A Streetcar named Desire and The Awakening

Authors Kate Chopin and Tennessee Williams were both writers who both relied on symbolism within their novels. The purpose of symbolism within the literary world is to represent or depict something by using analogies, objects, or even animals in order to give a deeper or different meaning of what is trying to be described. As described in Literary Devices, symbolism gives writers the opportunity to evoke interests in their readers in order to ‘draw’ them into the story.

Long ago women were seen as demure, pure beings who took care of the home/family and relied heavily on men being the ‘bread-winner’ and sole provider of the family. Men were primarily the dominant, controlling figures; whereas, women were seen and rarely heard. Unlike today, women didn’t flaunt their bodies or carried on in a way that brought shame to their name or family. Back then, it was very seldom that women held their own jobs nor were they were financially dependent. In The Awakening and A Streetcar Named Desire we will compare and contrast how the main, female characters in each novel differentiated from each other and how the authors uses symbolism in order to represent a deeper meaning.

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois is introduced as a Southern belle who loses her fortune, including the family home, Belle Reve and is grieving from the suicide of her husband. She arrives from Laurel, Mississippi as a former high school English teacher to stay with her younger, submissive sister, Stella, and volatile, abusive brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. For the use of symbolism within his play, Williams introduces symbols throughout. In the first scene, Blanche describes to her neighbor her desired journey to begin a new life: “They told me to take a s...

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...in the early 20th century. Also, both authors use some type of water as symbolic when telling the stories of their characters. If Tennessee Williams were alive today, he would see how the dynamics of relationships have changed and how sometimes the roles might even reverse from the 50s. Women today can actually play the dominant role in the home and can be independent and earn much more than their counterparts which is accepted now than then. Unlike in the past, domestic violence, sexuality, etc… was kind of taboo and was not spoken of or against. Now, it is no longer accepted. In addition, marriages here in the United States are not known to be pre-arranged and it is frowned upon to be wed at such a young age. Unlike Edna, women nor men stay in loveless marriages. Today, they do not hesitate to get out of a marriage regardless of whether they had children or not.