Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire.

Authors Avatar

Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire.

Calling Stanley an animal, and a ‘survivor of the stone age’, Blanche claims there has been ‘some progress’, and she tells Stella, ‘Don’t- don’t hang back with the brutes!’

By comparing A Streetcar Named Desire with at least one other text, discuss ways in which the theme of ‘progress’ is explored in 20th Century American Literature.

During this essay, I will examine what ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, and ‘The Great Gatsby’ by Scott Fitzgerald portray about progress in America, and the sacrifices people may have made because of this. Literature often shows a darker side to society, and points out the faults. Literature could be described as a critique of society.

By 1947, when Tennessee Williams wrote the play; A Streetcar Named Desire, America had become the most dominant country. Wealth was very important to the Americans, which was often gained through illegal, or immoral means as people had become greedy. In The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald is stating that the American Dream of wealth and beauty is fragile, For example, the sense of wonder of the first settlers in America quickly turned into an ostentatious, wild lifestyle of the wealthy during the 1920s was followed by the reality of the stock market crash and the great depression of the 1930s. Where there is great wealth, sadness and waste always seen to follow. The end product is always a valley of ashes.

Join now!

America had become the ‘Promised Land’, where people could live out the American Dream, which was to work, and make lots of money. In The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald includes a comparison of the corrupting influence of wealth to the purity of a dream as a central theme.  Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, Dan Cody, and Meyer Wolfsheim are all examples of people who have been corrupted by their money. Daisy, who was born and married to wealth, has no values and no purpose in life.

America has definitely made progress as it has become very powerful and ...

This is a preview of the whole essay