Marxist perspective essay on Streetcar

(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.

 

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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.