Customer Reviews

Streetcar Named Desire and Other Plays (Penguin Modern Classics)

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The fact that a life can be ruined by a series of unfortunate events becomes realistic, as Blanche becomes a victim. At first, I despised her because of her promiscuity, but afterwards I noticed that her actions were rooted from her inescapable past.
During the 1940's and after the World War II, many people were in desperation trying to find jobs and create a better life. However, as a result of this mindset, some did not succeed and ended up living in a life of disaster. Such calamity resulted in not only financial misfortune, but also social and mental failure. Everyone seemed to scramble to quickly find a great life, but little did they know, the truth of the reality was that not everyone could succeed at the same time. As a result, many hoped for too much, plunging in a world of delusion. Avoiding reality, several other were just assuming fortunes would find them, creating self-fulfilling prophecies.
In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams wants to depict exactly that tragedy resulted from constant escapades to fantasy by employing Blanche as the typical woman who just lost her grip on reality. Blanche has lost control ever since she found out that her husband was homosexual. Unable to cope with that reality, she just drifted onto another world. She refused to believe that fact and continued to fulfill her desires elsewhere. Everywhere she went, she looked out for ways to satisfy her sexual pleasures. In one instance, she had an affair with a student, as a schoolteacher. Such activity was frowned upon by society, but she did not mind, because she was looking for a way out. After moving to her sister Stella's house, she quickly spots a male named Mitch. In hopes of finding her knight in shining armor, she tried to woo him into getting married. However, Stanley quickly disclosed all Blanche's dirty, stained history in order to stop Blanche and Mitch from going any further. Afterwards, Stanley decides to rape her, and even then, Blanche seems to be lost in world of fantasy. She is unable to stay compose and cope with reality. Everybody seems to think she is crazy, including her sister Stella. At the end of the play, she admits to the doctor she is too gullible and trusting of everyone, assuming everyone would make her life better, creating a false reality that would only make matters worse, revealing the notion that the escape to fantasy would only ruin one's life. Tennessee Williams argues that fantasy is only a false depiction of the world in its most rudimentary image, which causes one to lose control of the complications of reality, inevitably resulting in a disaster.
Despite the mature content, this book should be read, because it exposes an intriguing take on life.

I had ordered a book containing many plays written by Tennessee Williams, called "A Streetcar Named Desire and Other Plays: "Sweet Bird of Youth"; "A Streetcar Named Desire"; "The Glass Menagerie". I received a copy of a street car named Desire, which is what I really needed. The book I received is in good condition, a few bent corners, but it's great in my opinion.