Drama of A Streetcar Named Desire is Tennessee Williams' Famous Play

The drama A Streetcar Named Desire is one of Tennessee Williams most well-known plays. Blanche DuBois seeks refuge in her sister’s home after the loss of their ancestral home, the Belle Reve plantation. Her little sister, no more than a year younger than she, shares her home with her husband. During Blanche’s stay, she attempts to escape her past, start afresh, and attract a new suitor to settle down. However, she is tormented by her aggressive, unrelenting, and honest brother-in-law who eventually destroys all her hopes.

Between train tracks and a river off a street in New Orleans stands a two story building with washed-out white steps descending from both entrances. The Kowalski pair lives on the ground level, and Eunice and Steve occupy the upper flat. Although it’s located in a poor neighborhood, it holds a unique “raffish charm” (p. 1).

Blanche DuBois is a high school English teacher in her mid-twenties who looks a half-decade older. Insecure and conscious of her rapidly weathering beauty, she is sensitive to bright light. Erroneously, she believes that glamour, physical features, and appearances define youth and beauty. Blanche is always dolling herself, drenching herself with perfume, patting her face with powder, and inquiring on her looks.

From Laurel, Mississippi, Blanche arrives at the home of her sister, Mrs. Stella Kowalski. Initially, she is quite shocked by the conditions of the place, for her sister had glossed things over in her letters. Just moments after the sister reunion, Blanche makes known to her sister that she isn’t well and is in need of someone—that she doesn’t want to be alone. She also tells Stella about the loss of their family mansion, and how her employer suggested that she break away from work for ...

... middle of paper ...

... a womanizer, Blanche, an insecure and helpless woman, and Stella, the typical housewife. Stanley seems to be a very dominant male, contrasting very well with his submissive wife. As for Blanche, she is quite vulnerable, lacking self-confidence, depending upon men for contentment. This all reminds me of the societies where men are dominant. In such cultures, men are often served and considered more superior than woman. A woman’s life is regarded as incomplete without a man, and like in the play, a lady with a tainted past will less likely become the wife of an honored and valued man. The literacy values are that we should never depend on others for happiness or be deluded by something we have no control over. We should be proud of ourselves today and move on without hiding our past. Those who accept us as we are will love us more than who we make ourselves out to be.