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Similarities of a streetcar named desire and the great gadsby
Key themes in streetcar named desire
Key themes in streetcar named desire
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The portrayal of individuals in the grip of dreams and illusions is a major theme in both 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and 'The Great Gatsby'. While the texts explore the nature of dreams and illusions predominately through the characters of Blanche in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and Gatsby in 'The Great Gatsby', in a more metaphorical interpretation this reading can be extended to include many of the other characters appearing in the texts of Tennessee Williams and F. Scott Fitzgerald, notably Stella and Stanley in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and Tom and Daisy in 'The Great Gatsby'. Furthermore, the embodiment of dreams and illusions appears in many different symbols throughout the texts, from the 'paper lantern' in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' …show more content…
to the 'green light' in 'The Great Gatsby'. Comparisons can also be seen between dreams and illusions and the American Dream. Both texts are set in America and reflect the changing culture in the country including the rise of consumerism and the pursuit of wealth in American society. Both Blanche and Gatsby yearn for things that are out of their reach, being unable to realise these things are unattainable and therefore ultimately being destroyed by their desires. As Lockridge comments, Gatsby's dream has 'three basic and related parts: the desire to repeat the past, the desire for money, and the desire for incarnation of "unutterable visions" in the material earth'. Furthermore, it becomes evident to the reader that 'Daisy represents all of these dreams.', or at least the idealised version of Daisy that Gatsby's imagination has created. The recognition that the physical character of Daisy and Gatsby's own idea of Daisy are two separate beings is fundamental in the understanding that Gatsby's dream will forever be beyond reach. Gatsby goes to great lengths to try and convince himself that Daisy and his ideal are one and the same, comparing her voice to a 'deathless song', imagining her 'High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl...', immortalising her perfect image so it can live forever in his fantasy of their future together. Yet, her 'perishable breath' serves to remind Gatsby of her impermanence and therefore causes Daisy to tumble 'short of his dreams' due to 'the colossal vitality of his illusion'. As Nick comments, 'It had gone beyond her, beyond everything'. Blanche, in this same way, idealises 'Belle Reve' and what it represents, most importantly the traditional values of the South and her wish to return to a world of class boundaries. The name 'Belle Reve', meaning Beautiful Dream, already alerts the reader to Blanche's idealised vision of her childhood home. Additionally, the setting of Elysian Fields allows Tennessee Williams 'to situate his play on the intersect between the everyday and the mythic' as Benedict Andrews comments, due to the contrasting normality of the 'weathered grey' buildings 'with rickety outside stairs' in comparison to the heavenly connotations of its name. Blanche differs from Gatsby in her knowledge of the web of dream and illusion she creates for herself. She says, 'I don't want realism. I want magic.' conveying her wilful suspension of disbelief in pursuit of perfection and purity, most importantly purity in love. In contrast, Gatsby seems to remain unaware that his dreams are merely illusion telling Nick, 'Can't repeat the past?...Why of course you can!'. For Gatsby, recognising that his dreams are mere imagination would mean realising that at some point he had lost Daisy. His power as 'a son of God' would be called into question, and with it his whole legacy. In comparison, Stanley tries to destroy Blanche's reputation by looking into her past. Blanche's mask of illusion is ripped from her yet she denies any past wrongdoing, 'The Hotel Flamingo is not the sort of establishment I would dare to be seen in!', this conveys Blanche's frantic struggle to hide the truth of her past immorality from the world. Thus, being able to continue her fantasy, in lying to the world it also makes it easier for her to lie to herself. The American Dream features prominently in 'The Great Gatsby' and 'A Streetcar Named Desire', Gatsby believes that money will allow him anything, even the ability to relive the past. He is like the 'gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover' of the epigraph who uses money to win a girl's heart. In this way Gatsby's dream is doomed to failure as 'its elements...are in conflict'. His dream, Daisy, is 'an abstract idealism, but it becomes rooted in the material, rather than transcending it'. 'The green light' is a reflection of this paradox, 'the fresh, green breast of the new world' 'has diminished to become 'the green light'...the artificial marker of a rich man's property'. The consumerist society Gatsby has prospered in has caused him to only value things by their monetary worth, he values Daisy's voice because it is 'full of money' and he is unable to comprehend non-materialistic value.
Any spiritual aspect of the American Dream has been 'lost, almost immediately, overpowered by greed and a lust for money and possessions' the 'wonderland has been turned into a wasteland'. Fitzgerald offers the reader a physical representation of this wasteland in the 'valley of ashes'. The vibrant, vivid colours of life in New York have been replaced with the repetitive 'grey' that 'veil[s] everything in the vicinity'. Where 'the only thing that grows is death' as the 'ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens' and, void of any true spirituality, 'Dr T. J. Eckleburg' looms over the scene like a quasi-God, cementing the worship of materialism. In 'A Streetcar Named Desire' the American Dream is again displayed as a corrupting influence. Blanche represents the Old South, her name being redolent of her aristocratic background and is therefore in contrast to Stanley Kowalski, a Polish immigrant, who represents the new generation of Americans who come from poverty and are able to make something of themselves in the land of opportunity, like Gatsby. 'A Streetcar Named Desire' 'stages the death of an older America order'embodying the cultural and social changes happening in America at the time. Blanche has followed 'desire' which has led her to Stanley and Stella's apartment, a place 'where [she is] ashamed to be', yet the American Dream highlights desire as something to be pursued and coveted. In this way, Blanche is an innocent figure that has been corrupted by the materialistic American society, which has caused her to value herself by her looks and possessions. She tells Stella 'It isn't enough to be soft. You've got to be soft and attractive. And I - I'm fading now!'. Without her looks Blanche has nothing to offer in the new America that is 'fuelled
by sex and the selling of sex'. Daisy and Blanche are therefore linked in their belief that their beauty is what defines them. When Daisy's daughter is born she hopes she will be 'a beautiful little fool' as that is 'the best thing a girl can be' in the superficial society in America. This ideal of beauty often allows the concealment of an inner corruption, for example the colonial plantation of Belle Reve was founded on the 'epic fornications' of men while in 'The Great Gatsby', Tom and Myrtle's apartment is situated 'in a long white cake of apartment-houses' which are made up of an 'inexhaustible variety of life' which Nick is both 'enchanted and repelled by'. This further conveys the sense of appearance being deceptive of the true nature of the places and therefore acting as an illusion. In 'The Great Gatsby', dreams offer an opportunity for the characters to relive their past. For Gatsby, Daisy and Nick, the turning to illusion and 'playing of roles' is part of an attempt 'to recover the vibrancy and promise of their youth'. Gatsby's whole image is based on the sort of identity 'a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent' while 'Daisy's vision of what her life should be has its origins in her "white childhood"'. This conveys the naivety the characters possess and therefore their unsuitability to the modern world. Consequently, their dreams act as a shield against the harsh reality of society and allow them to continue believing in their fantasies. Tom is 'one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at 21 that everything afterwards savours of anti-climax', dreaming is his only escape from a life that will only get worse which is why he is 'forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game' to remember his times of success and to forget his current situation. When Nick says goodbye to Tom he feels suddenly 'as though I were talking to a child', implying Tom's complete retreat into her dreams and illusions to cope with the death of Myrtle and his unhappy marriage. Tom and Daisy are described are 'careless people' who 'let others clean up the mess they had made...' as children do. Through dreams Blanche is able to live the fantasy of a Southern belle. Taking on the persona of a refined lady to mask her previous immoral dealings in 'The Flamingo', she can deceive herself and others into believing the disguise she puts on, she says she 'never lied in her heart', emphasising her total absorption into her own lie. The only thing left for Blanche to look forward to is death where she will be 'buried at sea sewn up in a clean white sack and drooped overboard...into an ocean as blue as my first lover's eyes'. Her obsession with purity conveys her want to be absolved of her sins, which she thinks is only achievable in death. She dreams of a time when she will be untainted so just the touch of 'an unwashed grape' will be enough to kill her. Illusions also therefore, act as an escape from the predictability of her future life, in her dreams she is not 'fading' but 'an artist who paints in strong, bold colours, primary colours'. Furthermore, Stella's illusions of Stanley as a good husband mean she does not have to confront the problems of her present, she can be unaware of Stanley's rape of Blanche and be in love with Stanley as she was when they first met. She 'couldn't believe [Blanche's] story and go on living with Stanley', therefore she constructs her own version of the truth in which Blanche, disconcerted in madness, has fabricated the entire event. Kathleen Parkinson comments that in 'The Great Gatsby', 'Nick imagines Gatsby's last moments when he has to face reality', where Gatsby 'found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass'. The reader sees Gatsby's dream shattered as he realises Daisy's true nature, the 'sunlight' acting as the shadeless light does in 'A Streetcar Named Desire', exposing all of Blanche's dreams as illusions of her mind. He is also, for the first time, able to see the extent to which his obsession with Daisy has corrupted him. Gatsby himself 'is no materialist' only needing 'material accumulation to express his dreams and to prove himself worthy of Daisy' as an object's value to Gatsby is dependent on 'the measure of response it drew from [Daisy's] well-loved eyes'. While Nick is able to see Gatsby as deluded, he is unable to recognise these characteristics in himself. He pities Gatsby as he sees him trying 'to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy', sure that if he could 'return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was...'. However, Nick himself is then reminded of 'an elusive rhythm, a fragment of lost words' that he searches wildly for in his mind, his 'lips parted like a dumb man's, as though there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air'. Nick decides 'to come back home' after Gatsby's death in an attempt to regain some normality and rid himself of the corruption he experienced in the East implying his yearning for the past as Gatsby yearned for his past with Daisy. In this, the reader sees Nick gaining some of Gatsby's qualities, he being the character that Nick idolises, saying Gatsby 'understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself' highlighting the superlative image Gatsby holds in Nick's mind. In 'A Streetcar Named Desire', Blanche never truly understands her dreams are not reality, as Gatsby is forced to do. Even when she is confronted by the doctor, signifying the end of Blanche's life in physical freedom, she is unable to understand what is happening, telling him 'Whoever you are - I have always relied on the kindness of strangers'. While Blanche has been physically free her mind is imprisoned in her illusion and therefore her physical imprisonment is just an extension of this. She is forever pursuing the delicate world of her imagination where she is as pure as the 'clean white sack' she wants her body to be 'sewn up in'. Blanche believes that she will only be absolved of her sins in death, riding the 'Cemeteries' streetcar to get to the apartment. The doctor leads Blanche 'as if she were blind' conveying how she is still unable to see through the facade she has created. In addition, the 'weird distortion' of 'The 'Varsouviana'' and 'the cries and noises of the jungle' Blanche hears serve to further disorientate her, as well as carrying with them all the threatening connotations of Stanley's taunt of 'Tiger - tiger!'. Unlike Gatsby, Blanche's illusions remain intact meaning she allows the doctor to take her away, in hope of a better life, 'the gears of the mythic engine' are still 'grinding the wheels inexorably forward' in Blanche's imagination. In conclusion, both 'The Great Gatsby' and 'A Streetcar Named Desire' portray individuals in the grip of dreams and illusions mainly through the depiction of Blanche and Gatsby as characters striving for an unattainable ideal. In both texts, the reader sympathises with the characters of Blanche and Gatsby because of their innocence and naivety. Both characters are also destroyed by American society highlighting their vulnerability and the fundamental flaws with American society insomuch as characters like Blanche and Gatsby, misunderstood by others, are disposed of. While the mystery that surrounds both characters is what ultimately destroys them, it it also self-constructed. This further conveys both the magic and danger that comes with dreams and illusions, the idea that it is necessary for Blanche and Gatsby to dream implies they are not fulfilled, there is always something they are missing. So, they instead pursue money as a way to be able to physically gain something that society tells them has worth in an attempt to replace their pure dreams with consumerism, which they see examples of everywhere. However, this only serves to further corrupt them and they lose something of themselves, as Nick says, Gatsby's 'count of enchanted objects had diminished by one'.
Throughout the history of literature, a great deal of authors has tried to reveal a clear understanding of the American Dream. Whether it is possible to achieve lies all in the character the author portrays. The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye stand as prime examples of this. F. Scott Fitzgerald and J.D. Salinger, the authors of these titles, respectively, fashion flawed characters, Jay Gatsby and Holden Caulfield, with one vital desire: the longing to gain what they can’t have; acceptance and the feeling of belonging. Each retaining characteristics that shows their differences and similarities in opinion of the world around them.
All stories have the same blueprint structure with the same type of ending whether it be good triumphs over evil, rags to riches, the voyage and the return, tragedy, or rebirth. The thing that sets these stories apart is the message they intend to in our minds. “ The power of a story to shift and show itself to anew is part of what attracts people to it, at different ages, in different moods, with different concerns” (Auxier 7). These messages are given by the characters in the story that all have their own reasoning but in the end have one meaning behind it. Some messages give specified personal messages rather than a broad stated such as the stories The Wizard of Oz and The Great Gatsby. Blinded by the ignorance of desires, the characters
Comparing A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof In the game of life, a man is given the option to bluff, raise, or fold. He is dealt a hand created by the consequences of his choices or by outside forces beyond his control. It is a never ending cycle: choices made create more choices. Using diverse, complex characters simmering with passion and often a contradiction within themselves, Tennessee Williams examines the link between past and present created by man's choices in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. "
This statement also emphasises much of Blanche’s own views on sorrow and explains how it has affected her life since she has made the comment from personal experience. To conclude, Tennessee Williams’ dramatic use of death and dying is an overarching theme in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ from which everything about Blanche’s character has formed from. Without the death of Allan, Blanche would not have resorted to prostitution and the brief affairs with strangers, also the deaths of her family have driven Blanche to Stella’s where she is “not wanted” and “ashamed to be”. Therefore these dramatic deaths have lead to the past which comes back to haunt
In the novel The Great Gatsby and the play A Streetcar Named Desire the main characters James Gatsby and Blanche Dubois have a lengthy search for love. Both characters go about their search in similar and different ways. The characters choose illusion over reality, but the way in which they go about it differs. Also in an attempt to impress, both characters try and “buy” love by using material possessions to attract people to them. Although Gatsby and Blanche devote a lot of their lives to finding true love, their searching leaves them unsuccessful.
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 play 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 play 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.
“Humankind cannot bear very much reality.” (T.S. Eliot) By constructing a comparative discussion, say to what extent you consider this to be useful in understanding The Great Gatsby and A Streetcar Named Desire.
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, display the customs and beliefs of past society. Both novels project the idea of wealth and high-class but also accentuate the search for love. Fitzgerald emphasizes the harm in devoting one’s life to achieving wealth for the one he loves, as Gatsby believes in order to win over Daisy he must acquire a great deal of money. Austen displays the importance of love over looks and money. She details the happiness Elizabeth is able to receive once she marries the guy who has similar wit and sarcasm. Although the novels were written a century apart, Pride and Prejudice and The Great Gatsby encompass similar ideologies, along with people and beliefs, of the time.
The first principle character in this play is Blanche DuBois. She is a neurotic nymphomaniac that is on her way to meet her younger sister Stella in the Elysian Fields. Blanche takes two 2 streetcars, one named Desire, the other Cemeteries to get to her little sisters dwelling. Blanche, Stella and Stanley all desire something in this drama. Blanche desired a world without pain, without suffering, in order to stop the mental distress that she had already obtained. She desires a fairy tale story about a rich man coming and sweeping her off her feet and they ride away on a beautiful oceanic voyage. The most interesting part of Blanche is that through her unstable thinking she has come to believe the things she imagines. Her flashy sense of style and imagination hide the truly tragic story about her past. Blanche lost Belle Reve but, moreover, she lost the ones she loved in the battle. The horror lied not only in the many funerals but also in the silence and the constant mourning after. One cant imagine how it must feel to lose the ones they love and hold dear but to stay afterwards and mourn the loss of the many is unbearable. Blanche has had a streak of horrible luck. Her husband killing himself after she exposed her knowledge about his homosexuality, her advances on young men that led to her exile and finally her alcoholism that drew her life to pieces contemplated this sorrow that we could not help but feel for Blanche throughout the drama. Blanche’s desire to escape from this situation is fulfilled when she is taken away to the insane asylum. There she will have peace when in the real world she only faced pain.
Both William Shakespeare 's Othello and Tennessee William 's A Streetcar Named Desire are both theatre productions. Othello was written in 1603 and contains themes of betrayal and loyalty, whilst Streetcar was written in 1947 and both contain themes of social standing. Streetcar was intended to be received by an educated adult audience, whereas Othello was intended to be watched by a mixture of educated and uneducated adults. Both pieces possess a serious narrative tone, and were intended to entertain an audience whilst presenting the author 's themes and ideas.
Blanche uses her fantasies as a shield; and her desires as her motivation to survive. Her fading beauty being her only asset and chance of finding stability. Stella’s relationship with Stanley also emphasis the theme Williams created in this book. They’re only bond is physical desire and nothing at all intellectual or deep rooted. Tennessee Williams exemplifies that their relationship which only springs from desire doesn’t make it any weaker. He also creates a social dichotomy of the relationship between death and desire.
A Streetcar Named Desire and The Great Gatsby are two of the most renowned pieces of American literature arising from the twentieth century. Written by Tennessee Williams in 1947, the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, chronicles the life of Blanche Dubois, a confused and conflicted Southern belle fumbling through a life of misfortune and into a troubling relationship with her aggressive brother-in law. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, follows mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby’s passionately obsessive pursuit of rekindling his love with the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, as told by his neighbour and friend Nick Carraway. Although the two protagonists appear to bear no resemblance
In Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois symbolizes the failure of the grandiose American Dream.
One of the first major themes of this book is the constant battle between fantasy and reality. Blanche explains to Mitch that she fibs because she refuses to accept the hand fate has dealt her. Lying to herself and to others allows her to make life appear as it should be rather than as it is. Stanley, a practical man firmly grounded in the physical world, disdains Blanche’s fabrications and does everything he can to unravel them. The relationship between Blanche and Stanley is a struggle between appearances and reality. It propels the play’s plot and creates an overarching tension. Ultimately, Blanche’s attempts to rejuvenate her life and to save Stella from a life with Stanley fail. One of the main ways the author dramatizes fantasy’s inability to overcome reality is through an explorati...
In the play, “Antigone” by Sophocles, and the play, A Streetcar Named Desire”, by Tennessee Williams, there is a direct connection between these two playwrights which can be recognized by an analytical reader. These playwrights are connected through the words of the characters they placed in their plays. Each of the characters had a specific role in conveying the theme of their plays. Another point which helps illustrate the connection between the two playwrights Sophocles and Tennessee Williams is that the ideas they present in their play are similar to each other.