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Culture and relations to ethics
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In the work, Until they Bring the Streetcars Back, by Stanley Gordon West, the protagonist, Calvin Gant, has to choose whether or not to help a young girl in need. He struggles with the moral obligations he has to help her, while his father tells hims to worry only about himself. Cal decides that he must help Gretchen, and in doing so, decides to help many other people as well. In the story, Cal learns that helping people is the true way that you show love, and that love is more than something you feel, that it’s something you do (West 269). Cal’s father decided that helping someone that doesn’t ask for help can end up causing trouble, first shown when he tells his family to ignore the McClusky’s dog’s whines, as it is none of their business and McClusky may be able to get him fired (15). This is because Cal’s father, as any father would, wanted to raise his kids to stay out of trouble and in his father’s mind, the way that his kids should stay out of trouble, is to not get involved with anything that isn’t part of their business. Cal was probably told this throughout his life, and yet he still decides to help the rabbit, no matter the consequences. Cal’s moral obligation to the rabbit surpassed …show more content…
At first, he helps her by buying her things, such as shoes and Nut Goodies. In order to help her in the long run, Cal doesn’t know if he should take the situation with Gretchen into his own hands, or if he should let someone else deal with it, like his father would have likely suggested. On Christmas Eve, Cal’s father tells his family that they won’t be hearing McCluskey’s dog whining anymore, as he called the Humane Society on McCluskey (117). Shortly after Cal witnessed his father do something to help the dog, Cal began to talk to police about Gretchen’s situation, finally trying to do something for her (128). Cal also begins a second plan of stealing liquor in hopes of framing Mr. Lutterman
Resiliency is one concept that has never been the human races forte. Many things that happen in our current day and age require a great deal of perseverance and resiliency. People often will give in to the problems in their lives and learn to accept them, instead of persevering through them and working out the issues. The fact of the matter is, if you learn to persevere through problems, your life will be a lot more happy and pleasant to live. In Tennessee Williams’ play, “ A Streetcar Named Desire” suggests that you cannot give up on issues; you must be resilient to those issues and persevere to be happy.
How do Blanche Dubois’s interactions with males in A Streetcar Named Desire lead to her self-destruction?
Identity in Contemporary American Drama – Between Reality and Illusion Tennessee Williams was one of the most important playwrights in the American literature. He is famous for works such as “The Glass Menagerie” (1944), “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1947) or “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)”. As John S. Bak claims: “Streetcar remains the most intriguing and the most frequently analyzed of Williams’ plays.” In the lines that follow I am going to analyze how the identity of Blanche DuBois, the female character of his play, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, is shaped. Firstly, we learn from an interview he gave, that the character of Blanche has been inspired from a member of his family.
In the story On Compassion, the author, Ascher, explains how no one is born with compassion and must be taught it. A homeless, black man was staring at a women’s baby in the stroller and she offered him a dollar. At first he was hesitant to take it, but eventually did. Later another man walks into an overpriced coffee shop in which the store owner handed him a bag with food. Ascher makes the readers question whether these were acts of fear, pity, or just simply out of the good of heart.
Scene One of A Streetcar Named Desire What is the dramatic significance of scene one of the play A Streetcar named Desire? Scene 1 of this play has great dramatic significance. In this essay, I will be looking at key points throughout the scene that reveal the key features of the plot, characters, theme and imagery plus how it is used to give the audience a taster for what is to come.
In conclusion, Gretchen is a hero in many ways in the book, Until They Bring the Streetcars Back. Gretchen is a girl who isn't treated well, but she was always worried and warm hearted towards Cal and to those around her. In addition, she showed courage by telling Cal about her father’s abuse, and that was a risk she took at a cost no matter what happened. Finally, she was a tenacious person who kept on going despite the challenges that came in her way. Just like most characters in the book Gretchen did not save lives, but she did teach us something. She taught us that no matter how complicating things might get we should know that things will change. Although Gretchen was an outcast in school and lacked communication, she was smart in her
Tragedy is when something is lost in a terrible manner. The tragedy of a character named Blanche is the eventual loss of her mind and of her reality. Events throughout the tragic play A Streetcar Named Desire are what lead to Blanche become adrift in the seas of dreams within her head. Along her path to becoming this way Blanche does not only suffer herself, but causes the suffering of others around her. The author of this play uses Blanche as an instrument to carry out the tragic vision of the play itself. You see tragedy within herself and the people she comes into contact with throughout the play.
In today’s society, acts of compassion are rare as we get more and more focused on satisfying our desire for success and wealth. However, humans do sometimes show remarkable acts that melts the hearts of men and women and restore faith in humanity within those who are less optimistic. But it might not always be a kind return that you may get from such action. In the story “Sweat” by Barry Webster, a young girl named Sue allows Jimmy as an act of kindness to lick her “honey” on her body. As a result, Jimmy chokes from the honey and Sue gets more rejected from the other students at her school. By using characterization, dialogue and narration, Webster demonstrates the theme that compassion and kindness can bring more consequences than benefits when these actions are done by those who are different.
Until They Bring The Streetcars Back is a novel written by Stanley Gordon West. The story takes place in 1949 here in Minnesota St. Paul. The main character’s name is Calvin and the story revolves around him and the people he encounters. It is a sad and complexed story. It allows the readers to relate what is happening in the book and connect it to real life situation. So far there quite few conflicts that rose up in the in the book and although they are not solved yet, they bring some excitement and eagerness to the readers. One of the main conflict in the book is that a person Calvin knows named Gretchen is going through physical and sexual abuse by her father and Calvin has to figure out a way to help her. After realizing helping someone
Tennessee Williams has said, “We have to distrust each other. It is our only defense against betrayal.” Betrayal is prevalent in life and literature and creates uncertainty. According to Williams, without questioning people, one will eventually be betrayed. Characters deceive each other and, occasionally, themselves as they try to mend their lives. In A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, betrayal is evident in every relationship — Blanche and Mitch, Blanche and Stella, and Blanche and Stanley — and contributes to the theme of uncertainty in the novel. Blanche Dubois is the ultimate example of betrayal because she ends up being betrayed and betraying others throughout the play, which serves as a basic model of the effects betrayal can have on a person.
In this world, many people are nice, kind, and good, but not many people are truly kind-hearted, like Doris from the short story “Stray” by Cynthia Rylant. Doris is an only child from a family with a financial problem. Even in this family, Doris is a kind-hearted character, and keeps on being so throughout the story. She is kind-hearted because she took care of the puppy, she cried when the dog was taken away, and she saw the puppy and immediately took it inside.
Cal's well-intentioned motives are mostly aimed at winning his father's love. He sacrifices his pride and asks Will Hamilton to help him raise money to replace the money Adam lost in the lettuce adventure. When Adam rejects the money, he in effect rejects Cal, which is "brutal, and unfeeling, and this after he had begun a cordial relationship with his son"(Fontenrose 375). Cal is so distraught that he lashes out at Aron, his father's favorite son, by telling him the truth about their mother. This act is a contrast to a similar crossroad earlier in the novel when Cal doesn't tell Aron the truth about his mother because "he didn't think Aron could handle it at all" (586). Cal also withholds the information in an effort to be "good," and because Cal knows that the revelation of his knowledge of this secret would bring pain to Adam, the man he loves the most.
The seven deadly sins are well established as being detrimental; nevertheless, humanity naturally gravitates towards the inhuman. The life of Blanche DuBois, the protagonist of Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire is derailed by lust: the lechery of her ancestors causes the loss of the family home, her husband’s lust leads to suicide, and her own sexuality forces her to leave her occupation and her hometown in disgrace. After taking the streetcars Desire and Cemeteries, Blanche seeks refuge from reality in the home of her sister Stella and her masculine and somewhat barbaric husband Stanley. Despite her attempts to start an unblemished life with a new persona and love interest, Mitch, Blanche’s dark past begins to resurface after
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.
When we sacrifice our time to help someone in need, whether it is a great or small need, we become a part of their life and can help alleviate heavy burdens. We feel good for looking outside ourselves and contributin...