A critical view of "A Streetcar Named Desire"

Title, author and Date of publication
Firstly, the title of the article is "Old south versus New America - A Streetcar Named Desire", this is heavily referencing the end of the civil war which started in 1861 and finished in 1865 which happened because President Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery and the South of America was strongly apposed to this because it meant that they would lose a lot of money, whereas the North of America was more forward thinking and agreed with the end of slavery. Furthermore, Tennessee Williams uses the characters of Blanche and Stanley as literary devices to represent "Old America" and "New America" and the conflict that happens between the two of them explores how during Post World War Two America was losing "traditional" values and modernising.

The article was written by Gabi Reigh who is a teacher and in the article she looks specifically at the conflict which happens throughout the play due to the cultural differences between Blanche and Stanley and the "Power Struggle" for Blanche to maintain her Old world. Also, the article was published in September 2015.

Summary
Overall, the article focuses on the conflict between Blanche and Stanley, who are representations of "Old" and "New" America, Blanche symbolises tradition and old values and has a love for art poetry and literature whereas Stanley is symbolic of new America, which is immagration, working hard and enjoying things like sports rather than literature. Throughout the article, Reigh examines the way in which Williams has shown conflict in the play, such as with their costumes, Blanche arming herself with pretty white clothing whilst Stanley wears his blue work uniform.