s old southern values have been replaced by the values of the Technological Revolution.

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