Desire

Desire is a topic that remains ever present in the play a streetcar called Desire by Tennessee Williams. Each character in the play is driven by the desire that they want fulfilled. Blanche and Stella are two sisters that have very different desire. Blanche desires stability, a new start, and a second chance. While Stella desire to have a happy marriage, to help her sister and for peace in her house. To achieve all her desire Blanche believes that all she needs a husband. For Stella the only way to see her desire come to true is by deciding to either side with her husband or her sister.

Blanche’s desire for a second chance and a fresh new start in anyplace other than Laurel leads her to Elysian Fields, where she falls for another character named Mitch. She see him as a chance to finally get the love she missed out on in her first marriage and also as hope that when she cannot hide her age anymore she would not be an old maid. However what awaits her when she gets to Elysian Fields its nothing like she expected. She does not get along with her sisters husband and he can see past her lies. And because of Stanley everything did not go according to her plans. For Stella her sister showing up in her house was the beginning of the troubles in her marriage. The peace and tranquility her and her husband shared because their marriage was based on their attractions for each other was destroyed. In her house there was constant fighting, always between her husband and her sister or sometimes even them to. Stella only wish was to help her sister not to have to choose between them during their fights. After this all she desired was to have peace in her house and for happy life with her husband.

These characters desires are all lead by their want to make their current situation better. For Blanche in fulfilling her desire for stability by getting married she would no longer have to worry about being a thirty years old woman with no husband, no place to live and no way to financially take care of herself. In getting herself a husband it would have ensure that all her fears would go away, but the deceit she was playing made it impossible for that to happen. Her disappointment at not being able to achieve her desires led to her revealing just how much she was living in her own reality and made sister who was already struggling with the decision of what to do help send her to a asylum. Stella had to decide on what was best for her, her baby and her marriage. She could not keep harboring her sister who was running her marriage. Stella had realized that there was no way to have her desire of having a peaceful house with her sister and husband living in the same house.

Blanche Revealed

Tennessee William wrote the play “A streetcar named Desire” with characters that all have very different personalities. The character Blanche is the aging older sister of Bella. She is portrayed as a high maintenance, weak person. She plays the part of a Southern Belle effortlessly because she grew up in a ranch style house, Belle Reve, located in Laurel.
When she arrived at Bella's house after getting fired from her job she criticized everything, complaining about how small the rooms looked and how Bella had lowered herself to marry a “common” man. However regardless of how Blanche reacts to Bella Life in New Orleans she cares and loves her sister. This side of Blanche is revealed in scene 3 when Blanche goes to look for her sister the morning after Bella’s husband had beat her even though she was pregnant. Blanche went to her sister with real concern for her well-being because she believes that Bella is living with a “mad” man. To help her sister she came up with a plan to get both her and her sister away from Stanley. Blanche actions revealed her in a new light, no longer was she the sister that is self center and only cares about her self and looking young. She acted like an older sister should, she wanted to protect her little sister from her abusive alcoholic husband. As we read about what she did we her actions shed light on how much she actually cares for her sister by trying sincerely to get her away from her brute of a husband. Her actions showed that she knew how a husband was to treat his wife and being drunk does not give him an excuse to treat a pregnant woman the way he did.

Another scene where we can also infer that there is more to Blanche that we as the readers initially saw is in scene 6 and 8 where talks about her marriage to Mitch. She tells him what happened between her and the boy she married when she was only eighteen. She also tells him the truth about why she came to Elysian Fields. She was a woman in love who married the person she love only to find out that he had been lying to her. The way Blanche describes what happened makes the reader sympathize with her and in way understand why she is the way she is. After going through that pain because of love she just wants to find someone to really love her so that she will not be alone. We can also infer that the lies she told were because after losing everything she had nobody and believed that as she gets older she will not be able to find someone to settle down with so she had to do what she could to make sure that did not happen.

Eveline's Epihany and Paralysis

In the short story “Eveline” by James Joyce the character Eveline goes through a paralysis that leads to her epiphany on the decision to either stay at home or go away with her boyfriend Frank, to be his wife. Before the scene where she goes through her paralysis she contemplates the idea of leaving her home and going to Buenos Ayres with Frank. While she ponders what to do she reflects on her life at present and how it would change once she leaves.

The story starts out with an image of her sitting in front of her window staring out into the night. She ponders leaving home and leaving behind her duties of taking care of the house, cooking their meals, the children she is in charge of and also her job. She starts to consider the advantages and disadvantage of staying at home or leaving to get married to Frank. She reflects on the idea that when she is married people will treat her with more respect unlike how her mother was treated. While she thinks about what decision to make she has a flashback to when she promised her mother at her deathbed to “keep their home together.” The paralysis in the story occurs at the time she is about to get on the boat. Eveline grips “the iron railing in frenzy,” and “she sets her white face to him, passive, as a helpless animal.” Eveline at this moment in time was unable to get into the boat with Frank and her expression and posture revealed her reluctance. “Her eyes where gave no sign of love or farewell or recognition.” She was frozen in place. By not getting on the boat she had made her decision, she was not going to go through with the plan, she was not leaving. Her epiphany was her realization of the fact that she was about to go overseas with this man and leaving her home behind. Her epiphany was also revealed a little earlier in the story when she asked herself if she “could still draw back after all he had done for her.”

James Joyce has a background of ending his stories with an epiphany. In one of his other stories “Araby” a similar thing that happens to Eveline also happens to the boy in the story has an epiphany while his is at the bazaar. He suddenly realizes that he is being controlled by his desire and that buying the girl he likes a gift does not ensure that she will like him back. He had convinced himself that buying her the gift would be the significance of his love and after seeing the sales lady flirting he realizes that buying her something is what she wants not his love.

Lucy's story

A portion of the book in Lucy’s perspective:


After being disgraced by society for having an affair with one of his college students my father, David Lurie, will be moved in with me I was not sure he would be able to live on a farm because he had been living in the city before. He decided to stay with me only because he wants to escape the media and take a break. Life on the farm went on as usual except now I was living with my father who I could tell believes I can do so much better than living on a farm when I had a college education. He could not realize that this was the way I truly wished to live my life. Working on this farm, planting in my garden, and taking care of the dogs are things I actually enjoy doing. Today, David is going to see me at my best. He is going experience the part of my life where I go into the market and sell what I grow. When we reach my stall in the market I can almost imagine what David is thinking. What is my daughter doing working in this place? She can do so much better. After things are ready, the customers start passing bye, some stopping to bye something other just to say hello. Every time a customer stops by I would introduce David to them so he does not feel award, but I know that he looks at them and judge them, especially Bev Shaw. So I tell David we are going to Bev Shaw house after we finish here in the market because I know he wonders why I am be friends with a person like her. As we visit the Shaw’s I can see from David’s expression that he is criticizing their way of living and underestimating Bev Shaw. He did not like women who make no effort to look attractive and believes they are not worth his time. After a while living on the farm and volunteering at the clinic with Bev I could see that David’s attitude towards animals where changing and he did not look down on Bev anymore. On one early evening a horrible thing happened to me and my father three men forced their way into my home almost burn my father up, shoot my beloved dogs, robed my house and also raped and stole my dignity. Now I am left alone with the aftermath of what happened, with the memory of that night that I cannot even sleep in my own room anymore and also with a child that was conceived on that night. Everything changed from that day on, I could not even tell the police about what happened to me because on that night while those men violated me I felt their hatred for me. I knew that these men did not go after me only because they wanted to rob my house and on the way decided to rape me, it was an act of revenge on me because I am white and represent the suffering black Africans went through during the apartheid; when white were given certain privileges that were not allowed to black Africans.


Analysis:
I wrote about this part of the book because I felt that these issues were something if given a chance in a book from her perspective Lucy would elaborate on. The problem being that David did not approve of her living in that part of South Africa and working on the farm by herself and of her not reporting the three men to the police because she was a victim of rape. Lucy would tell this type of story in this way because she can give the reader insight to how what lead to how she felt after the rape and her reasoning as to why she did not report the three men.
The first issue that Lucy and David argue about it her the type of friends she has and her living in the farm (74). Lucy also says “what happened to me is purely a private matter. In another time, in another place it might be held to be a public matter. But now in this place, at this time, it is not. This place being South Africa.”(112) This is her justification of not telling the police what happen because in her mind in will not change anything. In the book we also see the drastic change that happens to Lucy after the incident she is does not behave how she did before. She stops doing the chores she usually does on the farm, even going to the market on Saturday. David is left to take her place and take care of the farm. She withdraws herself from everything and moves out of her bedroom. While David was gone she has decided that she will keep the baby and marry Petrus giving him her land but she gets the house.

David Lurie's Change

In the novel Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee, the character David Lurie is portrayed as a womanizer and a chauvinistic man. However David evolves after going through some traumatic events and becomes a man that finally looks beyond the physical appearance of a woman

He is accused of sexually abusing one of his students and is sent to the campus trial committee for what he did. He is also tagged as a Casanova by the students. When he moves to the country with his daughter to escape the media he is faced with another tragic event. He and his daughter are abused by a trio of African Americans and his daughter is raped. In both incidents he is left feeling disgrace as is the name of the book. Both incidents lead up to the change that happens to David Lurie.

After failing at his first and second marriage he decided he did not need “a wife, a home, or a marriage” (5) all he needs is the ninety minutes a week he gets from his prostitute. David relationship with Soraya is based on a weekly session of pleasuring each other. His relationship with the women in his life reflects his view of women. David Lurie believes women are put on earth to share their beauty with other men. “A woman’s beauty does not belong to her alone. It is a part of the bounty she brings into the world. She has a duty to share it.” (16) He believes that a woman who is beautiful has no right to choose which man she gets instead that all men or mostly he is in the right to have her. This can also be related to the Apartheid that South Africa was getting over, when White men were privilege to certain rights that was not given to everyone else. When White men thought that they could have whatever they wished. David superficial view of women is also reveal when he sees his daughter in overalls walking on her bare feet and also in the scene when he meets Bev Shaw and completely dislikes her because of the way she id dressed, talks and the lifestyle she lives.

However, David’s attitude changes after living in the country and witnessing his daughter rape. He starts to get more involved with the farm by helping Lucy with the dogs. He even moves beyond his dislike for Bev and works in the animal clinic assisting with killing the dogs when needed. The incident of the rape of his daughter David realize that a woman should not be treated that way and realized what he did to Melanie is also almost the same thing. He tries to make Lucy see that she needs to tell her story to the cops because if not those men where going to go free not paying for what they did. David wants to get revenge on the men that rape his daughter and in a way repent for what he did to Melanie. After the incident with the robbers he finally realized that he was wrong in his affair with Melanie. Other change in David is also revealed “One Sunday evening, driving home in Lucy’s kombi, he actually has to stop at the roadside to recover himself. Tears flow down his face that he cannot stop; his hands shake.” (143) This shows how David has changed from the person he used to be where he did not care about anybody opinions and also how he use to believe that animals do not have a soul. David shedding tears for an animal he had to watch getting killed shows that he had cares about more things than only things that are put on earth to please him.

Political Context of Harlem

Dutch settlers founded Harlem, a 5 1/2 square mile area north of Central Park, in 1658. Central Harlem became a Black neighborhood between 1910 and 1920 when its real estate market collapsed, leaving scores of new apartment buildings empty. To find tenants, landlords opened up the area to African Americans, who were leaving the southern states in search of a better life. By 1914, Harlem's population reached 50,000, and between 1920 and 1930, the number quadrupled.

The Harlem Renaissance was an expression of African-American social thought and culture which took a place in newly-formed Black community in neighborhood of Harlem. Instead of using direct political means, African-American artists, writers, and musicians employed culture to work for goals of civil rights and equality. In the 1920's, Harlem became a mecca for Black artists, writers, and intellectuals, who launched the artistic and literary movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. Notable names included writer Langston Hughes, painter Aaron Douglas, and sculptor Augusta Savage.

In 1951–the year the poem “ Harlem” by Langston Hughes was written was a period of frustration for African Americans and in the poem Hughes characterized the mood of American blacks. The Civil War in the previous century had liberated them from slavery, and federal laws had granted them the right to vote, the right to own property, and so on. However, continuing prejudice against blacks, as well as laws passed since the Civil War, relegated them to second-class citizenship. By the mid-Twentieth Century, their frustration with inferior status became a powder keg, and the fuse was burning. Hughes well understood what the future held, as he indicates in the last line of his poem. Hughes believed that realistic portraits of actual people would counter negative caricatures of African Americans more effectively and so wrote about and for the common person.

Parody of This is Just to Say

You have eaten
The plums
I left in
The icebox

So I
have taken
Something
Of yours

Take that!
With your insincere
Apology.
I wont forgive you