A Streetcar Named Desire

Reading A Streetcar Named Desire differed a lot from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof which made it a pleasure reading. Tennessee Williams once again proved his craft in the world of play writing with his protagonist Blanche Dubois. A schoolteacher from Mississippi, Blanche moves down to live with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley Kowalski in New Orleans. She tries to cover up her flaws with a “rich” persona, and her bossy, superior attitude; only to reveal later on that she loses the plantation that her family lived on, the Belle Reve due to foreclosure, indicating financial issues, and her alcohol problem indicating insecurities about herself.

Class struggles, power, deception and identity are some of the major themes that make the play the critically acclaimed piece that it has become. Blanche's desire to stay strong and youthful, disguising the pain and tragedy in her life and illuminating her own world which leads her to a mental institution at the end keeps the reader anxious for more out of the captivating character. Stanley's bestiality nature and Polish descent, a note of high criticism, disrupts the relationship between Blanche and her sister, Stella and Stanley, and Blanche and her one time boyfriend Mitch. Stella's soft, inferior attitude is the key to Blanche and Stanley's control, and the whole storyline in general definitely keeps the reader turning the pages for more.

I would recommend this book to anyone because its a quick read, but something that you have to take your time to understand even the smallest of details, since they will go unnoticed, leaving you with questions to wonder in the future.