A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) is a very superb drama and a very readable text. For this masterpiece Tennessee Williams won the Pulitzer Price in 1947 and there exists a corresponding movie with the amazing actors Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter and Vivien Leigh, directed by Elian Kazan, a socially-conscious director.
The play addresses themes like the sexual appetence and poverty as well as decay. Personal poverty has got a very important meaning in this book. It deals with racism and a lack of respect and acceptance towards non Western European people. This point of non acceptance is shown in the way of arrogance and snobbery. Problems in life cannot be solved in the regular way because of some characters' mental instability and caprice. Furthermore it is a story of a tragic downfall of a young woman, who grew up under her parent's wing and in poverty. Suddenly, because of her own disability she experiences a downfall into a life that is unknown to her as well as it nauseates her. People of this life that is unknown to the young lady is a life where every person lives according to the predetermined social values. The book shows the incredibility of former time where atrocities were sheltered and the "non good" ostensible gets the power.
The title of the play symbolically refers to the tram line that at this time ran to Desire Street, a symbol of sexual desire which affects all the major characters in the play. Also mentioned is the streetcar that ran to the terminus Cemeteries and to Elysian Fields Street, the tragic end of the play. Other main themes in the play are violence and religion as well as social roles and moral values.
The reader has to read the book very accurately. One must have a really close look at all what has been said. The statements of the characters and the nature of events could all be interpreted in a lot of different ways. That is the thing what makes the play such interesting as it really is. Tennessee Williams, the great writer of this play wants to underline the fact that people only see and judge others from their own point of view without being able to understand each other, so at every moment one character is in conflict with one of the others. All in all, the play shows a psychological and human crash previous to a special background, conflicts between the characters, the accomplishment of variances, human fragileness and life-long illusions as a lie of life. I really recommend this tragic masterpiece by Tennessee Williams. I totally enjoyed reading A Streetcar Named Desire. It is easy to read for all different slangs of the characters. While reading the book, one experiences an agitating emotional journey.
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