Gender Roles in a Streetcar Named Desire Tennesssee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire tells the story of Blanche Dubois as she arrives in New Orleans to visit her sister. Throughout the play, we see her sanity diminish until her departure. In this play, the theme of gender roles is explored through the representation of the male and female characters and through the symbol of the poker night. Williams shows the theme of gender roles through the characters and how they react to the different expectations society has forced upon them because of their gender. For example, the male characters are expected to be providers and to have all the power in the household, which is the case for Stanley. Stanley adheres to the stereotypical attributes
