Dear Classmates,
I am responding to Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play “A Streetcar Named Desire”. The setting of this play is in the town of New Orleans, Louisiana. I thought this was the most interesting aspect of the setting.
At the end of Scene 3, Blanche says to Mitch that “Desire is the opposite of Death” (61). I think this is a very important statement when thinking about the location of the play. New Orleans has been the ‘ruin of many a poor boy’, to put it in the words of a famous rock song. Even the important role of music – especially the blues – is well highlighted in the explanation of the setting. New Orleans has recently been devastated by a hurricane and the lack of responsible and appropriate counter-action has caused much pain and suffering. In a sense, New Orleans has always been flipping the coin of Desire and Death.
Stanley and Stella’s apartment is a perfect representation of this idea. Their place is, according to Stella’s sister Blanche, a “horrible place” (19), however both Stella and Stanley are a happy couple despite their problems. I think this setting is a perfect representation of life and desire in the face of death. I find it to be a funny thing that all existence in the form of the planets and stars in our galaxy are revolving around a black hole – their impending deaths. I think there is a parallelism between the lives of the stars and ourselves and maybe the house in this representation, and life in the form of Stella and Stanley and their new-born is appropriate. However, it is easy to fall into the trap of abstinence – as is characterized by Blanche’s character. Mahatma Gandhi’s quote seems relevant here in which he said – “Everything you do is insignificant but it is very important that you do it.” Do you think this is an accurate representation of the setting or am I way off the mark?
Sincerely,
Arjun Thakur
ENGL 214
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