Streetcar named desire essay- english PDF

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It focuses on the book street car names desire with it's symbols imagery and various other literary devices....

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International Baccalaureate Exam Session: May 2021 HL English A Literature essay Text Written On: A Streetcar Named Desire Title: The role of the gender in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams Word Count: 1400

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The role of the gender in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire, highlights the story of Blanche, a former Southern belle who tries to flee her past by moving in with her younger sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley, in their rented New Orleans apartment. As time passes, Blanche begins to challenge Stanley’s authority leaving him questioning his superiority and moving further away from the societal expectations she has to uphold as a woman. Therefore, in the play, gender seems to play an important role in addressing the role of men and women under a patriarchal society. Where the men are expected to demonstrate dominance over women they view as inferior. While the women are expected to blindly obey the demands of men. As a result, most of Williams' characters find themselves in an internal struggle to go against societal norms and behave in ways that contradict socially acceptable behavior or to abide by a particular set of social norms in order to remain respectable. In the end, Williams suggests that regardless of gender, those who challenge societal norms risk getting harmed or even expulsion from society either in the hands of others or their own.

The mention of Blanche's late husband Allan shows a huge difference in the enforced gender roles in society at that time. Blanche recollects that “there was something different about the boy, a nervousness, a softness and tenderness which wasn't like a man's” (Williams, 354). Allan's differences from a stereotypical man indicate that he does not fit in with the stereotype of men being aggressive and closed-off. However, this is shattered when the news of his homosexuality leaves Blanche in total dismay, blaming herself for not fulfilling his needs and being left with the false belief that she could have saved him from his sexuality (Jordan, 3-5). Additionally, Blanche's references to Allan as a “boy” further implies that she views his homosexuality as an act of a misguided adolescence (Jordan, 5). This shows that they both are well aware of the fact that his homosexuality would not be considered acceptable in society. Therefore, Allan tries to follow societal norms and gain him a sense of social belonging by marrying Blanche, beforehand, a union that would be openly accepted by society unlike a same-sex marriage. The idea of reverse gender roles become

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prominent here as Allan starts to feel helpless because he does not fit into the expectations laid out by society and Blanche goes against societal norms with her decision to no longer stand behind him like a dutiful wife.

Similar to Allan, Mitch, a potential lover, is unable to go against social beliefs. Blanche notices that Mitch appears to have "a sort of sensitive look" (Williams, 292) which she admires in men. However, Mitch does follow many societal expectations and as a man expects his wife to play her part as a caring woman and fill in his mother’s shoes. Blanche knows that in Mitch's presence she must make herself appear to be suitable for a hand in marriage as she has reached a certain point from where she will be considered undesirable by most men. As she tells Stella, “I want his respect. And men don't want anything they get too easy. But on the other hand men lose interest quickly. Especially when the girl is over thirty” (Williams, 334). This shows how as a woman she is desperately trying to live up to both his and societies expectations because women have no self-identity away from their husbands. Firstly, Mitch expects her to be an ideal wife rather than accepting her for who she is but Blanche is expected to accept him for his faults. Additionally, Mitch's past is never used to indicate his suitability as a potential partner (Jordan, 10-11). When he hears stories from Blanche's past, he quickly decides on the basis of a narrative completely written by a couple of men that she is no longer “clean enough to bring in the house with my mother” (Williams, 390). However, he still finds her suitable enough to carry out a sexual relationship with. Mitch puts aside everything he likes about Blanche because he can not ignore the social pressures that define Blanche as an unsuitable woman. This shows how for a man the way they are perceived by others is of much greater importance than the individual's personal choice.

Gender also plays a major role when it comes to Stanley and Blanche’s struggle for power. Stanley says that, “Every man is a King' And I am the king around here, so don't forget it” (Williams, 371). Regularly, at Stanley's poker nights, the women are silenced and are crowded into one room. Similar to many men at that time Stanley lives on the belief that women simply exist to serve men. However, Blanche tries to threaten his dominance as she repeatedly brings up the fact that Stella

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still has “sufficient memory of Belle Reve to find this place and these poker players impossible to live with” (Williams, 320). This leaves Stanley concerned that Blanche may be able to steal Stella away from him with the recollection of their privileged past and this might result in him losing all means of control he has over her. In addition, his feelings of being inferior to a woman heighten when Blanche keeps bringing social class into play (Jordan, 16). In contrast, Stanley seeks to control again through telling absurd stories of her past to Mitch and Stella. Stories he hears from a salesman named Shaw who stays at the seedy hotel that Blanche visited frequently. Here men clearly control the narrative of Blanche's life, and throughout the entire play she is never confronted about her past from other women, implying that the words said by men are the only ones that hold any significance in society (Jordan, 18). Stanley leaves no room and asserts his physical dominance by invading Blanche’s personal space in the worst way possible which leaves her powerless. Similarly, when Allan tries to step out of society’s expectations he is also met with some type of physical harm but in this case it is the result of his own doing. Stanley further tries to justify the assault by claiming it is what she always wanted and that she needed to be taught a lesson. So the men have the ultimate power and will go to great extents to show women as less than.

When the gender roles are followed, Stella has no control over Stanley. Stella fails to see past the temporary pleasures of having a family with the man she loves and truly just feels that Blanche's objections against Stanley are only based on jealousy because she does not have a family of her own. She will not only have no sense of personal identity. She will also never achieve personal fulfillment. As Stella was attacked by Stanley in rage Blanche was left far more horrified by Stella's acceptance of Stanley's physical and verbal behavior than by his violent outburst (Jordan, 32). Stella tells Blanche, that "of course there were things I had to adjust myself to later on” (Williams, 258). In Stella's view, the assaults are frequent so she has conditioned it into her everyday life as if it is a normal part that comes with starting a family. Blanche is flat out told that she is “making too much fuss about it” (Williams, 312). She dismisses Stanley's behavior as drunken accidents, arguing that “when men are drinking and playing poker anything can happen. It's always a powder-keg. He didn’t know what he was doing” (Williams, 312) (Jordan, 32). Instead of holding him accountable for his

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actions Stella keeps trying to brush them off because her role as a wife is to comply with everything her husband puts in front of her. This further emphasizes the idea that women are the only one’s held accountable for their actions as Blanche is now only known for what mistakes she made in her past.

In conclusion, gender plays an important role when it comes to the role men and women play in a male-dominated society. While they both are expected to conform to acceptable social behavior in order to remain under societal circumstances with dignity and are both unwilling to go against societal expectations. Overall the men hold far more power in society and the women prove to be inferior in the end.

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Works cited Reis, Kurt, and Tennessee Williams. A Streetcar Named Desire. 1986. Davis, Jordan. "Gender-Based Behavior in "A Streetcar Named Desire"", 1994. Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects.

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