synopsis:

This play tells the story of the pathetic mental and emotional demise of a determined, yet fragile, repressed and delicate Southern lady, Blanche dubois, born to a once-wealthy family of Mississippi planters. Her impoverished, tragic downfall in the squalid French Quarter apartment of her married sister (Stella) and animalistic brother-in-law (Stanley) is at the hands of savage, brutal forces in modern society. In her search for refuge, she finds that her sister lives (approvingly) with drunkenness, violence, lust, and ignorance.

on this book:

Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece has been the source of controversy since it was written five decades ago. Touching on issues of prejudice, sexual codependence, mental breakdown, and rape, 'A Streetcar Named Desire' is at times disturbing in its brutal honesty. Readings of this sultry play have found it to be anything from a critique of the conflict between the North and South in post Civil War America, to a subtle commentary on the struggles of Williams' life as a homosexual. The image of Stanley bellowing drunkenly to his wife Stella, as well as lines such as Blanche telling how she has "always depended on the kindness of strangers" have become so much a part of the American consciousness that they are recognizable even to those who are unfamiliar with Williams' work itself.in 1951 a film based on this play came out, starring marlon brando (see "The more sensitive you are...") as stanley.see also: * "You didn't need to do that. don't forget all that..."