How does Blanche DuBois represent the faded grandeur of the American past?
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How does Blanche DuBois represent the faded grandeur of the American past? The South, old and new, is an important theme of the play. Blanche and her sister come from a dying world. The life and pretensions of their world are becoming a thing of memory: to drive home the point, the family mansion is called "Belle Reve," or Beautiful Dream. The old life may have been something beautiful, but it is gone forever. The two sisters, symbolically, are the last living members of their family. Stella will mingle her blood with a man of blue-collar stock, and Blanche will enter the world of madness. Stanley represents the new order of the South: chivalry is dead, replaced by a "rat race," to which Stanley makes several proud illusions. Blanche expects a certain level of behaviour from men; she wants them to be gentle, good-tempered and friendly. She also expects a certain...


