The Streetcar Named Desire
"The Streetcar Named Desire" is a fantastic play that elaborates on the dynamics and clashes between characters that represent conventional South American ideals as they struggle to adapt to the evolving world of modern America (Williams 26). The play revolves around the arrival of Blanches, Stella's girlfriend, and the relationship of the characters Stanley, Mitch, Blanches, and Stella. The choices of the narrative's key characters and themes will be explored in this thesis.
Stella
Stella is the anchor that prevents the ship from swaying. she presents herself as sensitive and loving which is entirely accurate as despite the many failings of Stanley and violence towards her, she much considers it all as love (Williams 59). Stella manages to stay neutral all through the play until Blanche accuses Stanley of raping her. She takes the side of her husband and lets her sister drift in the wind. It is a fact that her actions are not uncommon in the society as, like other people, the character still has to keep on living despite the turmoil not for her but the benefit of her child.
Stanley
Stanley shows a complicated mix of roughness and sensitivity, in his way he does love his wife Stella, as he is afraid to lose her. Stanley is a violent man, and he shows by this by hitting Stella and also fighting with friends during poker. He dislikes Blanche from the first encounter which eventually grows into hatred when he hears her talk to Stella about him being an animal. He portrays a cunning animal speech that adds mockery as after raping Blanche, he remarks and torments her; "we've had this date with each other from the beginning" (Williams 540).
Blanche
Blanche is the center of the narrative; she portrays the image of an aristocrat, very refined and hypersensitive. She hides her past and how fragile she is behind her flashy clothes and manners. Having lost her husband and also the property back home added to that tarnished image Blanche became a prostitute to rub off the guilt and loneliness (Williams 60). She seems to be a haunted by her past as when she is about to find hope of happiness and marriage it is denied quickly with the announcement of her past. Despite her downfalls and the seamless lack of hope she strides on and endures for a better day if not tomorrow.
Major Theme: Decline of Noble Family Traditions
The major theme explored in the narrative focuses on the decline of the noble family traditions commonly in association with the Southern America (Fang 29). The families lost their historical importance as the agricultural base of the states of the south were unable to compete with the new age of industrialization (Fang 30). Due to the First World War, many workers moved into factories in urban centers creating a shortage of labor in the farms; the labor effects set a precedent for women to gain voting rights which ended the aristocracy of men (Fang 30). Blanche represents the female nobility and the sale of her families' plantation a significant bow to urbanization. Perhaps the biggest conquest of aristocracy is the humiliation that Stanley does to Blanche from rape to being taken to a mental institution.
Theme: Sex Roles
Sex roles also play as a significant theme in the narrative, Blanche being the center of the play undergoes a lot which perhaps may be because the positions open to women at the time are narrow (Fang 32). In spite of being educated and having worked as a teacher, she still finds herself constrained by the expectations of the society that surrounds her. She leans and depends on the men throughout the play even when the doctor arrives, where she blurts out "whoever you are; I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" (Fang 34). Mitch's rejection of Blanche rather illuminates on the discrepancy in the behavior of women, regarding how they behave and what is expected of them (Fang 35).
Works Cited
Fang, W. E. I. “Blanche’s Destruction: Feminist Analysis on a Streetcar Named Desire/LA DESTRUCTION DE BLANCHE: ANALYSE FÉMINISTE SUR UN TRAMWAY NOMMÉ DÉSIR.” Canadian Social Science 4.3 (2008): 102.
Williams, Tennessee. A streetcar named desire. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.
