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A raisin in the sun and lorraine hansberry essay
Aspects of tennessee williams life in a streetcar named desire
A streetcar named desire tennessee williams
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Although A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, and A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, appear to be very different plays, there are some great similarities. Ruth, from A Raisin in the Sun, lives with her immediate family and her sister and mother-in-law in the Southside of Chicago. However, Stella, A Streetcar Named Desire, has left her family behind and moved to New Orleans. Although these two women come from very different backgrounds and are characters in very different plays, they have surprising similarities. Therefore, Ruth and Stella have similarities and differences in their overall lifestyles.
Stella and Ruth share similar present living conditions but differ in their childhood lifestyles. Both women are presently living in poorer areas in small apartments. This is shown when Williams describes Stella’s living situation as in “the poor section [of the city]…houses weathered gray with rickety stairs” (Williams 1) and also when Stella explains to her visiting sister Blanche, in an embarrassed tone, that there were only two rooms- “this one…and the other one” (Williams 1). And in Ruth’s case, Hansberry describes how the apartment appeared to have been home to “too many people for too long” (Hansberry 1.1). Throughout the first act, there are many descriptions made by Hansberry about the cramped situation of the apartment including a shortage of bedrooms and bathrooms (Hansberry 1.1). Although Ruth had always experienced living in these kinds of conditions (Hansberry 1.1), Stella had not. This is shown when Eunice, the woman who owns the other apartment in the complex, is discussing Stella’s childhood home with Blanche (Williams 1). The home was actually a plantation called “Belle Reve” and described as a “great big place with white columns” (Williams 1). Through this conversation, the reader can see that Stella now lives a very different lifestyle compared to her childhood. Therefore, although both Ruth and Stella live in similar conditions now, there are obvious differences in their upbringings.
A second major similarity between the two women is their personality of being non-confrontational. Both women, in a sense, let others “walk over them”. Ruth is dominated by her husband, Walter, for the most part and Stella by her husband, Stanley, and sister Blanche. When situations are tense, both characters try to avoid the confrontational subject or shy away when it is brought up. For example, when Walter adamantly keeps trying to force Ruth into supporting his business ideals at breakfast-which she doesn’t agree with-she tries to change the subject by repeatedly telling Walter to eat his eggs (Hansberry 1.
Ruth has an intriguing personality. She is very loving towards her family. She will do all in her power to improve the lifestyle of her family. When it appears that the deal for the house in Clybourne Park will fall through, she promises to dedicate all of her time to make the investment work. “Lena-I’ll work… I’ll work 20 hours a day in all the kitchens in Chicago…I’ll strap my baby on my back if I have to and scrub all the floors and wash all the sheets in America if I have to-but we have to MOVE!” she pleads to her mother-in-law (Hansberry140). Her plan is unrealistic and idealistic, but the well being of her family is more important to her than anything. Ruth is also witty and sarcastic at times. She cracks jokes to lighten the mood of her family when they’re worried. “Well that’s the way the cracker crumbles. Joke. (121)” When Beneatha and Mama are stressing over the neighborhood they are moving into, Ruth makes a witty joke to improve the mood. Ruth supervises the daily routine and well being of her family. She makes sure that everyone does what they are supposed to and stays on track. ...
...character with qualities of her own as well. During most of the time the play was written and when it was produced, Hansberry herself was in her thirties, as Ruth was. Ruth was the middle ground of the three women, sharing personality traits with both Mama and Beneatha. Hansberry most likely wrote Ruth and Beneatha with traits from her past, in Beneatha, and her present, in Ruth. As far as Mama’s character development source, I say that Hansberry was basing her off her own mother, or even grandmother. The play written was based off an event that actually happened within her life, as noted by the author of “Literature for Composition” on page 1127, and Hansberry drew from that experience to help her develop the story. This is one reason why so many people praised it portraying a true African-American family; she wrote the characters after herself and family members.
This report is based on the like history of Ruth A White. I am going to talk about her life journey from young adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. Ruth who is 70 years old and she live with her husband. As she was growing up try to fit into the roles she desire to fit into. And at the time she was seeking from her partners but also fear rejection and tends to start feeling isolated. All she wanted was for someone to love and care for her. She said that during this time she eager on meeting people and establishing a solid group of friends as well as a network that will boost her careers. She was able to find identities and was willing to enter committed relationships and that is how she met Richard White her husband. As Erikson projected in his theory once identities have been established, marriage and close relationships are entered into, and emotional bonds develop that can ask for sacrifices and other demands. And that is what happens to this two loving couple.
Within Tennessee Williams's story about love and abuse within marriage and challenging familial ties, there lie three very different characters that all see the world in vastly different ways. These members of a family that operate completely outside of our generation’s norms, are constantly unsure of themselves and their station within the binary not only of their familial unit, but within the gender binary that is established for them to follow. Throughout the story of the strange family, each character goes through a different arch that changes them irrevocably whether it is able to be perceived or not by those around them. The only male, Stanley is initially the macho force in the home who controls everything without question. He has no consequences for his actions against his wife and is never held accountable for treating the people around him poorly; this lasts until Blanche arrives. Blanche is an outwardly demure, but spirited young woman who after experiencing untold misfortune breaks mentally and decides to no longer care what others may think of her. She lives her life lavishly and foolishly by having dalliances with younger or richer men who shower her with gifts and attention to get sex from her all too willing form. Her effect on Stanley is one of temptation and challenge; she continually tries to convince her sister that she is too good for the man and in turn fosters a resentment for her in him. Stella acts as the antithesis of Stanley and Blanche’s extreme personalities. She is innocence and purity where they are the darkness that threatens to overtake her life. Throughout, Stella is a pawn that they both try to use against the other to no real avail as she is determined to make the best choice for herself. In th...
A Streetcar named Desire was written by Tennessee Williams, during the restless years following World War II. The play was based on the life of a woman named Blanche Dubois. Blanche was a fragile and neurotic woman, desperate for a place to call her own. She had been exiled from her hometown Laurel, Mississippi after seducing a seventeen year old boy. After this incident, she decided to move to New Orleans with her sister Stella. She claimed she had to move, in result of a series of financial calamities which have recently claimed the family plantation, Belle Reve. Her sisters husband, Stanley Kowalski is very suspicious seeing that Blanche seems like an ambitious woman. Therefore, he decides to investigate her. He wanted to make sure Blanche didn’t sell the plantation for her own good. As he begins to find out more about her past, all of Blanches lies catch up to her. Soon, her circumstances become unbearable.
...ene 11, pg 144) While Blanche is characterize as the weak sister, Stella displayed much more cowardly actions. Her absence in sister’s tough times and her inability to do the right thing in the end is the ultimate cause of Blanche’s incarceration.
His recklessness is part of his appeal from Stella’s part. Although this type of relationship goes against her childhood, she is honest about her desires. "I 'm not in anything I want to get out of," Stella continually tells Blanche who formulates a fantasy of getting money from an old lover for them to escape. Stella understands compromise. She is realistic. She sees Stanley 's gambling, drinking, and violent outbursts as "his pleasure, like hers in movies and bridge". She believes that people "have got to accept each other 's habits". Cleaning up after Stanley 's violent spells is just a part of living with him. Unlike Blanche, she knows that life is no fairytale, negociations must be reached. Stella is proof of the statement that "there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark-that sort of make everything else seem-unimportant". She lives in a decrepit house, filled with smashed glass, part of the noisy part of town, and yet she is
Why do you think Blanche is so persistent on saying that Stella wants to get out of her current condition? Is that a reflection of the hardships that she is going through herself?
Ruth, whose dreams are the same as Mama’s, get deferred when the family are forced into there small apartment and there lack of money. Since she has no money she can not help her family as much as she would like to.
Stanley (Stella's husband) represents a theme of realism in the play; he is shown as a primitive, masculine character that is irresistible to Stella and on some levels even to his "opponent" Stella's sister Blanche.
Blanche’s developmental history or character development points to her diagnosis. Blanche comes to New Orleans to stay with her sister Stella after being fired from her job as a schoolteacher due to having an inappropriate affair with a teenage student. When she arrives to see her sister, she is consumed with insecurities regarding her appearance and is condescending to her sister’s humble lifestyle. Stella’s husband Stanley immediately has distrust and dislike for Blanche and treats her
She would be able to get sympathy with Stella, Stanley, and Mitch if she understood their condition as well. Stella’s condition is opposite from Blanche’s aristocratic lifestyle. She is living in poverty and is unable to provide for Blanche’s elaborate needs. “Streetcar quote” Blanche recognizes her current condition but fails to understand it and empathize, instead she Slanders Stella’s home and invades it “Some people rarely touches it, but it touches them often” If she was a decent guest and sister, she could seize the opportunity to help Stella in the home, perhaps by helping with the daily chores or by fixing it up to become more “homely”. By doing this she would then gain a sense of purpose, cleaning could possibly become a healthy coping mechanism, she would be doing something positive, and by helping around the home, she would gain a healthier, supportive, relationship with her sister and the homes other resident, Stanley. Being unable to empathize with Stanley was key for Blanche downfall; she invaded his home, degraded him in front of his friends and family, and tried to steal his wife from him. If Blanche was able to recognize the positive traits of Stanley, that he is passionate and loving towards his family, she would be able to ignore the “primal, animalistic” manner of Stanley. If she could empathize with his current
Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a play about segregation, triumph, and coping with personal tragedy. Set in Southside Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the individual dreams of the Younger family and their personal achievement. The Younger's are an African American family besieged by poverty, personal desires, and the ultimate struggle against the hateful ugliness of racism. Lena Younger, Mama, is the protagonist of the story and the eldest Younger. She dreams of many freedoms, freedom to garden, freedom to raise a societal-viewed equal family, and freedom to live liberated of segregation. Next in succession is Beneatha Younger, Mama's daughter, assimilationist, and one who dreams of aiding people by breaking down barriers to become an African American female doctor. Lastly, is Walter Lee Younger, son of Mama and husband of Ruth. Walter dreams of economic prosperity and desires to become a flourishing businessman. Over the course of Walter's life many things contributed to his desire to become a businessman. First and foremost, Walter's father had a philosophy that no man should have to do labor for another man. Being that Walter Lee was a chauffeur, Big Walter?s philosophy is completely contradicted. Also, in Walter?s past, he had the opportunity to go into the Laundromat business which he chose against. In the long run, he saw this choice was fiscally irresponsible this choice was. In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Walter Lee's dreams, which are his sole focus, lead to impaired judgement and a means to mend his shattered life.
From the first moment the Williams introduces Blanche, it is evident that she believes herself to be of a higher class, and this is shown with how uncomfortable she is around those of a lower class. When Blanche is shown an act of kindness from Eunice, “Why don’t you set down?” her response to this person of a lower class than herself is dismissive, “…I’d like to be left alone.” She instantly expects too much from a place called ‘Elysian Fields’. Blanche feels uneasy about being around those that are of a lower class, especially of those who she does not know, which is clear when she is reunited with her sister. She immediately becomes ostentatious in her actions, and begins to speak with “feverish vivacity”, “Stella, Oh Stella, Stella! Stella for Star!” Perhaps she is relieved to be with her sister once again, or it could be that she feels she now has someone to be dominant over, since she has little control over her own life. Blanche comes across as being very motherly towards Stella, “You messy child” in spite of the fact that Stella is soon to beco...
A Streetcar Named Desire was written by Tennessee Williams in 1947 and it is a play that takes place after the second World War in the South of the United States; New Orleans, Louisiana. The play ultimately explores on the conflict amongst Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski as they both have a connection to Stella Dubois. Blanche being her sister, and Stanley being her partner. This play is considered to be a tragedy. Twelfth Night was written by the World renowned William Shakespeare and it explores the story of siblings being separated after a tragic accident at sea. ‘Without character there can be no drama’ is the overall theme of this comparison as every character contributes to a story, causing drama to arise in one way or another. This piece will ultimately explore the similarities and differences between Viola from ‘Twelfth Night’ and Blanche from ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. Although Viola and Blanche come from two different books written by two different authors in different time periods, we can draw the conclusion that they both possess the theme of deception.