Southern Male Gaze

In Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois unveils the theme of the story through her representation of the struggle to maintain innocence in a tragically guilty world. The main theme of the story is that the façade of performed perfection will always be unsuccessful; fantasy cannot overcome reality. As hard as Blanche tries to hide in her fantasy, eventually truth persists and, in the end, overtakes the delusions she holds. Blanche uses her appearance to suggest innocence and youth, yet with a closer look, readers see that, though she attempts very hard to be, she is neither. She also has a symbolic relationship with Mitch; the further they draw apart, the further into madness she descends. While it is clear that Blanche is not entirely innocent, the author creates her as a symbol of such. This way, as she slowly loses her mind—and Mitch—she symbolizes the loss of said innocence. Blanche can also be considered an embodiment of Williams’s older sister Rose, who is known to have been institutionalized for her erratic behavior. Rose Williams’s inability to overcome her mental instability is directly represented through Blanche, a character who also cannot maintain fantasy and ultimately succumbs to reality. Had Blanche been able to sustain her pretense of innocence, it is possible she could have avoided the harsh realities of life.

   The two important female characters in the "poetic tragedy"(Adler 12), A Streetcar Named Desire, are Stella and Blanche. The most obvious comparison between Stella and Blanche is that they are sisters, but this blood relationship suggests other similarities between the two women. They are both part of the final generation of a once aristocratic but now moribund family. Both manifest a great deal of culture and sensitivity, and because of this, both seem out of place in Elysian Fields. "Beauty is shipwrecked on the rock of the world's vulgarity" (Miller 45).  Blanche, of course, is much more of an anachronism than Stella, who has for the most part adapted to the

In the short story “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner, Emily, the protagonist, is shown as someone who’s life is falling apart and brought down by society. Emily in this story could be described as a victim to society and her father. Emily Grierson’s confinement, loss of her father and Homer, and constant criticism caused her, her insanity.

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” employs indirect characterisation to create a detailed picture of not only Emily but also of the narrator. While she is described in seemingly direct ways, the comparison between the vision of her in the past and her present appearance reveals further characterization than the descriptors themselves. When she is young and pure to the town, she appears as “a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background” (page 767). She is almost granted an angelic aura by her virginity, and when the town believes she has lost it her image it is turned entirely on its head. They see her as tarnishes and no longer consumable or fit to find a man. She is no longer svelte and desirable, but a “small, fat woman in black” (page 765). The transformation of Emily from slender to fat, and a white dress to a black dress mirrors that of the marriage set’s tarnishing. Emily’s

In “A Rose for Emily”, Charles Faulkner used a series of flashbacks and foreshadowing to tell Miss Emily’s story. Miss Emily is an interesting character, to say the least. In such a short story of her life, as told from the prospective of a townsperson, who had been nearly eighty as Miss Emily had been, in order to tell the story from their own perspective. Faulkner set up the story in Mississippi, in a world he knew of in his own lifetime. Inspired by a southern outlook that had been touched by the Civil War memory, the touch of what we would now look at as racism, gives the southern aroma of the period. It sets up Miss Emily’s southern belle status and social standing she had been born into, loner or not.

Tennessee Williams’ ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ is set in the ‘Roaring Twenties’ when America was going through a great deal of change in the order of society. The three main characters; Blanche DuBois, Stella Kowalski and Stanley Kowalski jostle claustrophobically in a small apartment, set in Elysian Fields in New Orleans, Elysian Fields is an ironic name as it evokes the sense that the apartment is heaven, when in reality it is very much the opposite. Stella and Blanche are sisters, but during the course of the play, we notice very clearly that Blanche is stuck in the in the Old World of plantations and inequality, with very large social divides. In contrast, Stella has almost seamlessly evolved to live in the New

“Stella has embraced him with both arms, fiercely, and full in the view of Blanche. He laughs and clasps her head to him. Over her head he grins through the curtains at Blanche.” (Williams 73) A Streetcar Named Desire written by Tennessee Williams exemplifies the theme of a struggle to attain happiness. The play not only portrays this theme in its characters and setting, but through the literary devices of Foil, Imagery, and Intertextuality. Williams took great care in applying each of these literary device techniques to the theme as he presents an intriguing contrast between Blanche and Stanley, vivid images both animalistic and broken, and imploring the use of the Odyssey to further

Faulkner used a setting and time to show Emily had a hard time accepting change and moving on with her life. They story took place right after the Civil War. Most African Americans were loathed and discriminated but Emily was relived from her father. Money showed a social statement back then and Emily’s father had money. Since her father loaned the town money she had become a well appreciated woman even after his passing. In stated in the story, “she had chosen not to come out of the house and when the townspeople had saw her they seen a different Emily.” As stated in the book

William Faulkner has done a wonderful work in his essay “A Rose for Emily.” Faulkner uses symbols, settings, character development, and other literary devices to express the life of Emily and the behavior of the people of Jefferson town towards her. By reading the essay, the audience cannot really figure out who the narrator is. It seems like the narrator can be the town’s collective voice. The fact that the narrator uses collective pronoun we supports the theory that the narrator is describing the life of “Miss Emily” on behalf of the townspeople. Faulkner has used the flashback device in his essay to make it more interesting. The story begins with the portrayal of Emily’s funeral and it moves to her past and at the end the readers realize that the funeral is a flashback as well. The story starts with the death of Miss Emily when he was seventy-four years old and it takes us back when she is a young and attractive girl.

In A Streetcar Named Desire, the male protagonist, Stanley, was the northern progressive hard worker and Blanche was the Southern Belle holding onto her southern ideals of social class, elegance, and beauty. Like many other southerners, Blanche lived in the dark hiding from the progression and new ways. Blanche’s web of lies and obsession with the past could not protect her from the “new” and eventually she was forced to accept the truth of her society. Using the binary conflict of old vs. new, Williams characterizes Blanche as a damsel in distress, in order to condemn the aristocratic souths unwillingness to change. Blanche is established throughout the novel as the old south in order to directly contrast with the new southern society that is emerging.

“Many factors contribute to Blanche’s tragedy”. In the light of this statement, explore the ways in which Williams presents Blanche’s downfall. Williams presents Blanche’s downfall in Streetcar through her loss of Belle Reve and her fatal inability to adapt to her new surroundings in New Orleans. The treatment she receives from other characters is also a factor in her failings as she attempts to appear as an innocent southern belle while actually leading herself into a bigger network of lies. Referring to Blanche losing Belle Reve, it can be reasoned that her downfall was inevitable as the traditional ideals of the old south are being phased out in the post war America.

Tennessee Williams’s famous play “A Streetcar Named Desire” centers around a Southern Belle named Blanche Dubois living in an urban home with her younger sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley where she has packed up all of her belongings in one trunk. She is not accustomed to the modern, urban way of life, so she sticks out like a sore thumb, and Stanley gives her a hard time in the process. He is skeptical of her and disrespects her in many ways throughout the play including rummaging through her belongings and criticizing her way of life. One night, Stella and Blanche return home late to the men drinking and playing poker. Blanche meets Mitch who she eventually admits she wants to be married to him.

In Tennessee Williams's written play, A Streetcar Named Desire, one of the most symbolic characters is Blanche DuBois. Blanche represents one of the themes of the play, too much desire and not enough control can end very badly. She has very little self-control and too much desire for attention, particularly from men. Blanche is a victim of many men in the play who take advantage of her, use her and deceive her. She often puts herself in the position to be used by men, but she is also a victim of her own self-delusions and old south attitudes.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams is a powerful, thought-provoking play which explores the theme of appearance versus reality. The playwright successfully develops this theme through his characterisation of the play’s main protagonists and Williams’ effective utilisation of a variety of techniques greatly enhances the audience’s appreciation of the play as a whole. Initially, fading southern belle Blanche DuBois strikes the audience as being cultivated, decorous and unblemished. Nevertheless the audience soon fathoms that this appearance is little more than a façade that conceals much of who Blanche actually is; similarly to her rather animalistic, brutish brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski, she is an incredibly sexual being who