On the Triumph of Stanley by Means of Natural Selection: Survival of the Fittest in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tenessee Williams

According to Charles Darwin, the father of the modern theory of evolution, “it is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” Based on the example set forth in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, the principle that adaptability is the key to survival holds true in modern society. Streetcar chronicles the bitter struggle for survival between Blanche Dubois, a sophisticated but fading southern beauty, and Stanley Kowalski, her brutish brother-in-law. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams uses Stanley to represent an organism perfect adapted to life in the French Quarter. By showing that a person with primitive and animalistic traits can triumph over a more refined, intelligent individual, Williams demonstrates the idea of environment-specific adaptations being more important to survival than one’s place in the evolutionary line.

Before any discussion of survival of the fittest or natural selection in the context of Streetcar, it is important to lay a defining framework for these two terms. In the strictest definition, survival of the fittest states that organisms with traits that fit their environments will be more likely to survive than organisms without similar traits. While accurate, the strictest definition is incomplete; survival of the fittest also implies that the organisms which can most readily change and adapt to their present situation will be the most able to survive in any environment. In addition, environment-specific adaptations can prove superior to overall advancements in the evolutionary chain. For example, humans are widely considered to be further along in the evolutionary chain than most other organisms; they are poorly suited to life o...

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...f the fittest in the Quarter to show an exaggerated microcosm of the prevalence of the principle in life around the world. The Quarter, like anywhere else in the world, is an environment that demands certain traits to survive. The importance of these traits varies from environment to environment, but in any environment, an organism that has optimal traits will win out over one that does not. In Streetcar, the environment dictates that sexual and animalistic traits are the most desirable forms of adaptation. Thanks to his adaptations, Stanley survives and prospers in the Quarter, despite having direct competition from Blanche, who is more evolved than him. Tennessee Williams uses Stanley’s survival in contrast with Blanche’s downfall to show that environment-specific adaptations can be more important than one’s overall level of advancement in the evolutionary chain.