Street Car Named Desire By Williams Essay, Research Paper
Our lives are consumed by the past. The past of what we once did, what we once
accomplished, and what we once could call our own. As we look back on these past
memories we seldom realize the impact these events have on our present lives.
The loss of a past love mars are future relationships, the loss of our family
influences the choices we make today, and the loss of our dignity can confuse
the life we live in the present. These losses or deaths require healing from
which you need to recover. The effects of not healing can cause devastation as
apparent in the movie A Streetcar Named Desire. The theme of A Streetcar Named
Desire is death. We encounter this idea first with the death of Blanche and
Stella’s relationship as sisters. Blanche and Stella had a life together once in
Bel Reve and when Stella decided to move on in her life and leave, Blanche never
could forgive her. This apparent in the scene when Blanche first arrives in New
Orleans and meets Stella at the bowling alley. Stella and Blanche sit down for a
drink and we immediately see Blanche’s animosity towards Stella. Blanche blames
Stella for abandoning her at Bel Reve, leaving Blanche to handle the division of
the estate after their parents die. As result of Stella’s lack of support, we
see Blanche become dependent on alcohol and lose her mental state. Blanche comes
to be a a terrible reck through out the movie as we learn of the details of her
life at Bel Reve. Her loss of the entire estate and her struggle to get through
an affair with a seventeen year old student. This baggage that Blanche carries
on her shoulders nips at Stella through out eventually causing the demise of her
relationship. As Blanche’s visit goes on with Stella, the nips become too great
and with the help of Stanley, Stella has Blanche committed to a mental hospital,
thus symbolizing the death of the realtionship they once had. The next death we
encounter in the film is the death of Stella and Stanley’s marriage. Our first
view of Stanley is of an eccentric man, but decent husband who cares deeply for
his wife. However, as as Blanche’s visit wears on, we come to see the true
Stanley, violent and abusive. Stanley is a true man of the fifties, he is sexist
and depedent on his wife’s submissive attitude in order to acheive what he wants
accomplished. This attitude is first apparent when Stanley and his buddies have
their first poker game while Blanche visits. Blanche occupies her time in the
other room decorating the walls and decides to turn on the radio. At first
Stanley is slightly annoyed by the music and tells Stella to turn it down. Then
as his rage builds after she doesn’t turn off the radio, Stanley rips the radio
down from the wall and throws it. We view Stanley as a beast who waits to erupt
at any second. Stella is not typical of the normal woman of the fifties. She
will not take the abuse to a point and when Stanley hits her, she reconsiders
her options. We again view Stanley’s rage as he yells, "Stella!
Stella!". Stella’s strength proves to be weak when she returns to Stanley
arms later, however their relationship was still in trouble. Stella finally
endures enough when she learns of Stanley’s abuse of Blanche and leaves Stanley
in the final scene of the movie; the death of their marriage. The last main
example of death in A Streetcar Named Desire is the death of Blanche and Mitch’s
relationship. Death is the factor that drew the two together, the death of
Blanche’s life at Bel Reve and Stanley’s dying mother. Their realtionship
prospered for a while as Blanche and Mitch connected, finding a common ground
they could relate two. In the scene at the boatdocks, we view the impact of the
death of Blanche’s husband on her current relationship with Mitch. Mitch wants
Blanche to the point of marriage and Blanche’s obsession with the past hinders
Mitch’s plans. This common ground proved to weak when Mitch learned of Blanche’s
life at Bel Reve and her premiscious lifestyle. When Blanche sits by the phone
waiting for Mitch’s call, we view the impact of death on Blanche’s life.
Blanche’s past relationships which caused so much pain where now resurfacing in
Mitch. Mitch love Blanche dearly, but could not overcome this horrible past
ending with the death of their relationship and the death of Blanche’s sanity.
The theme of death in A Streetcar Named Desire represents the impact of our past
in our present lives. We as a individuals must resolve our past problems in
order to move in a more positive direction in life. The individuals in A
Streetcar Named Desire were unable to understand this idea. Blanche needed to
resolve her problems in the past before she could move out of Bel Reve. Instead
she fled the situation, as many of us do, and her problems followed. Stella
needed to handle her problems with Blanche before she could deal with her
problems with Stanley. Unfortunetly, Blanche’s problems were never solved until
the end of the movie with her commiment to a hospital, however by that time it
was too late for Stella and Stanley and thus their marriage ended. Mitch let the
past of Blanche influence his love and because of his inablity to overcome his
personal opinions of Blanche, he never attained the love he desired. The death
of Mitch and Blanche’s relationship restarts the cycle for Mitch because if he
cannot handle the problems that he occured with Blanche, he will fall into the
same pithole that she did. The past must be dealt with before anyone can move on
or the consequencies will be disasterous, just ask Blanch, Mitch, Stella or
Stanley.