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Motifs
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
In A Streetcar Named Desire, the setting is so important that it’s practically a character. Taking place in New Orleans in the mid-20th century, the unique clash between industrialized society and “Old South” culture is baked into every interaction. The physical setting in which the audience meet Blanche, Stella, and Stanley is a run-down apartment in the French Quarter of the city. The building’s architecture—which remains grand but is expensive and often impractical to keep up in a postwar economy—is a physical representation of the deteriorating grandeur of the Old South. Additionally, the Kowalski apartment’s shabby conditions are the opposite of the once-elegant plantation house of Belle Reve that Blanche constantly speaks of. She’s taken a steep descent in the world by moving in with Stella and Stanley—or at least, that’s what she wants them to think.
Related Themes:
