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Loneliness In A Streetcar Named Desire Essay

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Loneliness is a major theme that underpins both the novel and the play and is a contributing factor to the characters in both texts eventual downfall. Both Heller and Williams have experienced loneliness, an experience that they utilised 41
Both class and loneliness are key themes in both texts and I believe that there is a link between the two themes and that Social class causes loneliness, Blanche is a prime example, upon arriving in New Orleans she is immediately an outcast, she is described as a ‘southern belle’ a young woman of the ‘deep south’s upper socioeconomic class’ however she is somewhat faded, and this becomes more prominent the more her character is developed. Williams’ uses these characteristics to highlight the differences between the ‘Old South’ and the ‘New South’ Blanche is the embodiment of the Old …show more content…

Blanche values looks, and materialistic matters far more than her sister does, and she fails to understand that Stella has grown and overcome her upbringing. Blanche is stuck in the past and once she had lost her fortune, husband, job and her ideals had crumbled, she resorts to turning to strangers for comfort, however the only way that she knows how to interact with them is through sex. This distorts her image as a ‘southern belle’ and further isolates her, forcing her out of the place that she grew up. Tennessee Williams stated, 'promiscuity is better than nothing', 'it was a period of loneliness' suggesting that much like Blanche he sought company though the medium of sex, that to be promiscuous, known for having many sexual relationships was better than to be alone full-time. Her actions that took place in Laurel show the extent of her loneliness and how far she was willing to go to have company again. At the end of the play she states, ‘I have always depended on the kindness of strangers’ which hints at her naivety of her previous encounters with strangers,

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