• Born Thomas Lanier Williams

• Father- Cornelius Williams was a shoe salesmen that was an absent and emotionally abusive father

• Mother- Edwina was a loving but smothering woman. She was the daughter of an Episcopal minister and lived the life of a Southern belle

Biography Continued

  Sister- Rose, Williams’ older sister, was emotionally and mentally unstable and was later lobotomized. She was an inspiration for much of his work

 Williams struggled throughout his wife with depression, drugs and his sexuality (which he later embraced)

 Tennesse Williams choked to death on the lid of a pill bottle in 1983

• Williams was a critically acclaimed playwright, winning two Pulitzer Prizes (A Streetcar named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)

• He was a “poetic realist” who used everyday objects that when seen repeatedly and in certain contexts, become imbued with symbolic meaning

  The story takes place in New Orleans – sets the mood of the story

  Old world French architecture meets new world (growing sound of Jazz

  Old Chivalry meets the animal instincts of desire and procreation

  The facade of upper class refinement meets the growing lower class blue collar worker

   Post World War II

•Stanley Kowalski – Stella’s husband•Stella Kowalski – Stanley’s wife, Blanche’s younger sister•Blanche Dubois – Stella’s older sister•Harold Mitchell (Mitch) – Stanley’s friend, interested in Blanche•Steve Hubbell – Friend of Stanley, lives above the Kowalskis•Eunice Hubbell – Wife of Steve, friend of Stella’s

• Blanche’s fantasies vs. Reality

• Blanche’s fantasies vs. Mitch

• Blanche’s superiority vs. Stanley’s ego

• Stella’s love for Blanche vs. Stella’s dependency on Stanley

• Fantasy/Illusion vs. Reality

• The Old South transforming into the New South

• Cruelty

• Primitive and the Civilized

• Desire

• Loneliness