Total Stereotype As Blanche And Stella example essay topic

A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche or Stella? Blanche or Stella? A question being tossed around in classrooms in Eastport lately. Tennessee Williams, in A Streetcar Named Desire, creates two sisters who each clearly portray a stereotype. Stella, the sister in distress, perhaps the more reserved and meek of the two, is in a marriage with a very guy ish-guy and she probably has no way out. Enter Blanche, right from the traditional Southern past, to attempt some sort of a rescue.

It is disputed if Blanche's determined feelings about Stella and her testosterone-driven husband Stanley were a tad melodramatic, that perhaps their marriage was fine before she attempted to do something beneficial-in Blanche's mind. Either way, it was a crisis in the eyes of Blanche which prompted actions that changed the lives of the people in the play. To understand the character of Stella, one must realize that she is a definite character with no real hidden truths. She knows this, and does nothing. She is non-confrontational, especially when it comes to her husband. Stella is a meek person and allows Stanley do to as he pleases-even if it is severely detrimental-so long as it wouldn t produce a heated situation.

She has a hard time understanding Blanche's mission to save their relationship, even if she thought there was something worth saving to begin with. The only aspect ambiguous in Stella's nature is whether she was passive by nature or Stanley molded her personality this way. It is easy to see both ways, but one possible proof that she has always been so passive is that she never confides-even to her sister-that there is or ever has been a problem. Though, on the contrary, Stanley is clearly abusive, physically and emotionally, and the lack of resistance or protest to Stanley's actions might be a result of the harm brought by Stella's husband. Either way, Stella's actions displease her sister immensely, and Blanche can t quite fathom how her sister could accept the state of her life in their household.

Blanche is very traditional, and believes in the ideals of money and plantations and gentlemen callers from the Old South. Even though much of Blanche is a fabrication, one virtuous aspect of her personality is her determination to save her sister from the man whom she deems unworthy. Maybe most of what Blanche says in the play is in fact a complete lie, she was still very intent on the notion that her sister deserved no such situation. What frustrated her most was her sister's inability to comprehend the situation she is in with Stanley. The torment seems so clear and vivid to Blanche, and it kills her to know that her sister sees nothing wrong with her condition, that it's just the way it is. So which side to take?

Blanche or Stella? Do we accept things the way they are, and allow life to lead us? Or do we control our lives rather than the aforementioned opposite? Should we allow things to just be or do we go out and change the evil and acrimonious aspects of our lives? Which is happier-being passive or being a reformer? Both sides are probably beneficiary and harmful to the soul at the same time, pending the circumstance.

But perhaps somewhere in the middle would seem a little simpler than a total stereotype as Blanche and Stella are. Drawing a line between speaking up and keeping quiet on a matter is a completely gray area, relative to the person and the given situation. But the art of knowing where to find and when to draw that line is to understand what can and should be rectified, and what things in life are constant and truly are-not just a jaded justification-meant to be left as it is.