Gabriel's journal: A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire was a play I originally thought to be about a man’s pursuit to attain his “desires”, similar to The Jungle. I was surprised the play took on elements of other stories and discussed other issues other than one’s pursuit of their dreams. The character’s ignorance of each other’s problems led to the major conflicts of the play, and changed my original idea of what each character truly desired. Stella’s ostracize of Stanley’s alcohol problem, similar to Linda in A Death of a Salesman with her husband Willy Loman’s memory loss, result in the additional emotional damage Blanche would suffer after the night Stella checked into the hospital. Blanche’s emotional security and overly-cautious feeling about her beauty only made the emotional turmoil of the rape worse. Although she seemed partially stable in the final scene, her sanity was clearly slipping away, wailing when the door bell rings and acting unusually cautious when leaving the bathroom. After the last scene of the play, I felt as though no desire was met by any of the characters. Blanche will not meet the man she hoped to one day marry, Stanley continues his habits he said he’d change after the birth of the baby, and Stella seems to continue to be passive of Stanley’s destructive habits. The title of the play seems more fitting after reading. A street car is often seen passing by pedestrians, figuratively to the character’s desires, something they see pass by them and are unable to achieve when gone.