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Streetcar named desire illusions
Illusion and fantasy in a streetcar named desire
A streetcar named desire illusion essay
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Right-to-work laws have been heavily debated even before their formal inception in the mid-1940s and they continue to be debated today. The core of the debate is about union security, which is the unions right to secure their position in a shop once voted in. One example of union security is compulsory unionism. Right-to-work laws are legislation enacted on a per state bases that limits or eliminates compulsory unionism. The main viewpoint of right-to-work supporters is that compulsory unionism breaches inherent freedoms.
Stanley is a blunt, practical, and animalistic man who has no patience for subtleties and refinement. His animalistic character shows the moment he meets Blanche, when he, moving with “animalistic joy” (24), “sizes” Blanche up with “sexual classifications” and “crude image” in his mind (25). Under his stare, Blanche draws “involuntarily back” (25), a movement that foreshadows their later conflict and her subsequent demise. His practical and straightforward side shows when he interrogates Blanche about the sale of Belle Reve to make sure that his wife is not swindled. His straightforward, practical nature makes him “boom” out of impatience (46) and demands Blanche to cut straight to the point when she tries to talk in an indirect, subtle manner as befit a Southern gentlewoman.
She also prefers keeping her past to herself because of all the problems she has had. She prefers for people to not find out what has happened and why she is the way it is. An example is when Blanche panicked because they took off the little paper covering the lamp which made the room dim and got pissed because she did not want to show how she looks. Stanley is shown to be the “manliest man” but he is unstable and irrational when he realizes what he has done when the damage has been done. For example, when Stanley physically abused Stella he realized what he had done when he was brought back to his senses.
301617- A Streetcar Named Desire Lying as well as deception is a common theme in A Streetcar Named Desire for the characters. There is Blanche, whom, because of her deception and lying which has played a bigger role on the other characters than she goes and realizes. Blanche stated in scene two of A Streetcar
One major similarity between Blanche and Stanley is that they both like to manipulate or control other people, to make themselves feel better. Even though there are different ways Stanley and Blanche take control of other people they still do it in a familiar matter. For example, Blanche takes power and influence over people by lying to others and herself, to make them believe in something that actually never happened, with fantacy, therefore makes Blanche feel greater, than she actually may be. To go deeper in depth, to prove that Blanche is manipulative she also says. ¨I don 't tell the truth.
In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams the character Blanche Dubois shows the characteristics of a tragic hero. In the play, Blanche is tested by suffering, forcing her to face the consequences of her actions. Blanche has many tragic flaws that can be shown through symbolism and themes throughout the play. Aristotle states that the protagonist must be of noble character - defined not by birth but rather moral choice. Aristotle also felt the best type of a tragic hero will fall somewhere between the two extremes - “... a person who is neither perfect in virtue and justice, nor one who falls into misfortune through vice and depravity, but rather, one who succumbs through some miscalculation.”
She constantly refers to Stanley as a Polack, and reprimands Stella because she chooses to “hang back with the brutes,” when she, in reality, has a lower economic status than either of them. Blanche’s classist comments and lies display her insecurity in losing her place in the hierarchy of classism. Angering Stanely by her racist and classist claims, Blanche begins to boil the rage that leads to her vicious
he plot is framed by Blanche’s arrival in the first scene and her departure in the eleventh scene. The play has only one plot with no sub-plot. A Streetcar Named Desire presents us with two stories: the growing conflict between Stanley and Blanche, and the gradual crumbling of Blanche’s sanity. The play is presented chronologically, from Blanche’s arrival at Elysian Fields in May to her departure for the mental asylum in September. Blanche is the only character who appears in every scene and this enable the audience to witness all her actions and emotions, and become privy to her secrets.
A Streetcar named Desire written by American playwright Tennessee Williams is a Marxist play that depicts the socio economic status of the characters and people living during that time. The play was written in 1947, two years after the second world war. The historical time leading up to the Second World War known as the Interwar period from 1918-1939 was an era classified with economical difficulties for a majority of American citizens. After the new economic system based upon capital emerged succeeding the Industrial Revolution, the United States saw a massive prosperity in the early twentieth century only to be demolished by the stock market crash of 1929 also known as Black Tuesday (source). These unsuccessful stock markets were one of the signs that showed that the new system, which depended on an extensive labor force and an open and unregulated market, was not as reliable as previously thought, this period was known as the Depression.
Williams uses the expressionist technique “The ‘Varsouviana’ is filtered into weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle” to parallel Blanche’s inner mind and depicts Blanche’s deranged mental state after Stella’s betrayal. The imagery ‘Lurid reflections appear on the walls in odd, sinuous shapes’ highlights her mental turbulence and the stage directions ‘mysterious voices behind walls, as if reverberated through a canyon of rock…the echo sounds in threatening whispers’ heightens tension, positioning the audience to witness the overwhelming fear and exaggeration of her senses, further emphasising the detrimental impact Stella’s decision made. The Streetcar Named Desire also examines the influence that a person’s social standing can have. Stanley’s statement in scene 2 ‘The Kowalskis and Dubois have different notions’ indicates their social upbringing has influenced the way they think, hence disrupting their connection and loyalty towards one another. The use of their family name is metonymic for their ancestry and social standing, addressing the barriers derived from a social hierarchy which have affected their relationship.
Tennessee Williams wrote “A Streetcar Named Desire” (Williams, 1947) It is based in New Orleans a new cosmopolitan city which is poor but has raffish charm. The past is representing old south in America 1900’s and present is representing new America post world war 2 in 1940’s. Past and present are intertwined throughout the play in the characters Stanley, Blanche, Stella and mitch. Gender roles show that males are the dominant and rule the house which Stanley is prime example as he brings home food and we learn of one time when he got cross and he smashed the light bulbs.
In A Streetcar Named Desire, the author Tennessee Williams exaggerates and dramatizes fantasy’s incapability to overcome reality through an observation of the boundary between Blanches exterior and interior conveying the theme that illusion and fantasy are often better than reality. Blanche, who hides her version of the past, alters her present and her relationship with her suitor Mitch and her sister, Stella. Blanche was surrounded by death in her past, her relatives and husband have passed away, leaving her with no legacy left to continue. The money has exhausted; the values are falling apart and she is alienated and unable to survive in the harsh reality of modern society. Throughout the novel Williams juxtaposed Blanche’s delusions with
OUT WITH THE SCHOOL FOOD IN WITH FAST FOOD Hold you ever questioned why we could not have McDonalds for lunch at school. Although some people say that fast food will make you fat, but we say school food is disgusting and awful. They think it cost too much money. Well is it beneficial for you? Is it because it cost so much money?
During this time men brought in the money for the household, while the mother’s would stay at home and watch over the children of the family. With this came a sense of pride and authority for the men. Throughout the film Stanley continually abuses Blanche and even goes to the extreme of raping her. He depicts an animal-like man with no awareness of morals. When he gets angry he has no control of his reactions and results to physical violence.
A Streetcar Named Desire was analyzed through the structuralist lens to examine the internal structure of the play in respect to the three different stages of Blanche’s downfall into complete madness. From the very beginning of the play, Blanche lied and pretended that she had a great life. She hid the fact that she was actually emotionally and financially unstable. Blanche said “I was so exhausted by all I'd been through my--nerves broke. I was on the verge of--lunacy, almost!
