While comparing gender roles of Uncle Tom's Cabin and A Streetcar Named Desire I noticed that women still contain a small amount of power but none compared to that of the men in these stories. For Uncle Tom's Cabin I think Eliza relates most to Stella, both women are in really bad circumstances of society. Also both of them have to take into account their children. However they do view their motherhood roles very differently. Eliza feels like she can't live without her son Henry but Stella seems like she can't live without her husband Stanley. She doesn't care to much about her son, at least there isn't much said about him in the play. It would appear the only place that Stella has any power what so ever is during the staircase scene when she attempts to leave Stanley. That is the only place through the play that she appears to have a choice for herself. The rest of the time it seems Stanley and Blanche make decisions for her or just assume that she will do whatever they want.
Eliza seems to have more power than Stella and they are characters from two very different era's. Though Eliza was working against society she choose to go against the grain to save her son. I think that she is what society views as a great mother, a woman who will sacrifice herself for her child. Why is it more common to see a woman sacrifice for her child/ren than the father? For example the single mother, they have to work as both the masculine and feminine caretaker, provider and nurturer. Eliza had to be Henry's single parent for the majority of the book after Henry's father is sold. She risk's her life to save him from facing the same fate as his father.
Though it seems society's view of women hasn't changed much over the era's between Uncle Tom's Cabin and A Streetcar Named Desire. In the Era of A Streetcar Named Desire white men where the Superior race and gender. Women did work while the men where away at war but as soon as the men returned, companies started making all these new fancy convenient machines for women such as the washer, stove and refrigerator. These where all to influence women to take their places back at the house. Society wanted to shift the balance of power back to male dominance, back to the June Cleaver, no speck of dust in the house household. To me Eliza and Stella are very different in their individual beliefs but similar as their societies view women.
