Essay on Comparison of a Street Car Named Desire and the Piano Lesson

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As years go by in American history many things come, go, and change in people, but one that which never seems to flee the spirit is the so called "American Dream". The idea that something greater exists for everyone becomes an obsession for most, and lives are formed around it. This being true in real life, there would be no hesitation to put it forth through literature. More often than not it is portrayed through someone, a character, striving to achieve that which the rest of the country hold so dear. They search for a way out of their sad disposition, into a new light. Along the way, many things help guide them to their destination, some representing what they yearn for more than others. In the plays "A Streetcar Named Desire" by …show more content…
The two of them fight back and forth for the piano, neither willing to listen to the other, but her brother refuses to let it go no matter what argument Bernice places at his feet. For Boy Willie, selling that piano, which he considers half his, is the key to his success and the door to his American Dream, and he's not willing to let it go. Both authors have created two very unique objects to focus their stories around, and have done so well. The piano from "The Piano Lesson" and Belle Reve from "A Streetcar Named Desire" are both made into images that relate to a sort of wealth. Blanche panics after Bell Reve is taken away because that was all she had to depend on for money. Without it she ends up worse off than her sister. The piano on the other hand, doesn't represent something to be lost, but something to be given, something to be given for a price. Willie Boy plans on selling the piano so he can buy himself Sutter's land and start a living that way, which leads to one very big difference. The wooden piano tends to represent a sense of pride for the family, yet Bernice, the one who should emanate it the most, won't even tell her daughter about it as if she's ashamed. Boy Willie on the other hand feels that his father would have wanted him to take his share of the instrument, and he justifies it by saying to his sister "that's all I'm trying to do with that piano. Trying to put my mark on the road. Like my daddy
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