A Streetcar Named Desire Research Paper

Published in 1946, A Streetcar Named Desire reflects the cultural tensions that pervaded the nation after the horrors of World War II, when an idealistic and ambitious American nation attempted to prove its superiority and its power to the global community by attempting to - and succeeding in - squashing the threat of Nazi Germany. Millions of Americans lost their lives in an effort that left Germany powerless in the hands of America and the other Allied forces. When A Streetcar Named Desire came out, the country had just emerged from the war after battling through the Great Depression of the 1930's, and suddenly the national spotlight focused on the middle and lower classes as the true bearers of the heroic American spirit. Young men who had served in the war returned to their families and were ready to settle down - with wives, with children, and with steady jobs. The nation had suffered through a terrible war, and it was ready to embrace the …show more content…
After the war, the country experienced one of the biggest economic booms in history - with the return of soldiers came an increase both in the production and in the consumption of goods, and the economy soon soared after the end of the war. Consequently, you could say that America experienced a second Industrial Revolution after World War II. This revolution effectively killed the mystical charm of the Old South, where aristocracy and chivalry reigned. Women in the South seemed to possess an intangible charm that could enchant any man, and men prided themselves on their manners and a mysterious code of conduct that valued honor rather than industriousness. The ongoing power struggle between Blanche and Stanley thus reflects the battle between old Southern values and new industrial