Comparative Perspectives (DP IB English A: Language and Literature: HL): Revision Note

• Blanche DuBois is the individual fighting to survive in a changing American South:

  • Her struggle is as a displaced aristocrat with limited resources 

  • Her new environment is the working-class, multicultural New Orleans

• Jay Gatsby is a self-made man whose social mobility is met with suspicion in the elitist world of East Egg:

  • His struggle is to win back Daisy Buchanan’s love

• In the context of A Streetcar Named Desire, patriarchal gender roles and a changing class structure dictate the social norms

• Tensions existed between the aristocratic Old South and a new industrial era informed by a work ethic based on the American Dream

• After World War I, a financial boom led to the Jazz Age, a decadent culture obsessed with hedonism and wealth

• By the 1920s, the American Dream was defined by aspirations of social mobility and financial security

• Following World War II, an emerging ideal of American heroism championed masculinity and a male-dominated nuclear family unit:

  • Stanley Kowalski is representative of an immigrant who exhibits masculine pride and physical strength 

  • Blanche Dubois, then, can be interpreted as emblematic of the free-spirited woman he tries to undermine

• Regardless of recent suffrage and new-found independence for women, upper-class society remained entrenched in traditional gender roles:

  • Daisy Buchanan exemplifies an upper-class woman whose marriage to Tom is a form of financial security and social status and, therefore, an obstacle for Gatsby

• Blanche DuBois struggles after the loss of her father and her aristocratic way of life

• Her dubious past, promiscuity, and genteel femininity causes conflicts in her new life living with Stella and Stanley in impoverished, patriarchal New Orleans

• Gatsby’s obsessive love for Daisy leads to an artificial life of crime, hedonism, and extravagance

• As an outsider with new money, his identity creates suspicion and causes conflict with Daisy’s husband Tom Buchanan

• Blanche attempts to steer her sister Stella towards female independence and a resistance to her oppressive marriage 

• Her intellectualism and sexual autonomy stands in direct contrast to Stanley’s desire for control

• Gatsby challenges the social hierarchy:

  • He endeavours to rise to a position worthy of Daisy’s love

• He resists the cynicism of the bored elitists

• Blanche DuBois is perceived as a sensitive, intellectual, aristocratic non-conformist in her new working-class society 

• Jay Gatsby is an idealistic outsider who fights against his humble origins

• He attempts to integrate with the old-money aristocrats of East Egg

• Tennessee Williams explores patriarchal attitudes to female sexuality

• He offers a critique of the American Dream:

  • Notably, ideals of the nuclear family and marriage

• Fitzgerald examines the moral decay and recklessness of the hedonistic and superficial 1920s American upper-class

• He suggests, by way of his portrayal of classism and class division, that the American Dream is corrupted

• While Williams’s play was praised, some critics commented on its unpleasant themes:

  • Particularly, the portrayal of domestic abuse and references to homosexuality and female promiscuity

• Some critics perceived Blanche as a moral outcast

• More recently, Blanche’s character has been considered an example of feminist ideals

• Stella’s character has been interpreted as the embodiment of female self-preservation

• Fitzgerald is renowned for popularising the term Jazz Age

• The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews: some called it artificial and trivial, though the writing style was generally praised

• At the time, the novel did not sell well:

  • Fitzgerald believed the novel was misunderstood, particularly regarding the love between Gatsby and Daisy

• Although Fitzgerald died believing the novel a failure, by 1945, The Great Gatsby had achieved acclaim as a Great American Novel

• The audience understands characters and their relationships through dialogue and stage directions

• Characters’ idiolects present the clash of cultures between the Old and New South

• Characters are symbolic of class systems and gender roles

• The unreliable narrator Nick Carraway offers a peripheral account of Jay Gatsby:

  • He tells the story retrospectively

  • Memories begin to unravel Gatsby’s past

• Dialogue between Nick and other characters reveal relationships:

  • They reveal gossip about Gatsby

• The play is set in the vibrant, multicultural, industrial French Quarter of New Orleans in the 1940s

• Blanche’s previous home “Belle Reve” is symbolic of the romantic and aristocratic Old South:

  • Her move to the small apartment on “Elysian Fields Avenue”, where her sister and Stanley live, is symbolic of her need to adapt to a new society

• The story takes place in 1922, an era known as the Roaring Twenties

• Fitzgerald sets his novel in a real location: East and West Hampton in Long Island, New York:

  • The majority of the novel takes place between the wealthy residential areas of East and West Egg

• While East Egg represents old money, West Egg is looked down upon as a place for the nouveau riche:

  • This represents Gatsby’s failed dream for social mobility

• Blanche’s aristocratic heritage and her sense of naivete is represented via her white dress and her compulsive bathing

• Her clothing reveals cultural, class clashes between her and Stanley:

  • He comments on her “Fox-pieces” and a “solid-gold dress”

• Dialogue reveals growing conflict between Stanley and Blanche, and her failed attempts to change her sister’s perceptions of him

• Stage directions and sound effects (such as the “sound of a blow” or slamming doors) portray Stanley’s aggressive character and physicality

• Gatsby’s mysterious nature is presented via his distance and isolation during his parties and other characters’ gossip 

• He is portrayed sympathetically through his nervous interactions with Daisy, reflecting his desperate and clumsy desire to woo her

• The antagonist Tom Buchanan, in contrast, is physically aggressive, characterised as a frustrated  sportsman

• The bored cynicism of the upper-class elite is portrayed through the actions of female characters particularly:

  • Daisy and Jordan lounge about and drink

• Allusions to Greek mythology (such as “Elysian Fields”) represent Blanche’s journey to her doomed fate

• Blanche alludes to gothic writer Edgar Allen Poe to present her as intellectual and melodramatic

• Stanley alludes to Cleopatra (the “Queen of the Nile”) to highlight his distaste for Blanche’s superior heritage 

• Nick Carraway’s reference to Gatsby as “Trimalchio” alludes to his poor origins and unethical accumulation of wealth

• Historical allusions to World War I, such as the “Kaiser Wilhelm” and “Von Hindenburg”, serve to sully Gatsby’s reputation

• Nick Carraway alludes to “Midas and Morgan”, linking a Greek myth about self-destruction to the banking mogul J.P. Morgan:

  • This raises connections between self-destruction and excess wealth

• The streetcar (“Desire”) is symbolic of Blanche’s sexuality

• Blanche’s references to a "paper moon" and her “paper lantern” symbolise her fragile identity and romantic nature 

• The contrasting musical  motifs of Blues music and Blanche’s Varsouviana Polka symbolise a clash of cultures in New Orleans                                                                                                             

• The “green light” is symbolic of the distance between Gatsby and Daisy

• Stars symbolise his dreams and doomed fate

• References to eyes and blindness represent the illusory world of East and West Egg

• Gatsby’s ostentatious mansion symbolises his status as a nouveau riche, self-made man:

  • Despite his wealth, he is unable to infiltrate the elitist society of the Buchanans

• The characters are representative of societal issues in the 1940s American South

• Blanche DuBois reflects the decline of the Old South

• Stanley Kowalski embodies the patriarchal attitudes of 1940s America, as well as the influx of immigrants from Europe

• Stella is reflective of post-World War II ideals of female roles in male-dominated nuclear families

• Characters reflect the right-wing, religious fundamentalist influence in 1980s America

• The commander embodies authoritarianism and male power based on Old Testament readings:

  • Officers named “Angels” reflect evangelical power

• Offred is representative of the results of a return to female domesticity and restricted reproductive freedoms, mirroring a reversal of feminist gains in 1980s America

• Williams employs a traditional five-part tragedy structure to reflect the destructive nature of society on his tragic heroine, Blanche Du Bois

• Blanche is introduced as a character of high status, reflective of the Old South aristocracy:

  • Her downfall depicts the clash of cultures in the American South

• The denouement reflects 1940s gender attitudes: 

  • For anything from depression to disobedience, women were sent to institutions such as where Blanche is sent 

• The structure of The Handmaid’s Tale is typical of speculative fiction:

  • Atwood’s non-linear, fragmented structure alternates between current events in Gilead and the narrator’s memories

• The novel’s epilogue is a set of “Historical Notes” from 2195:

  • These notes are a record of a past, reflective of contemporary concerns about the future

• Williams’s characters represent the changing society of the American South in the 1940s

• Williams depicts the clash between the aristocratic Old South and the new, working-class, multicultural society in New Orleans

• As a result of Blanche’s cultural heritage, she faces conflicts with Stanley, a working-class immigrant from Poland

• The play’s protagonist reflects the sense of alienation felt by social outcasts

• Atwood reflects tensions in 1980s America by presenting a warning about the future

• Her dystopian world depicts an  authoritarian society:

  • She warns of control by surveillance, mirroring contemporary concerns about technological advancements

• Atwood’s characters represent the extreme consequences of restrictions to women’s reproductive choices under Reagan’s administration in 1980s America

• Characters such as Offred exemplify the evangelical, right-wing push for a return to the domestic role of women 

• Williams portrays the decline and decay of traditional Southern aristocracy

• He critiques the post-World War II gender ideals and attitudes to sexuality

• Atwood’s novel serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of authoritarian societies

• She critiques the reversal of women's rights and the rise of religious extremism in 1980s America

• The play achieved immediate acclaim

• The play’s depiction of sexuality and assault was shocking for many

• Blanche’s character went on to become part of the nation’s “cultural mythology” 

• The Handmaid’s Tale was received as an important political novel

• The novel quickly became cited as a cautionary tale within feminist studies

• It was transformed into a television series in 2017:

  • The series updated themes that resonated with the 2016 political climate

• Blanche and Stanley’s dialogue depicts the tensions of a changing society 

• Dialogue reflects patriarchal attitudes:

  • Blanche’s poetic, sometimes French, language, contrasts Stanley’s blunt statements and exclamations

• Atwood employs an unreliable narrator who offers a subjective view of life in a futuristic, authoritarian society

• Offred’s narration reflects the fear and mistrust that comes from a repressive and surveillance-based society

• The setting is based on a real location and action takes place in a typical apartment

• The audience recognises 1940s society in stagecraft (such as music) that depicts the working-class, multicultural setting of New Orleans

• Gilead is set in a real place (Cambridge, Massachusetts) in the near future

• A totalitarian theocracy has replaced the American government 

• Flashbacks remind 20th-century readers of a society instantly recognisable, such as a “park” with “ducks” in a “pond”

• Blanche’s problem with alcohol is masked and her sexual encounters are judged, reflecting 1940s America’s feminine ideals

• In contrast, Stanley’s drinking, gambling, and physical assault reflects the masculine ideals of the post-war American South

• Offred’s internally focused narrative reflects life in a suspicious, authoritarian world under constant surveillance

• The designation of women’s roles according to reproductive ability reflects the regression of women's rights and the reversal of feminist gains made in the 1960s and 70s

• Allusions to Cleopatra reflect attitudes about the aristocratic past, as well as attitudes to subversive women:

  • Stanley calls Blanche "Queen of the Nile"

• Allusions to a 1940s song "It's Only a Paper Moon" are made:

  • This reflects the romanticism and illusory nature of the Old South

• Atwood references to the Old Testament throughout the novel:

  • This is a reflection of the influence of the evangelical right-wing in 1980s America

• Atwood alludes to historical events to offer realist comparisons as social commentary:

  • The novel is based in Massachusetts, alluding to the Salem Witch Trials and religious extremism

• Blanche’s home “Belle Reve” reflects the illusory nature and decay of the Old South

• The contrasting musical motifs of Blues music and Blanche’s “Varsouviana Polka” symbolise a clash of cultures in 1940s New Orleans:

  • The Old South is symbolised by Blues and jazz is symbolic of a changing, multicultural America                             

• To depict a society under constant surveillance, Atwood uses the symbolic representation of eyes

• She represents the Reagan administration’s push to control women’s sexual and reproductive freedoms:

  • Female characters are assigned colours to wear; these colours divide them according to particular domestic roles

• Blanche describes her fragile state of mind: “I was so exhausted by all I’d been through my — nerves broke”:

  • She goes on to suggest she was close to “lunacy”

• Her resistance to exposure and insecurity over her age and appearance highlights both her desire to hide her past and attitudes to gender: “I can't stand a naked light bulb”

• Blanche attempts to modernise her sister’s attitudes to hyper-masculine men like Stanley: “Don’t — don’t hang back with the brutes!”:

  • Her description “brutes” foreshadows the physically brutal treatment she receives from Stanley

• Tom Buchanan presents both the classist attitudes of the elite and Gatsby’s hopeless dreams:

  • He says sarcastically, “the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife”

• Gatsby appears conscious of Daisy’s heritage and her desire for wealth: he tells Nick, “Her voice is full of money”:

  • Fitzgerald hints at Gatsby’s self-awareness and, simultaneously, his delusions regarding his love for Daisy

• The novel ends with Nick Carraway’s conclusions about Gatsby’s struggle to escape his past: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past”

The conflict between individual identity and restrictive social expectations

1984 

Both texts explore the struggle of the individual under authoritarian, dystopian societies 

Atwood’s passive female protagonist portrays the struggle against  reproductive and sexual restrictions for females in domestic roles, while Orwell employs a rebellious male protagonist to depict inner turmoil and powerlessness

Williams critiques patriarchal attitudes to sexuality and tensions between cultures

Othello

Both writers challenge discriminatory traditions and treatment of outsiders

Williams foregrounds attitudes to female promiscuity, while Shakespeare’s protagonist, a Moor, also raises themes of racism

Williams’s  tragic hero explores the idea of madness and alienation

Hamlet 

Both writers use tragedies to raise ideas about an individual' s psychological turmoil as a result of social norms  

Blanche’s doomed fate is a result of contemporary attitudes to female behaviour, while Shakespeare’s Hamlet meets a violent death, illustrating 17th-century political disorder and concerns over religious morality

Williams’s audience considered the play as revolutionary while a little unsettling 

Things Fall Apart

Both texts challenge audiences to consider alternative perspectives

Williams’s depictions of sexuality were considered ground-breaking, while Achebe’s examination of British colonialism and Christian missionaries  was a clear departure from Western representations of Africa