“All the characters in “A Streetcar Named Desire” are to some extent living an unreal existence”. Agree or disagree with this statement about the characters and be sure to use quotes to support your comments.
Not all the characters in “A Streetcar Named Desire” are living an unreal existence, however some are, in particular Blanche, Stella and Stanley. Blanch to some extent is living in her own fantasy world plagued with delusions and outbursts. It is quite obvious that she is living an illusion. Stella is living an unreal existence in regards to the way in which she likes to pretend she is living in a happy home. Stanley is also however to a much lesser extent living an unreal existence. He is very self-centered and towards the end he seems to be living a life nearly devoted to breaking down Blanche. We can see why and in what way these characters are living an unreal existence through exploring the major themes of this play and their relation to the characters in regards to “living an unreal existence”. These themes which will be discussed later on include reality versus illusion, confronting reality, male domination and truth versus lies.
Reality versus illusion is one of, if not the major theme of the play. It also has the most relevance to the way in which Blanche, Stanley and Stella are living in their own fantasy world. Perhaps the reason Blanche chose illusion rather than reality is because of her somewhat troubled past. When Blanche was 16 she married Alan who was 17. The impression we get of Alan is that of an attractive, gentle and kind young man. However, he had a somewhat feminine quality about him. Blanche soon finds out that he is involved in a homosexual relationship by catching him in the act. Blanche expresses her disgust and soon after Alan commits suicide by shooting himself. Already traumatized, the situation grew quickly worse when Blanche looses Belle Reve, the family estate. This proves only to worsen Blanche’s mental state to an all new low. This coupled with other events led Blanche to living with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley. Perhaps the events which had occurred led her to the edge of insanity which she was resting on during her time living with Stanley and Stella. It was easier for her to create her own fantasy world rather than to face up to reality.
Uggen, Christopher, and Jeff Manza. "Why Should Felons Vote?" Democracys Ghost. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
The text from A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie, both written by the renowned author Tennessee Williams, deal with the topics of life's pressures, and the desire to succeed in everything we do. Oftentimes, people place unrealistic expectations upon us and set the bar higher than we can achieve, or even want to reach. People end up developing mechanisms to deal with these stressors and tensions that have been created. We find other unhealthy habits and vices to supplant the reality we are trying to escape, that hopefully will take away this pain and suffering we are experiencing. In both of these plays, the characters are not able to live in their present realities. Two of the main characters are closely linked in their characterizations
One of the more controversial debates in today’s political arena, especially around election times, is that of felon disenfranchisement. The disenfranchisement of felons, or the practice of denying felons and ex-felons the right to vote, has been in practice before the colonization of America and traces back to early England; however, it has not become so controversial and publicized until recent times. “In today’s political system, felons and ex-felons are the only competent adults that are denied the right to vote; the total of those banned to vote is approximately 4.7 million men and women, over two percent of the nation’s population” (Reiman 3).
The Islamic Republic of Iran, formerly known as Iran or Persia, was crowded with a young generation looking for full freedom against the Shah. Persia, once as a powerful country with vast oil resources, soon became a vulnerable nation, ready to accept a new leader to guide them. The people were ready for change, but were the changes they got the changes they were looking for. The people wanted freedom against the shah, (For generations Iran was ruled by Kings) who allowed some freedoms, but it was somewhat limited. The people wanted freedom of speech, so that the press could freely publish their own opinions. They wanted to get rid of a law that made all eighteen-year-old males attend two years of military service unless they are accepted to a university, which would allow them attend the army later as a service worker. The shah was anti-religious, which was not ideal for many of the civilians in Iran. Savak (Secret organization of Iran) was accused of many anti – human rights actions, such as killing students who protested and immediately jailing press members for inappropriate conduct. A major problem was that the shah was a “puppet” of the United States many say, because the Shah would constantly confer with the U.S. of all of his decisions as ruler. The after affects of the revolution resulted in similar conditions, however. Human rights are horrible, the government limits all freedoms, the economy has suffered greatly, average salaries are hard to live with, most of the educated people in Iran fled to foreign countries, the quality of public schools is horrible, and the government still controls all television broadcasts and keeps a watchful eye on the newspapers. From bad to worse is what many people feel has become of Iran, but the people are ready for a real change.
Whitehead, J. W. (2014, February 06). 50 years after The Beatles: Isn't it time for another political & cultural revolution? Retrieved from
First let’s define what a right is. A right is defined as something to which a person is entitled. Most American rights are determined by our constitution. Next let’s define privilege. A Privilege is a special advantage enjoyed by a particular group. You could say that anyone over the age of 16 has the privilege to drive. So when it comes to voting it has a very gray area as to how we should define whether it is a right allotted by the constitution, or whether it is a privilege given to those who follow the laws of America.
Throughout Tennessee William’s play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Blanche Dubois exemplified several tragic flaws. She suffered from her haunting past; her inability to overcome; her desire to be someone else; and from the cruel, animalistic treatment she received from Stanley. Sadly, her sister Stella also played a role in her downfall. All of these factors ultimately led to Blanche’s tragic breakdown in the end.
Primary health care is the essential step to the Canadian health system. It is often associated with other specialized health care sectors, and community services. Many patients visit various services under primary health care such as family doctors' offices, mental health facilities, nurse practitioners' offices; they make phone calls to health information lines, for example, Tele-health; and receive suggestions from physicians and pharmacists (First Ministers; meeting on healthcare, n.d.). This service can prevent patients from visiting the emergency department, when all that is required is some guidance and advice. Having primary care services can reduce the consumption of acute beds, where only seriously ill patients can use the acute beds when it is available. Primary care not only deals with sickness care, but it helps patients receive preventable measures; it promotes healthy choices (Primary health care, n.d.). The focus on appropriate health care services, when and where they are needed, enhanced the ability of individuals to access primary care in various settings: at home, in a hospital or any number of family health care venues, such as Family Health Teams (FHTs), Community Health Centres (CHCs), or Nurse Practitioner- led clinics. This paper will look at the litigious heated argument in the Romanow Report concerning primary care. It will begin with a discussion of the outcome of the Accord on Health Care Renewal (2003) and The First Ministers' Meeting on the Future of Health in Canada (2004), both referring to primary care, which will then be followed with an assessment and analysis of the different ways in which the accords have been addressed in support of primary care. Followed by a discussion about the changes on ...
In the 1970’s Iran, under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was a very centralized military state that maintained a close relationship with the USA. The Shah was notoriously out of touch with working class Iranians as he implemented many controversial economic policies against small business owners that he suspected involved profiteering. Also unrestricted economic expansions in Iran lead to huge government expenditure that became a serious problem when oil prices dropped in the mid 1970’s. This caused many huge government construction projects to halt and the economy to stall after many years of massive profit. Following this was high rates of inflation that affected Iranians buying power and living standards. (Afary, 2012) Under the Shah, political participation was not widely available for all Iranians and it was common for political opposition to be met with harassment, illegal detention, and even torture. These measures were implemented by the Iranian secret police knows as ‘SAVAK’. This totalitarian regime combined with the increasing modernisation of the country paved the way for revolution.
In Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire the characters represent two opposing themes. These themes are of illusion and reality. The two characters that demonstrate these themes are Blanche, and Stanley. Blanche represents the theme of Illusion, with her lies, and excuses. Stanley demonstrates the theme of reality with his straightforward vulgar ness. Tennessee Williams uses these characters effectively to demonstrate these themes, while also using music and background characters to reinforce one another.
“Sometimes we want what we want even if we know it’s going to kill us”, said Donna Tartt. People in life don’t work at all at their future, or want a certain life or certain reputation so badly that they will make themselves have it, even if it is all an illusion. It happens in real life, and it also happens in “A Streetcar Named Desire”, by Tennessee Williams. Blanches interaction with males makes her create a fake like per say and this all eventually leads to her self - destruction. Some of these males are Allen Grey, Shep Huntleigh and Stanley Kowalski. In “A Streetcar Named Desire”,
Although the Iranian Revolution was caused by combination of political and religious motivations and ideas, the desires of the people supporting the movement were more dominantly religious ideas that were wished to be imposed in society and in a new government. The Shah, or king, of Iran at the time was Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, who had developed relations with nations in “western” world, specifically with the United States. The United States supported the White Revolution, which was a series of social reformations the Shah made to remove Islamic v...
65 children, 52 boys and 13 girls who were not diagnosed with autism, from 3 different clinics, were used for this study. They were under 3 years of age, they were referred to the clinics due to social and/or language issues, and their parents provided informed consent. The children had also previously had 2 independent diagnostic evaluations. A second group of 37 children were used from this sample, th...
Tennessee Williams gives insight into three ordinary lives in his play, “A Streetcar Named Desire” which is set in the mid-1930’s in New Orleans. The main characters in the play are Blanche, Stanley, and Stella. All three of these characters suffer from personalities that differentiate each of them to great extremes. Because of these dramatic contrarieties in attitudes, there are mounting conflicts between the characters throughout the play. The principal conflict lies between Blanche and Stanley, due to their conflicting ideals of happiness and the way things “ought to be”.