A Streetcar Named Desire

When coming up with a story to analyze and read with a feministic eye, the first story that popped into my head was the play A Street Car Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. A person would read this play and see it as a story about a married guy who had his wife well kept, and was aggressive towards women, In a subversive view towards the story a feminist would see it as a story about Women trying to survive in a man’s world. The story starts off with Stanley and Stella a married couple, getting and unexpected arrival from Stella’s sister, Blanche. Throughout the story you see instances where Stanley and Stella argue. Stella tries to stay tough at time, as a sign of strong woman, showing some masculinity. But just ends up running upstairs to her neighbor Eunice’s apartment, showing a sign of weakness of women just running away from problems. Blanche on the other hand is a compulsive liar, who is trying to find a perfect man to make them fall in love with her in order to survive. Her drinking and going crazy almost harmonious is perfect cliché of how women are seen in society, always complaining, going crazy etc. Blanche tries to hook up with one of Stanley’s poker buddies as an attempt to run away from her past. Which then Stanley finds out the real reason why she arrived out of nowhere. She lied and tried to marry Mitch as an attempt to survive this man’s world and failed. Stanley gets angry with Blanche and Stella gets in the way of them arguing, and stand up for her sister. Again something masculine, but Stanley ends up beating his pregnant wife. In the end after Stanley rapes Blanche and a lot of other events. Then the story ends with Stanley and Stella with the child living “happily ever after”. After all that’s happened Stella stays with Stanley and does so because she “needs” him, which in society women are seen in a sense to need a man in their life and household to maintain the norm. Or maybe she stayed because that’s the only way she is going to survive a Mans world.