In Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire women are portrayed as inferior characters guided by and often led to insanity by men. Williams uses the title of his work
to categorize his main character Blanche DuBois. Blanche is a woman engulfed in
finding a male to support her. Guided by her desires Blanche has been an object
for her many male companions. In naming her a streetcar Williams plays on the
notion that she is a woman of the street in that she is known for being of an
unchaste nature. Streetcars are those that are rode quite often by various
passengers. Being guided by her desires of male support and companionship just
as an uncontrollable car Blanche spirals into a crash of her sanity. As
Williams places his female characters as inferior objects (vehicles) he places
the male characters as the drivers steering the action.
Throughout the play sisters Blanche and Stella are placed as characters opposite of one another. While Blanche is leaping from companion Stella is living the life of a homemaker and carrying her husband’s child. Stella’s husband Stanley initially portrays the role of loving husband
merely looking out for his wife as he believes her sister has taken her inheritance. As Mitch and Stella begin to mingle it seems Stanley feels he is losing the grasp of the wheel steering their home. Beating Stella as she defends her sister seems to be his way of regaining his power. As he corrupts Blanche’s relationship with Mitch, Stanley ensures that he is guiding the wheel
that steers both women. Knowing Mitch will never marry a “streetcar” Stanley ensures that Blanche will be alone. Without a male companion Blanche is left as a car without a driver.
As the play ends with Blanche being committed to an institution due to her reveal of the rape she endured by Stanley she allows the male doctor to take the wheel of her car. Throughout the play Blanche tossels between male drivers as she opens up to Mitch, is raped by Stanley, and succumbs to the male doctor. It may seem that the “streetcars” are the only women who
allow men to dive them yet by posing Stella beside her Williams places all women in a similar light. Stella is not the “streetcar” she is rather the proper family vehicle yet her desire to live this life of the epitome of a wife and mother allows her to become brainwashed by her husband into thinking her sisters harmful treatment is a lie. As Stanley impregnates Stella it seems he permanently places a seed within her which always allow him so serve as the driver of her
life.
You have an interesting claim here, I am just not sure if I am understanding what your are trying to say through your paper. Are you saying that Stella is a car and she doesn't have control of her own life? Make this clear. Also you should use some examples from the text to support what you want to say because it will strengthen your argument and make it more clear. You are onto something, it just needs to be made clear and pushed out further.
ReplyDeleteAshley,
ReplyDeleteGreat close reading! You have a really interesting focus and develop it nicely throughout the piece. I only have two quick suggestions. One, is to use some textual evidence. I think backing up your claims with specific quotes will really strengthen the piece. Second, maybe only focus on one woman's relationships with male drivers (I suggest Blanche) because it gets a little confusing to keep track of both Stella and Blanche. Overall though, good work!
I agree with Constance that this piece needs to only focus on either Stella or Blanche. This would allow you to fully develop your ideas in such a small space. Also, include some more textual evidence instead of quick plot summary. Adding more specifics will strengthen your piece overall and possibly clear up any confusion readers have. This idea of women as vehicles and men as drivers is very interesting though, so keep developing it!
ReplyDeleteI really like your argument! Like others above me, I think textual evidence will help strengthen what you are trying to argue. Also, focusing on one of the two characters could allow you to delve deeper in to one of the women being inferior objects controlled by men throughout the play.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good start with an interesting argument. It was lacking in textual evidence though, which is pretty important. I think quotes from the text will help to support your claims better. Also, it was a little confusing trying to keep track of both Stella and Blanche as examples, so I would suggest focusing on only one of them.
ReplyDeleteYour close reading is very interesting, yet I'm not sure if it is arguable. For one, I don't see how Blanche is being tied to the streetcar; you make this claim, yet don't support it or explicitly state where this distinction is drawn. I am also uncertain as to whether Stanley did rape Blanche and whether that is what led to her being insitutionalized. If so, I would see that as more of a claim towards women of violence being insitutionalized instead of being helped. I can follow your argument clearly, I'm just not certain of it's arguability for this particular play. Finding more clear evidence to support your claims, specifically the connection between Blanche's character and the title of the play would make your argument much more cohesive.
ReplyDeleteI think you have the start to an interesting argument here. For your revision I would recommend using more quotations from the text to support your claims. Also, I think you need to include why this is so important. For example, what does this say about femininity or what it means to be a female/male in society or a relationship?
ReplyDeleteThe idea of women as streetcars is pretty interesting and it's not something I'd thought about yet. However, I don't think you're really getting into that argument very much. I agree with the others that focusing on one character (which you start off doing) would really help clean up your paper and allow you to work out your argument completely. Also, be sure you're pulling quotes from the text to support your claims.
ReplyDeleteLike those above me, I think you've got the beginnings of a good argument. Part of that, though, is supporting your claims with specific evidence from the text, so I'd make sure to go back and find certain quotes that exist within the scenes you allude to.
ReplyDeleteI'd also be careful to cast Stella and "Opening Scene" Stanley as epitomists of wifehood and husbandhood. I especially just don't think that Stanley is "loving husband," at least in the typical way we think of that phrase.
Lastly, I think you could incorporate Stella's ignorance/unbelievingness of the rape into the argument that Stanley is directing her life. Stella only says that Blanche told her what happened, so Stanley must either be explicitly or omissively lying to Stella about the rape. In doing so, he is keeping Stella at home, since she says she would get outta town if she knew it were true.
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI like your thoughts, thesis, and the general direction of this paper. I think that your first paragraph would benefit from changing the its format. I think that starting with a comparison of the two sisters doesn't do the thesis justice, but instead leads the reader away from the thesis. Though you do eventually come back to the thesis later in the paragraph, I still think that if you reformatted the paragraph then your paper will flow better.
Ashley, I like where you're starting, but I think your paper consists of mostly surface-level plot summary. Personally, I'd like to see you expand on why/how Blanche is connected with being the "streetcar" in the title, then what it means if she's named "desire." And, as others have said, using more quotes and doing a deeper close reading would benefit your piece. Convince us to see what you see.
ReplyDeleteAshley,
ReplyDeleteYou have some really great ideas! I thought your comparison of the women to street cares was really cool. I think you need more support for your piece. You have a great idea to work with, you just need to give the reader more evidence as to how they fit into this street car role and men as the driver.
You start strong, with a clearly arguable statement. However, you don't have much support from the text. Additionally, your syntax and diction are messy, so I found myself getting lost in unclear sentences.
ReplyDeleteAnd one more thing: In regards to the streetcar as an analogy for Blanche, I think it might be helpful to keep in mind that streetcars run on rails, on set paths and follow set schedules. That might provide another way to look at Blanche-as-a-streetcar, as being caught under some sort of predestination.
very interesting argument. I think this is a very probable reading of the play, but I would like to see more textual evidence to back it up. Aside from generalizations, are there any points in the play that you can point to where Blanche is made out to be a "streetcar"? Where do you see that Stella is not a streetcar, but rather a "proper family vehicle"? Dig a little deeper into that, and you will have a great reading.
ReplyDeleteYou have a very interesting idea in your paper. I think that you could make your argument more powerful if you discussed the men and women's power dynamics and authority throughout the play rather than focus on the metaphor of the streetcar. I also think you need to delve deeper into the significance of these power relationships. I liked when you discussed in your second paragraph that without a man Blanche is essentially a car without a driver. Hence, Blanche cannot go anywhere or become anything without a man. How does this affect the reading of the play? Why is this idea of gendered power significant?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the opening statements made in your response. The concept is extremely thought-provoking and unique. I think your essay is missing validity. There doesn't appear to be many quotes to help support your argument. Try and incorporate more evidence to help convince the reader.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting and valid argument you've made! Specific examples will really help enforce your position, and i think it would help you bring out the analysis/so what to make your paper more profound. i think the streetcar/Blanche connection could be really unique as a topic of its own, but i think you definitely need some proof of williams' connection, or argue it more, if its your idea.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about the play in terms of its title, but I think it's important to note that the title does not ONLY and DEFINITELY refer to the women as streetcars. I think you need to spend some time proving this claim and supporting that with the text, rather than assuming it is fact. I think this is the reason I found myself questioning most of your further arguments.
ReplyDeleteI really like the in-depth argument you make here. I feel as though there is definitely a "so what," however your piece is lacking evidence and direct quotes from the play to make everything come together full circle. By supporting your ideas, your argument will really be able to come through.
ReplyDeleteI think that you should look into some concrete examples proving your point and from there talk about the significance of these examples in terms of the entire text. You have a good thesis, though, so just work on proving it.
ReplyDeleteYour thesis is extremely well thought out and proves to be a great spring board for the rest of your arguments. I agree with others that say that you need some textual evidence to help prove and otherwise solidify what you are speaking in of in order to make me fully understand.
ReplyDeleteYou definitely have a great start. Three-fourths into your paper I stopped and thought where is the evidence for this claim? I think not having any quotes to analyze and support your thesis loses the creditability of your paper. Also, you might want to perhaps clear up your introduction in where you talk about the significance of Blanche being like a streetcar because originally it made it sound as though she whores around a lot. Perhaps I read it wrong but if I did then that means it is still not clear enough.
ReplyDeleteI think you've got an interesting idea here, but I agree with others that have stated you need to narrow your focus down to just Blanche or Stella. I also would like to see more textual support and unpacking of your quotes, that would help make your argument stronger.
ReplyDeleteI love this! I think the streetcar analogy could definitely be tied into all of the trains that we see throughout the play.
ReplyDeleteAlso I would play with the word "desire" too. There are so many layers and instances of desire in this play, I think you could really break that out too. Or if you wanted to keep it simply confined to the streetcar analogy, I think you should definitely get some more textual evidence and see where you can flesh out your original argument.
Ashley, I really enjoyed your close reading. You have a really interesting focus, and I liked seeing how your thought process progressed. Mainly I would like to see what others have suggested: a bit more textual evidence. I think it would really strengthen your argument. Great job!
ReplyDelete