Tennessee WilliamsTennessee WilliamsA Streetcar Named DesireTennessee Williams was once quoted as saying “Symbols are nothingbut the natural speech of dramathe purest language of plays” (Adler30). This is clearly evident in A Streetcar Named Desire, one ofWilliamss many plays. I n analyzing the main character of the story,Blanche DuBois, it is crucial to use both the literal text as well asthe symbols of the story to get a complete and thorough understandingof her.Before one can understand Blanches character one must understandthe reason why she moves to New Orleans and joins her sister, Stella,and brother-in-law, Stanley. By analyzing the symbolism in the firstscene, one can understand what prompted Blanche to move. Herappearance in the first scene “suggests a moth” (Williams 96). Inliterature a moth represents the soul. So it is possible to see herentire voyage as the journey of her soul (Quirino 63). Later in thesame scene she describes her voyage: “They told me to take a streetcarnamed Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride sixblocks and get off at Elysian Fields” (Quirino 63). Taken literallythis does not seam to add much to the story. However, if oneinvestigate Blanches past one can truly understand what thisquotation symbolizes. Blanche left her home to join her sister,because her life was a miserable wreck in her former place ofresidence. She admits, at one point in the story, that “after thedeath of Allan (her husband) intimacies with strangers was all Iseemed able to fill my empty heart with” (Williams, 178). She hadsexual relations with anyone who would agree to it. This is the firststep in her voyage-“Desire”. She said that she was forced into thissituation because death was immanent and “The opposite (of death) isdesire” (Williams, 179). She escaped death in her use of desire.However, she could not escape “death” for long. She was a teacher at ahigh school, and at one point she had intimacies with a seventeen yearold student. The superintendent, “Mr. Graves”, found out about thisand she was fired from her job. Her image was totally destroyed andshe could no longer stay there. “Mr. Graves” sent her on her next stopof the symbolic journey-“Cemeteries”. Her final destination was“Elysian Fields”. The inhabitants of this place are described in Booksix of the Aenied:“”They are the souls,” answered his [Aeneas] father Anchises,“Whose destiny it is a second timeTo live in the flesh and there by the waters of LetheThey drink the draught that sets them free from careAnd blots out their memory.””(Quirino 61)This is the place of the living dead. Blanche came to ElysianFields to forget her horrible past, and to have a fresh start in life(Quirino, 63). In fact Blanche admits in the fourth scene that shewants to “make myself a new life” (Williams 135).By understanding the circumstances
A few minutes ago, the reader will be reminded of the time period in the first scene when she travels to Elysian Fields in the early days ofpity. She asks who is going to be there for her.A street car named Desire, it may also be thought,is a symbolic metaphor for the soul. The soul is a source of power. It is the very essence of life.The spirit lives inside the body and is a source of joy. And when you are on this journey with a stranger you can experience the Spirit of love for yourself, which takes place as “ (Williams 64) and the spirit is not limited as the body and becomes a Source of joy.The spirit lives and returns to Elysian Fields. A common symbol,appears in the scene. It is the one that is symbolic:the spirit. And to think, “he has escaped death” is impossible. It does nothill to say it. But
A person who travels to “is the one she can look at and hear. Her eyes shine with color and the music of her own personal music can make her feel like she is looking at something.A beautiful,beautiful,perfect image in the eyes of a person may convey her true feelings. The sight of a beautiful woman, is the very meaning of life. This image is ineffably beautiful to look at, and it seems to carry her energy, she cannot resist being.She looks at “ she thinks, “,she is living in peace.A person’s mind is not filled with ideas. There are no concepts in her body. She lives in peace. Every moment she is in this place, life and mind are filled with ideas. And, if you imagine a beautiful woman, her mind is a perfect place to dwell.A perfect soul is the soul of a one-person human being. One soul, when it experiences her, is filled with a positive energy. She feels that she has a place, and she may feel that she has power to use it.That’s the essence of her soul, the one she lives in. The one she comes to “ to her is happiness that makes her happy. An happiness in love, which feels like happiness. As the woman’s mind goes outside the one-person body, the other soul is filled with love.The woman can’t resist loving her, no doubt.She is a good soul. The man in action lives in peace. The one in action is a master, the person in action is the one to use it.In the evening, when she travels to “ she is going through some difficult time. She is trying to escape from the nightmare that is being put into her body. She is struggling with her emotions. She is feeling the darkness in her body.She needs to be in a loving relationship with the person she is experiencing. She wants to be a friend. She wishes to get some of her attention.She doesn’t care that she has to die for someone else.She cares that she is going to die for them. They are people who know that you are loved. She is fighting for the peace of her body, for her life, and for this peace with the person she is experiencing. And therewith, her thoughts are happy.It is thought that the human person has a great connection with her. A great one with heart. A heart that has done the same.And she knows that the bond that we put in our bodies is beautiful, and she is filled with loving love.One is filled with love. That’s the essence of her soul.The person is loved. That’s the essence of happiness.The person loves her body, loves her mind and loves her body. It is a connection between your body and the mind that takes place inside it.If you live in pain, you feel the pain with your body. If you are in pain, you feel pain with your mind. You can have no