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.