Streetcars, Lies and Jazz Music (Reaction paper #4)

                                  “The Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams

“The Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams was a play written in 1947. The play takes place in New Orleans in a humble town, the houses and apartments weathered gray but they all hold their own charm. 1947 was a time in New Orleans when the race disputes were already settled down, Jazz was picking up and streetcars were electrified  so that they could run on wires. The play “The Streetcar Named Desire” shows us a humble home with only two rooms, where our protagonists Stella and Stanley live, and visiting Stella’s Sister Blanche. The living quarters is the backdrop where many lies, abuse, both physical and emotional, and rape all take place throughout the play.

    Plays are one of the greatest forms of literature, next to poems, in my own opinion. They may be short, but they are able to pack so much into them without getting too crowded and boring. There is always so much symbolism and little hints in plays, its amazing how Williams was able to fit everything in, in only eleven scenes.  I also love plays because of the acting that comes with them! Although It was sadly only me reading so all I could do was change my voice every time a different character spoke.  I also love how authors of plays describe their scenery, I feel like they put more effort into it then novel writers. I always feel  I’m there in the scene or when I read it I am slowly transported into this new place. Play writers have to be more descriptive with their settings because it would have to be recreated on a big stage.

    When it comes to plays everything is deliberate, the setting, the background noises, and even the lighting. The music you hear throughout the play is put there on purpose by Williams. There is no doubt about it, obviously he knew what he was going, it wasn’t at all random. The background music go’s with the dialogue, when speech picks up the music is fast and loud, but when there is a pause in dialogue the music stops. In the play its Blanches idea to have the lights low so her possible romantic relation can not tell that she is older than she acts, and more used and weathered herself. The dim lights make for a romantic mood as well, especially with a candle lit.  The harsh lights from the train show the romantic setting being transformed into a bothered scene where there is no longer romance. Its amazing how many things are put into place in this play.

    Besides the scenery of the play many different types of subject matter also rise up, like lying. Blanch is the main liar of the play, most words that came out of her mouth were lies. She lied about her job, her love life and even what she had been doing with her life. Its funny because the character herself was acting, Blanche was acting like a better Blanche. Its sad though, all her lying caused distrust from everyone towards her. When it really mattered no one believed her and what she was saying, or at least no one wanted to. It was a very ‘boy cries wolf’ situation, liars probably regret lying once its too late, and everyone has lost trust in them.

    Finally, my least favorite part of the play is when abuse comes up between Stella and Stanley. Although the play was written it a different time than what we’re in now, its still crazy how Stella refused to leave Stanley even though he hit her, and abused her.  The men of the house have more power in this time period, more than the women. They make the rules and when a woman stepped out of line the men took action.  Of course spouses will always fight, theres no question about it, when two people live together they begin to get aggravated with each other. Though it should never go as far as physical abuse, the only part that Blanche was right about was Stella leaving her abusive husband, its not the right environment for anyone.

    Williams created an amazing play, it was filled with so much but never had a dull moment. He really made me feel for the characters, and then ever hate some of them. I love how Eunice character develops into someone who was just outside of the house to a close friend of Stella, who helps her in many ways. I also really liked Mitch, he was so sweet and innocent and cared for his mother, not even when he was drunk was he really that bad, he was just upset. He had been lied to by Blanche, the person he actually thought he would marry. I think this play really changed my view on plays, before the only one I had read that wasn't in shakespearean was “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. That was also an amazing play but I didn't realize at that time if it also had all these extra elements. I had probably missed so many!