The Failure Of Society In Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire

Submitted By kathygauthier17
Words: 610
Pages: 3

Kathy Gauthier 5B AP Lit

Society has numerous downfalls, such as the idea that he (or she) who tries to hide his true self and lie to the world ends up, above all, hurting himself. Our behavior usually is controlled and decided by us, but that is not always the case. What if the person is forced to do something that they do not agree with? This can be blamed on the pressure of society as well, sometimes people do things that they know they don't want just because someone is forcing them or because they are in a fragile state of mind. In A Streetcar Named Desire
Tennessee Williams has created a method to observe and reflect upon the darkest aspects of society and the result of these societal downfalls. Reality, as explained by the Merriam­Webster dictionary, is a real or tangible experience, entity, or state of events. And yet, a tangible experience depends on what an individual is capable, or willing, to feel. Our mind works by its own process. We are not yet capable of understanding its workings entirely. What we do know, however, is that our minds have great control over our entire beings. Our brain sends messages throughout our body constantly; this makes it possible for us to function properly. But, what happens when our minds create such visions as those which are not there? Or, perhaps, those visions which can only be perceived by a few select individuals? Blanche herself is struggling to survive in her own mind. She symbolizes the Old South which was dealt a death blow by the Civil War and is being overwhelmed by aggressive, selfish, immoral realists like Stanley Kowalski. Stanley has reduced her to nothing by raping her. Her fragile state of mind is a result of the scarring

suicide of her husband, and the decline of Belle Reve, in conjunction with other situations and circumstances. At first, this so­called "madness" is just an attempted escape from reality, an altered self­image and a polished persona that doesn’t accurately reflect the real Blanche. In the end though, Blanche can not decipher the real from the imaginary. Another collapse highlighted by Williams is the idea of the “tough guy” image, which extends to homophobia. Homophobia, the fear of being perceived as gay, as not a real man, keeps men exaggerating all the traditional rules of masculinity, including sexual predation with
women.