AP+5.Belle+Reve

1. Belle Reve: Historical 2. Sumedha Ravishankar //3. // 4. Belle Reve is the plantation where the main character, Blanche, grew up. Belle Reve is found in Laurel, Mississippi shortly after World War II (Cummings).In French, Belle Reve means “beautiful dream”. A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in 1947, and in the 1940s, those who owned plantations were considered wealthy. Especially after the Great Depression, the ability to have land showed that a family was prosperous and could support themselves. In the play itself, Blanche loses her family as well as the wealth that comes with Belle Reve. Belle Reve represents the loss of a “beautiful dream” because Blanche loses her dream life as she loses her wealth. Belle Reve represents the wealth and prosperity that Southerners desired during the 1940s, as they wished to live a “beautiful dream” and life (Bradford). 5. Works Cited Bradford, Wade. “Setting of ‘Streetcar Named Desire.” About.com. About.com. 2011. Web. 7 November 2011. Cummings, Micheal J. "A Streetcar Named Desire: A Study Guide." np. 2003. Web. 8 November 2011.

1. **Belle Reve** 2. **Bethanie Butler**  3. 4. **Audience**: The audience in this case is the reader of A Streetcar Named Desire. The whole time the reader, also known as the audience, knows Belle Reve is an “illusion”, yet the characters do not realize it. Belle Reve “means ‘beautiful’ or ‘sweet dream’” and to the audience that is exactly what it is, a “sweet dream” or “illusion” (Wayne). The family plantation represents a symbol of how the family has difficulty “separating illusion from reality” (Wayne). This is because the audience can see that Belle Reve is no more an “illusion” and represents a false reality that Blanche believes is real. Which means that Belle Reve “is synonymous with a fantasy that has been lost, or more likely never existed, that also acts as a high-class veneer that Blanche tries to shield herself with” (Greiner). The audience can tell that Belle Reve is an “illusion” and a “fantasy” that most “likely never existed”, but Blanche in particular does not realize this because she is protection herself with the plantation. 5. Works Cited Greiner, William. “The Artificial Southern Belle: An Analysis of Blanche DuBois in Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire”. Students St. Edwards. Web. 7 November 2011.

Wayne, Michael. Reshaping of plantation society: the Natchez District, 1860-80. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990. Print.

1. Belle Reve 2. Ashley Payne 3. 4. **Aim:** Belle Reve is french for "beautiful dream" and is also the name of the plantation in the play A Street Car Named Desire on which the character, Blanche, grew up. "...Beautiful dream suggests that something beautiful, which has once existed, faded away. Therefore, the name’s symbolic meaning became true. But in contrast to Blanche’s other illusions, this is the only one that ever truly existed, and it s the only one that Stella and Blanche are both connected to, because it is their heritage, and it was real" (Symbolic Devices). Because Blanche loses the plantation, that means it existed, but she yearns for it, because she has lost it. Therefore, the aim of Belle Reve, is to provide the perspective of once what was. Dreams are typically illusions, however, Belle Reve, their "heritage," is very much real. Additionally, one can return to a dream, but now, because Belle Reve has slipped from her grasp, she cannot return to it, because the little wage she has cannot maintain Belle Reve's high mortgage. In the play, Blanche cries out, "But you are the one that abandoned Belle Reve, not I! I stayed and fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it!" (Williams). Belle Reve was Blanche's childhood home, and because she lost it, she can only dream about it; the plantation becomes an illusion even though it once existed. She cannot chase after it. Although she fought for it, it does not make a difference.

5. Works Cited

"Symbolic devices in Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire ." University of Bayreuth: Department of English Literature. University of Bayreuth. Web. 8 Nov 2011.

Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar named Desire. London: Penguin, 1993. Print.

1. Belle Reve 2. Courtney DeWein 3. 4. Cultural In the context of A Streetcar Named Desire, Belle Reve, Blanche’s “ancestral southern plantation”, represents Blanche’s cultural idea of a “beautiful dream” (Cummings). It is essentially the embodiment of everything that she desires as part of a perfect life. In the play, Belle Reve is a cultural sign of wealth, which is important because money is extremely important, especially after the Great Depression. Belle Reve “represents the ‘beautiful dream’ that Blanche seeks but never experiences” (Cummings). Because she “never experiences” this “beautiful dream”, it represents the unattainable cultural journey that takes place during the time. Then later in the play, part of the culture is symbolically destroyed with the destruction of the family plantation. “The final destruction of the Old South, symbolized by Blanche and Belle Reve. This theme...begins to unfold in the opening scene of the play. Two women, one white and one black, sit as equals on the steps of an apartment building while Blanche arrives on scene accoutered in the attitude and finery of a southern belle of yesteryear” (Cummings). The “Old South” is destroyed because racial differences between people, “one white and one black” are forgotten. Another primary use of Belle Reve is to make the distinction and also similarities between Blanche’s culture and Stella's culture. “But in contrast to Blanche’s other illusions, this is the only one that ever truly existed, and it is the only one that Stella and Blanche are both connected to, because it is their heritage, and it was real” (Steppat). It is apparent that Blanche is extremely disillusioned about her reality, but that both her and her sister are "connected to" their similar heritage because it "was real". Although Stella and Blanche are shown to have substantial differ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15px;">ences throughout the play, Belle Reve establishes cultural connections between them.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14.6667px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5. Works Cited <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cummings, Michael J. “A Streetcar Named Desire: A Study Guide.” 2003. Web. 7 November 2011.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Steppat, Michael. “Symbolic devices in Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire” Web. 8 November 2011.