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Flashcards in Streetcar Context Deck (17)
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1
Q

What is the division between the cultures?

A
  • the post-war, industrial world of the ‘New America’

- decaying, rural life of the Old South

2
Q

What kind of old fashion ideals are connected to the Old South?

A
  • hereditary
  • race
  • ancestry
  • strict boundaries
3
Q

What qualities are connected to the ‘Big Easy’ New Orleans?

A
  • carefree
  • fun-loving
  • unconventional
  • relaxed atmosphere of ethnic diversity
4
Q

What points are connected to the post-war context?

A
  • notion of the American Dream

- changing sense of national identity ie. multiculturalism, New Orleans is a microcosm for that change

5
Q

Williams says he wrote “out of love for the South” - what is the divisive nature of the American South?

A
  • vying between the ideals and then criticising for black history
6
Q

What is a modern tragedy?

A
  • focuses on ordinary people in tragic situations and domestic settings
7
Q

Who is the tragic heroine, the antagonist and the catalyst of the play?

A
  • Blanche is heroine
  • Stanley is the malevolent force
  • Stella is the catalyst whose decision has a direct impact on Blanche’s tragic fate - ultimately her tragic downfall
8
Q

Suggest Blanche’s hamartia

A
  • weakened mental state
  • weak grip on reality
  • inability to see her effect on others
  • denial of her sexuality
9
Q

How does Williams use the modern tragedy more innovatively?

A
  • shows that Blanche manages to reach a ‘tragic dignity’
10
Q

What is Blanche’s tragic downfall?

A
  • that she will suffer a living death in a mental institution
11
Q

While rejecting the ‘unity of time,’ what does Williams maintain?

A
  • unity of place

- unity of action

12
Q

What makes Streetcar a melodrama?

A
  • its sensational elements
13
Q

What is the effect of the 11 short scenes?

A
  • more intense
14
Q

What is the effect of the narrative gaps?

A
  • story becomes more fragmented and audience is isolated from some of the most intense times
15
Q

How is pathos created at the end?

A
  • a restored illusion of calm returns and it ends on the poker game which indicates the darkness of the American dream
16
Q

What are the points of implied flashbacks in the text?

A
  • Belle Reve
  • Blanche’s past promiscuity
  • Blanche’s dismissal from school
  • Husband’s suicide
17
Q

Rather than a political statement, what does the play actually focus on?

A
  • the complexity of human interaction

- the human psyche and the conflict between fantasy and realism