The setting The setting Place A street in New Orleans named Elysian Fields (3) New Orleans is a cosmopolitan city where there is a relatively warm and easy intermingling of races(3). Elysian Fields is mythological reference to Elysium,
"The setting The setting Place A street in New" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to
download and print the materials on this website for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it
on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright
notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this
agreement.
Presentation Transcript
01
The setting<br>
02
The setting Place
A street in New Orleans “named Elysian Fields” (3)
New Orleans is “a cosmopolitan city where there is a relatively warm and easy intermingling of races”(3).
Elysian Fields is mythological reference to Elysium, the place to which the souls of heroes were sent after death before they returned to Earth. Homer (The Iliad, bk. IV, l.563) refers to the “Elysian plain at the ends of the earth”.
Time
“first dark of an evening early in May”(3)<br>
03
The mood<br>
04
Semantic field of dilapidation, deterioration and poverty The setting is “poor” (Williams 3)
An emphasis on the street’s being “between the L&N tracks and the river” (3) implies that it neighbours an industrial area.
Signs of deterioration are omnipresent: the white frames are “weathered grey”, the outside “faded white” stairs are rickety (3).<br>
05
Symbolism of the colours<br>
06
What do colors symbolize? The predominant colors are various shades of blue and brown.
The blue color is used to describe the sky and the sad mood inspired by the “blue piano” (3), playing sad blues.
The brown color is used to refer to the river as in “the brown river” as well as to the “redolences of bananas and coffee” and in the description of “brown fingers” of “Negro entertainers” who play jazz at a barroom (3). The former may have to do with the theme of decay; the latter denotes the overall sadness and the loneliness the ambiance is infused with. Both the references express the spirit of life on Elysian Fields street.<br>
07
Stanley Kowalski Primary colors (4) +primary energy/presence?
“heaves” “a red-stained package from the butcher’s” at his wife (4) (manners)
A ”type” like his friends (17), a ”different species” (18)
“A Master Sergeant in the Engineers’ Corps” (18)
“on the road a good deal” (19)
“Animal joy” (24)
“a richly feathered male bird”, “the gaudy seed-bearer” (25) – virility, lack of manners, aggressiveness
Possessiveness : Laurel is not in “my [his] territory” (26)
Unsophisticated stance: “be comfortable is my motto” (26); “the unrefined type” (28)
Questionable academic abilities: “”I never was a good English student” (27)<br>
08
Blanche Dubois Onomastics (the name)
Appearance (incongruous, white, pearl, gloves, hat, “delicate beauty”, “must avoid strong light”, “a moth”) (5)
Journey (“a street-car named Desire … transfer to one called Cemeteries… get off at – Elysian Fields”) (6)
Roots (Belle Reve) (9; 20, 21-22)
Manners (9)
Discomfort due to a sense of not belonging (10)
Lies (14-15)
Former occupation (26-27)<br>
