Downfall and Denial in Streetcar Named Desire and Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams allows the main characters in the plays, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie, to live miserable lives, which they first try to deny and later try to change. The downfall and denial of the Southern gentlewoman is a common theme in both plays. The characters, Blanche DuBois from A Streetcar Named Desire and Amanda from The Glass Menagerie are prime examples. Blanche and Amanda have had, and continue to have, many struggles in their lives. The problem is that Williams never lets the two women work through these problems and move on. The two ladies are allowed to destroy themselves and Williams invites the audience to watch them in the process (Stine 474).
The downfall, denial, and need to change of the two women are all quite evident in these two plays. First the troubles of Blanche and Amanda need to be recognized. Blanche has apparently had practice hiding her drinking problem. When she arrives at Stella’s home, she sneaks a shot of whiskey (Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene1. Page 18. Lines 12-17). When she is later offered a drink, she acts as though she has no idea where the alcohol is kept (Williams, A.S.N.D. 1.19.12-15). Amanda cannot accept the fact that no gentlemen callers are coming for Laura, her daughter, thus making that reality more difficult for Laura to accept (Williams, The Glass Menagerie, 1.28.1-5). Neither Blanche nor Amanda allows herself to recognize her problems and work them out. They both deny the existence of these problems, thereby enabling their difficulties to become larger and even more complicated. When Stella offers Blanche a second drink, Blanche states, "One's m...
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...Blanche and Amanda. Tennessee Williams wrote very similar plays along common themes, plays that both disturbed and aroused sympathy for the characters as well as the real life counterparts that they represented.
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... Filban’s experience is true or not. It might not be believable in some perspectives, but there is one thing that is true. This experience is unexplained, so it can be described as supernatural. Until proven different, Filban did have a supernatural experience. Just because the evidence is not apparent, and no one else witnessed it, the story can still be deemed supernatural.
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) is one of the largest transit systems in the United States. It is the ninth largest system, transporting over 550,000 passengers daily. MARTA provides bus and rapid rail service to the most of the metropolitan area of Atlanta. The transit agency was established in 1971 with the passage of an authorizing referendum by voters in Fulton and DeKalb counties and the city of Atlanta. MARTA is a public authority that operates under Georgia law. The agency is governed by a board of directors with representation from several counties including Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton, and Gwinnett as well as the city of Atlanta. MARTA has approximately 4,500 employees. The majority of MARTA's operating revenues come from fares and a sales tax from customers.
Throughout Tennessee Williams’s play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Blanche Dubois exemplified several tragic flaws. She suffered from her haunting past; her inability to overcome; her desire to be someone else; and from the cruel, animalistic treatment she received from Stanley. Sadly, her sister Stella also played a role in her downfall. All of these factors ultimately led to Blanche’s tragic breakdown in the end. Blanche could not accept her past and overcome it.
J.L Hochschild, Brenna Powell. Racial Reorganization and the United States Census 1850-1930: Mulattoes, Half Breeds, Mixed Parentage, Hindoos, and the Mexican Race. Studies in American Political Development. scholarly. Boston: harvard.edu, 2008.
Canada, G. o. (2013, 05 13). Defining Culture. Retrieved 03 12, 2014, from Statistics Canada: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/87-542-x/2011001/section/s3-eng.htm
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In Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire" two of the main characters Stanley and Blanche persistently oppose each other, their differences eventually spiral into Stanley's rape of Stella.
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Alessi, Michael De. "Permitting Limited Trade in Ivory Will Help Protect Elephants." Africa. Ed. Laura K. Egendorf. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Elephants, Markets, and Mandates." Fraser Forum (Apr. 2003). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
[25] Juanru Li. Dawu Gu. yuhao Lua. (2012). Android Malware Forensics: Reconstruction of Malicious Events: Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. [Online] Available: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6258204
“Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces” (Sigmund Freud). Illusion can be a part of our lives; however, if taken to the extreme, it can lead one to forget reality. Every individual has problems in life that must be faced with reality and not with illusion, even though it might throw one into flames of fires. Tennessee Williams' play of a family reveals the strength of resistance between reality and desire, judgment and imagination, and between male and female. The idea of reality versus illusion is demonstrated throughout the play. Blanche's world of delusion and fantastical philosophy is categorized by her playful relationships, attempts to revive her youth, and her unawareness in the direction of reality of life. In Tennessee William’s play, A Streetcar Named Desire, through the study of character and tropology, fantasy and illusion allow one to make life appear as it should be rather than as it is.
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams is a play about a woman named Blanche Dubois who is in misplaced circumstances. Her life is lived through fantasies, the remembrance of her lost husband and the resentment that she feels for her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Various moral and ethical lessons arise in this play such as: Lying ultimately gets you nowhere, Abuse is never good, Treat people how you want to be treated, Stay true to yourself and Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Belasco, Susan, and Linck Johnson, eds. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Vol. 1, 2nd Ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 1190-1203. Print.