A streetcar called Desire and the blues of Mister Charlie are both to a large extent about tensions between different ethnic groups and, since in both the games the ethnicity of each group defines its social position, even in different social groups. The two works are stylistically similar, employing expressionist techniques while maintaining naturalistic dialogue and only occasionally making forays into lyricism. The works differ in that while A Streetcar Named Desire explores the tension between two specific characters, each implicitly representative of a particular group, Blues for Mister Charlie explicitly deals with large social groups at loggerheads. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayAfter the founding of the Washington Square Players and Provincetown Players in 1920, American drama became increasingly interested in bringing social analysis to the stage. This movement towards "social drama", of which A Streetcar Named Desire is a product, found its impetus in admiration for the turn-of-the-century European drama of the likes of Ibsen and Brecht. American drama quickly broke away from Europe by developing its own style, blending expressionism and naturalism to express concerns central to America. The economic boom and civil unrest following World War II led many writers to question the essence of American identity. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams seeks to define America's new identity in relation to its old one by adopting a form found in many of Ibsen's works (e.g. Ghosts), an exploration of how repressed emotions from the past break out into the present . an American, Williams was also a Southerner. Through films like Gone with the Wind, American cinema had fostered a national fascination with romantic perceptions of the South. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams explores the idea of ​​a romantic South and its relationship to modern America. The tension between past and present finds expression in the conflict between Stanley and Blanche, respectively representatives of the booming industrial North and the declining bucolic South. Stanley was descended from 20th century Polish immigrants and Blanche from the French founding fathers. This difference indicates not only the ethnic, but also temporal separation between the respective social groups. Thus the tension between Stanley and Blanche mirrors the tension between the old and the new America, the recently immigrated and the long-standing, the North and the South. Linked to these conflicts are those between poor and rich, crude and refined, animalistic and artistic. These tensions emerge in the language, appearance, and mannerisms of Streetcar's characters, as well as in the workings of the plot. Stanley does not speak, but "screams," favoring monosyllables and simple sentence structures and often employing imperfect grammar, as in: "When we first met, you and I, you thought I was ordinary. How right you were, darling . I was common as trash." Stanley appreciates the immediacy of expression and rarely uses imagery. When he uses images, they are banal and primitive ("Common as dirt...shut it up like a clam"). His language is equivalent to the "grunt", as Blanche comments, of Stone Age man: superficial, purely in the service of reality. When Blanche asks him for a compliment, Stanley replies that he doesn't "give himself to those things." Such language is suited to a man who dwells so much in the physical, rather than the intellectual or emotional world, and who sees things in terms of what they are, rather than what they suggest. On the contrary,Blanche's language is elaborate and often lyrical: "I, I, took the blows in the face and body! All those deaths! ... funerals are beautiful compared to deaths." He also uses images from literature in everyday language, comparing New Orleans to Weir's "haunted woods." For Blanche, language is not so much a tool for communicating reality as for obscuring it. He often uses euphemisms (Belle Reve is "lost" and Mr. Graves "suggested she take a leave of absence") to preserve the illusion of her happiness and beauty and, by extension, that of the romantic South. Blanche supports this illusion through her appearance, her behavior, and her language. She wears a “rhinestone tiara,” an image of opulence whose hollowness is demonstrated when Stella describes it as “costume… next to glass.” Blanche's avoidance of bright light is symptomatic of her avoidance of the truth: she does not wish to be perceived for who she is. In contrast to Blanche's haziness, Stanley is vivid and vital, surrounded by bright "primary colors": "linoleum yellow... vivid green... solid blue... purple... red and white." Furthermore, despite his apparent simplicity, Stanley is very insightful and often witty. He perceives Blanche's artificiality and her hidden baseness, and therefore is able to destroy her. For example, when Blanche states that she "rarely touches" alcohol, Stanley responds that "some people rarely touch it, but it touches them often." The captions regarding Stanley are significant. He is "primitive" in his physicality and his animalism, throwing bloody flesh at Stella like a prehistoric hunter depositing his prey. Stanley does not walk but "legs"; He "throws" furs and "opens" drawers: his every move is energetic and wild. In comparison, Blanche is a picture of delicacy and fragility. She is physically weak and sickly ("I'm going to get sick") and Williams compares her to a "moth", suggesting her fragility and the airiness of her movements. She worries that she has not "washed or powdered" her face, and her clothes are made of "feathers and furs." Even the name "Dubois" sounds gentle compared to the harsher "Kowalski". At some points of tension between Stanley and Blanche in the play, Williams interrupts the action with the noisy passing of a streetcar. This expressionist technique highlights the importance of the moment and helps build an association between Stanley and the tram, a symbol of industrialization. It is significant that in an early draft of the play, Williams had Blanche die by running in front of a tram. Stella can be considered the focal point of A Streetcar Named Desire, the woman for whom Stanley and Blanche wage their battles. As the show progresses, a constant exchange of power occurs, with Blanche and Stanley alternately gaining and losing influence over Stella. For example, after the poker incident, Blanche gains influence and takes the opportunity to take Stella away from Stanley's apartment. The captions describe her with "her arms around" Stella, "guiding her." When Stanley wins her back with a display of animal passion (shouting "STELL-LAHHHHHH") he has defeated Blanche, who walks "fearfully... as if she had been struck." The battles between Stanley and Blanche also take place on the territory. They argue about Blanche's extensive use of the bathroom, for example, and Blanche even covers one of Stanley's chairs as if to claim it as her own. While A Streetcar Named Desire dramatizes the conflict between two social groups (or, more precisely, two sets of values) in terms of the conflict between two individuals, Blues for Mister Charlie addresses the conflict at the community level. Furthermore, while in Streetcar Blanche's systematic lying is exposed and Stanley emerges as a clear winner, in Blues for Mister Charlieno clear winner appears. Rather, the conflict is seen as aimless and harmful to both sides. Blues for Mister Charlie was written later than A Streetcar Named Desire, and therefore the social groups it focuses on are different. Baldwin wrote his play in 1964, when racial tensions were at their height. In 1963, Martin Luther King led his march on Washington and delivered his "I have a dream..." speech, protesting widespread discrimination against black Americans. The play was in fact accelerated by real events: the murder of a black man in Mississippi by a white shopkeeper. It focuses on the conflict between black and white sectors of society and is set in the South, where that conflict was most intense. Baldwin's setting is highly expressionistic and contributes greatly to the sense of a community at war with itself. A central nave separates the action involving whites from that involving blacks. Baldwin calls the nave a "gulf" and indicates that "the stage should be constructed in such a way that the audience reacts to the enormity of this gulf." As another example, Baldwin writes that in the final act, "the audience [should be] aware of the steeple, the church, and the cross." Since religion is shared by both blacks and whites and yet is used as a justification for discrimination, this provision is decidedly ironic. The conflict between blacks and whites in Blues for Mister Charlie is similar in many ways to the conflict between Stanley and Blanche, and the characteristics of Stanley and Blanche can be perceived in each racial group. In the same way that Stanley, who represents the new, destroys Blanche, who represents the old, the growing black unrest threatens the old order of white supremacy. It was in the North that Richard developed his rebellious ideas. When he takes them to his hometown in the South, he generates a conflict between the progressive values ​​of the North and the conservative values ​​of the South similar to the one developed in Streetcar. Furthermore, Richard's method of confrontation is similar to Stanley's in his physical violence. He uses his sexuality to hurt his enemies ("to ruin their minds forever") in the same way Stanley does when he rapes Blanche. Like Williams, Baldwin explores the question of the essence of Americanness. Stanley, although an immigrant, claims to be "one hundred percent American"; in the face of oppression, black people struggle to assert their identity as Americans. For them, America is still “a foreign land” despite it being their “home.” Indeed, much of the struggle between blacks and whites is originally territorial and tribal. Juanita ironically describes Lyle as an "honorable tribesman [who has] defended, with his blood, the honor and purity of his tribe." Just as Stanley and Blanche feel they must protect Stella, white characters often cite their need to protect their women from black men. For example, Lyle complains that he won't have "no big niggas layin' next to Josephine." Baldwin cultivates the sense that whites are trapped in their prejudices and that the conflict arises from their inability to adapt to black emancipation. As Parnell notes, “It's not that easy to climb over fences.” Likewise, it is Blanche's inability to adapt to her evolving situation following the loss of Belle Reve that leads to her destruction. While very little pathos is evoked for Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire, for Baldwin it is important that his audience feels sympathy for every participant in the tragedy of racial prejudice. It highlights each group's entrapment in its own prejudices and highlights the sensitive nature of the characters (e.g. Lyle: "He looked at me like he loved me. He was in.