Do you think that the seasons in Streetcar play an essential role, and/or have a symbolic like in The Bluest Eye?
NB: The play starts in May and ends in September/November so that is from Spring to Autumn. What's more, Williams skips a few months after the beginning of the play. Why is that?
I think the seasons do have a central role to the play. Indeed, in New Orleans the summer is very hot and I think that this uncomfortable weather instigates a lot of the action (especially the ones spurred by bad moods). We see the tension in the play rise as the weather gets hotter and then as the autumn moths come, the weather becomes less hot and more humid, making the characters irritable (not angry like in the summer). The humid weather also is conducive to drinking! Then, the climate has a direct influence on the characters' actions. Plus, if the passing of the time weren't so important, why would Tennessee Williams have put a human clock on the stage? (Stella)
ReplyDeletelol, I love that you've answered your own question! I think this season post could have made a great response to our setting dST. You could have written about seasons. Both works have their own place to start: late spring for STreetcar and fall for BE. These seasonal settings are primordial since fall, the beginning of the school year in BE, announces ironic beginnings/falls for Pecola. Her period comes in the fall, and we have already been told that her father will rape her, so that this beginning, attributed to the season that marks the school calendar year has an ironic ring to it. Similarly for Blanche, we are in spring, but spring will not bring good things; instead, it is the beginning of long, hot months ahead that will reach their climax and, ultimately, end in September, fall, with her tragic end.
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