Stella and Ruth: Similar Women from Different Lifestyles

Although A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, and A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, appear to be very different plays, there are some great similarities. Ruth, from A Raisin in the Sun, lives with her immediate family and her sister and mother-in-law in the Southside of Chicago. However, Stella, A Streetcar Named Desire, has left her family behind and moved to New Orleans. Although these two women come from very different backgrounds and are characters in very different plays, they have surprising similarities. Therefore, Ruth and Stella have similarities and differences in their overall lifestyles.

Stella and Ruth share similar present living conditions but differ in their childhood lifestyles. Both women are presently living in poorer areas in small apartments. This is shown when Williams describes Stella’s living situation as in “the poor section [of the city]…houses weathered gray with rickety stairs” (Williams 1) and also when Stella explains to her visiting sister Blanche, in an embarrassed tone, that there were only two rooms- “this one…and the other one” (Williams 1). And in Ruth’s case, Hansberry describes how the apartment appeared to have been home to “too many people for too long” (Hansberry 1.1). Throughout the first act, there are many descriptions made by Hansberry about the cramped situation of the apartment including a shortage of bedrooms and bathrooms (Hansberry 1.1). Although Ruth had always experienced living in these kinds of conditions (Hansberry 1.1), Stella had not. This is shown when Eunice, the woman who owns the other apartment in the complex, is discussing Stella’s childhood home with Blanche (Williams 1). The home was actually a plantation called “Belle Reve” and described as a “great big place with white columns” (Williams 1). Through this conversation, the reader can see that Stella now lives a very different lifestyle compared to her childhood. Therefore, although both Ruth and Stella live in similar conditions now, there are obvious differences in their upbringings.

A second major similarity between the two women is their personality of being non-confrontational. Both women, in a sense, let others “walk over them”. Ruth is dominated by her husband, Walter, for the most part and Stella by her husband, Stanley, and sister Blanche. When situations are tense, both characters try to avoid the confrontational subject or shy away when it is brought up. For example, when Walter adamantly keeps trying to force Ruth into supporting his business ideals at breakfast-which she doesn’t agree with-she tries to change the subject by repeatedly telling Walter to eat his eggs (Hansberry 1.