How do A Streetcar Named Desire and Glengarry Glen Ross and the social discourses of their time, affect public and private values of society?

Module: Modern American Drama (Level 6)

Authors

  • Millie Brown

Keywords:

Modern American Drama, Mamet, Streetcar named desire

Abstract

There have always been numerous societal issues that dominate and continue to dominate the constructs of civilisation. This essay seeks to understand how sexuality during the 1950s and capitalism during 1980s in America both become social discourses of their time. Moreover, it explores the appropriate contextual evidence for how these social issues created a knock on effect for playwriters such as Tennessee Williams and David Mamet to be inspired to write A Streetcar Named Desire and Glengarry Glen Ross as responses to these issues. The essay argues, through the close analysis of both of these plays, how sexuality and capitalism effected people’s response to these issues and how the private values of people were often overlooked due to public values setting high expectations.

Author Biography

Millie Brown

Millie is a third year English Literature student who has had a passion for reading and writing from a very young age. Her experience at Leeds Beckett University has helped her tremendously in achieving her goals and improving her writing skills, in both a creative and academic way, and the course allowed her to explore different formats of literature and literary theory placed across a wide historical context. Her third year module, ‘Modern American Drama’ was an essential module in helping her achieve her highest potential as it aimed to digress the differing societal issues in American civilisation within plays throughout the 20th century. Post-graduation she hopes to be involved in either the publishing industry working as an editor or proof-reader, or in a job where she can express her writing skills both academically and creatively. In the far future she hopes to one day be able to write and publish a novel of her own.

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Published

2022-06-26

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2022): The LBU Review: Summer 2022

Section

Articles