(The Fall of the Bourgeois and the Rise of
a New Social Order in A Streetcar Named
Desire by Tennessee Williams)
Thesis
statement: The social transition: the fall of the bourgeois and the rise of a
new social order that took place in America after the Second World War is
portrayed in A Streetcar Named Desire (1947).
Most
of the academic criticisms of A Streetcar
Named Desire (1947) by Tennessee
Williams (1911–1983) have been directed
toward the ethical and generic aspects of the play. However, it can be viewed
as a ‘social drama’ where two diverse worlds collide in order to portray a
certain form of transition or change within society. Tennessee Williams is
known as
one of America's major playwrights of the twentieth century and his absolute
place was secured in the pantheon of playwrights by the play A Streetcar Named Desire which won
both the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.
When
the Second World War ended America was in a better economic condition than any
other country in the world. Due to tentacles of optimism and confidence America
was seen as the land of opportunity and equality. America was becoming a
melting pot during the 1940s. The play is set during this era and the events of
the play take place in New Orleans which is unique due to its multicultural
nature because New Orleans was the state where the majority of the immigrants,
emancipated African-Americans and job seeking Americans chose to reside in. Stanley
and Stella Kowalski live here when Blanche Dubois visits them with an
expression of shocked disbelief. It says
“Her appearance is
incongruous to the setting. She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a
fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and a hat, looking
as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party,” (Williams 11) ,
which signifies how
distant Blanche is from her surroundings and her incapacity to adapt into
different circumstances though she says “I’m very adaptable-to circumstances” (Williams 60) .
Blanche’s
and Stanley’s confrontation symbolizes the collision between two worlds, the
old world and the new world. It further shows a conflict between the values of the
old world and the new. Blanche, the Southern belle represents the bourgeoisie
element in the early American south that made their living exploiting the labor
of African American slaves in plantations. In her essay on “Southern Belle-hood,”
Biljana Oklopcic states that, “Williams portrays Blanche as the last
representative of the old aristocracy who tries to survive in the modern world
by escaping to alcohol, madness, and promiscuity” (Oklopcic) .
Stanley
Kowalski becomes the representation of the American Dream of the new America
which stands up for a society where all men are born equal and can succeed
equally, and he says “what I am is a one hundred percent American, born and
raised in the greatest country on earth and proud as hell of it” (Williams 126) when he was been constantly addressed by
derogatory terms such as “Polack” by Blanche. Blanche considers class and
social status to be vital. She states about her ancestry, and says “we are
French by extraction. Our first American ancestors were French Huguenots” (Williams
60) .
Without a proper upbringing a person cannot achieve economic success or
intelligence or otherwise is what Blanche perceives and her derogatory remarks
serve to highlight her bourgeois pretentions as well as her insecurity in New
Orleans surroundings where a social transition was taking place. A society
where class status, parentage or inheritances are less significant is emerging
and therefore Blanche is facing a crisis of belonging as she lives in her class
conscious bourgeois past.
Blanche’s
past is primarily associated with the Belle Reve the lost estate which was “a
great big place with white columns” (Williams 14) . Belle Reve is
associated with past, death, and false illusion of a pastoral beauty. The name
Belle Reve is symbolic and significant as it depicts the meaning ‘beautiful
dream’. A dream is something temporary, an idea or vision that is created in
one’s imagination which is not real and the plantation suggests a disappearing,
fading and an unreal possession like the old American values and the faded
grandeur of the past of the American bourgeois which has been already lost in
oblivion. With this thought one can draw a parallel between A Streetcar Named Desire and The Cherry Orchard (1904) by Anton
Chekov where the cherry orchard becomes a symbol of the dying Russian
aristocracy. Liubov Andryeevna says “if there’s one thing interesting, one
thing really outstanding in the whole country, it’s our cherry orchard” (Chekov 29) and for her the
sentimental and aesthetic value of the orchard is more important. Thus, it is
interesting to see certain similarities between Blanche and Liubov Andryeevna
as both represent a fading class in society.
Both
of these characters are perceived as “spoiled aesthetes” (Sahu 78) who are unable to
face the present and reluctant to part with the past. They rely on past and
memories as they are unable to come to terms with the process of transition and
their inability to adapt, stagnation and preoccupation with old values make
them helpless before the overpowering circumstances. Hence, Blanche seeks
refuge in alcohol though she pretentiously says “I’m not accustomed to have
more than one drink” (Williams 59) , as it allows her to
escape reality, relieve stress, escape the juggernaut of monotony, and fill the
void left by her past while Liubov Andryeevna indulges herself to be
extravagant.
Furthermore,
it is important to notice how both of them depend on their imagination. Blanche
imagination revolves around Shep Huntleigh who was one of her acquaintances
from the past and Felicia Londre says “Blanche’s desire for illusion in
opposition to the harsh realities that surrounded her is probably the play’s
most obvious thematic value” (Londre 55) . In order to flee from her inner schism and the
inevitability of the change, she plunges deeply into unreality and this
confuses her immensely where she becomes unable to differentiate reality from
fantasy.
Tennessee
Williams portrays Blanche as an out of place character and this description,
“there is something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes,
that suggests a moth” (Williams 11) enhances it further.
She constantly avoids light which suggests the understanding of the reality.
Liubov Andryeevna seeks solace in her old book case, nursery or the long lost
jam recipe to avoid any audience with the present circumstances. Blanche’s
feeble attempts to detach from reality such as avoiding bright light and using
a Chinese lantern to cover the bulb depict her helplessness as well as her own
understanding about her gradual decadence. Therefore, one could come to a
conclusion about how she has already become a ghostly image who seeks refuge in
darkness or ignorance. The ‘moth-like’ appearance of Blanche suggests
impermanency of her as well as her bourgeois value system. One could even say
that the derogatory terms such as ‘Polack’ are used to establish her
superiority over Stanley or the rising social order.
Her
disappearance becomes unavoidable though she tries to use her outdated ideas of
‘class’ to maintain a stable position in the society. One might say that it is
the law of nature which is the survival of the fittest according to Darwinism
but according to John Mason Brown
“her abiding tragedy comes neither from
her family’s dwindling fortunes nor from her widow’s grief. It is sprung from
her own nature. From her uncontrollable duplicity. From her pathetic
pretentions to gentility..from her love to the refined when her life is devoted
to coarseness. From the fastidiousness of her tastes and the wantonness of her
desires. Most particularly, from her selfishness and her vanity, which are
insatiable” (Brown 92) .
However, Blanche
the relic of the bourgeois values of Southern America deteriorates while
symbolizing the inevitable deterioration and the downfall of the bourgeois
which becomes essential as Anton Chekov states “it is a pity to destroy it, but
it must be destroyed” (Arkansas 125) .
Stanley
Kowalski becomes the representation of the new social order which is evolving
without any outdated concepts about class and ancestry. However, critics like
Ronald Hayman say “it can almost be said that Stella represents young America,
torn between its loyalty to antiquated idealism and the brutal realism of the
present” (Hayman) , I believe Stella
represents the people who adapted and evolved according to the process of
transition like Pishchik and Varia in The
Cherry Orchard. Opinions by critics like D. Sahu enhance this concept
because according to him,
“Though Stella has her upbringing in
Southern aristocratic family and she is aware of the norms and etiquette of
that tradition, she considers the intrusion of a rough, masculine and
hedonistic civilization inevitable” (Sahu 76) .
Therefore, a
parallel between Stanley and Lopakhin can be drawn as they both represent
rising social groups. Felicia Londre says “Williams intended a balance of power
between Stanley and Blanche” (Londre 50) but it becomes
evident that it was not a balance of power which was intended but a contrast of
power between the two social conceptualizations.
Stanley
represents the present and the assumptions of the upcoming culture which are
brusqueness, violence, virility, earthly efficiency, primitive bluntness and
power. While Blanch tries to deviate from the absolute reality, Stanley strips
away the illusions embedded in the past. He says “there isn’t a goddamn thing
but imagination! And lies and conceit and tricks” (Williams 147) , as he confronts the
hypocrisy of the bourgeois symbolized by Blanche. The clash between Stanley and
Blanche can be seen as a battle between privileged plantation owners and
immigrants or a struggle between the hypocrisy of Old America and the vulgarity
of New America. It is interesting how both Stanley and Lopakhin become the
agents of reality in both situations. As Stanley says that he was never a
sentimental, ideal gentleman, Lopakhin too admits that he is a “country
bumpkin, a tight-fisted peasant,” (Chekov 27) and both of them
promote the maxim ‘everyone is equal’.
Stanley
is grounded in reality, represents reality, and leads a life that is defined in
terms of basic impulses and elementary drives which Blanche finds to be
primitive. She envisions men who are sentimental, poetic and sensitive who are
perceived by people like Stanley to be impractical and useless to survive in
upgrading, evolving and competitive world. Therefore, Stanley could be
identified as a survivor or a successor like Lopakhin. According to D. Sahu “he
sees the artifice, the artificiality, the pretense and pretentiousness which he
destroys” (Sahu 78) . As Stanley tears
apart the façade of Blanche, the rising social order which does not promote
class or ancestry as means of success reveals the reality of the bourgeois
class. The transition that takes place is the last desperate struggle of the
dying bourgeois, unable to give up and unable to accept the vulgarity of the
new class.
The
downfall of Blanche Dubois marks the decadence of the bourgeois values and
ideology, and the new born baby of Stanley’s and Stella’s offers a hope. The
child becomes the embodiment of both societal ideals and demonstrates a
blossoming a new post war American society full of confidence, sensibility,
power and sensitivity. Furthermore, this child resembles Ania in The Cherry Orchard who is full of hope
and potential. Therefore, it is justifiable to say that A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams portrays the
downfall of the bourgeois and the rise of a new social order.
********
Works Cited
Arkansas, University of. Anton Chekov and His Times. Arkansas: University of
Arkansas Press, 1990.
Brown, John Mason. Dramatis
Personae. New York, 1963.
Chekov, Anton. The
Cherry Orchard. Nugegoda: Sarasavi Publishers, 2006.
Hayman, Ronald. Tennessee
Williams: Everyone else is an audience. New Haven: Yale University Press,
1993.
Londre, Felicia H. The
Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams. Cambridge UK: Cambridge
University Press, 1997.
Oklopcic, Biljana. "Southern Bellehood (De)Constructed:
A Case Study of Blanche Dubois." October 2008. Americana: E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary . 29 March
2014.
Sahu, Dharanidhar. Cats
on a Hot Tin Roof: A Study of the Alienated Characters in the Major Plays of
Tennessee Williams. New Delhi: Academic Foundation, 1990.
Williams, Tennessee. A
Streetcar Named Desire. New York: New Directions Books, 1947.
