Williams's Use of Oppositions in A Streetcar Named Desire Anonymous 12th Grade

Tennessee Williams creates tension and conflict through oppositions in the play – he shows striking differences between the characters Stanley and Blanche, animalistic qualities, the contrast between the old world versus the new world and the difference between reality and magic.

Tennessee Williams creates class conflict through his depiction of the new world in contrast to the old world. Blanche DuBois is from an old established French family, who have been in possession of a plantation called ‘Belle Reve’ – they can be described at the first wave of immigrants coming from Europe to escape tyrannical rule who prospered on the soils of newfound America. As a result, Blanche had led a sheltered life and Belle Reve represents the stability it has brought her, hence why when it is sold she has to ‘run for protection, Stella, from under one leaky roof to another leaky roof’ without the shelter of the old world – she is being swallowed up by the storm of the new world. On the other hand, Stanley Kowalski represents the new wave of immigrants and is a ‘Polak’ – he has found a home in New Orleans which expresses ‘the atmosphere of decay’. If Elysian Fields were to look as it was named, it would be similar to Belle Reve but instead it...