Temples, 1

Brittany Temples
Mrs. Baxley
English III Honors
March 9th, 2015
A Streetcar Named Desire
Throughout the book
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams there are many themes represented by the dialogue. One of the themes that is vastly indicated is the women reliance on men. Williams uses this to critique the treatment of women during the transition of old to new south and how restricted they were. The two women that he uses to expose a woman's situation is Blanche and Stella.
Blanche demonstrates the theme better than Stella does, because Williams makes it obvious that Stella will receive the better future with the man she relies on. In the beginning of scene three, she tries to convince Stella to leave Stanley and to take a job that could possibly be offered by Mr. Shep Huntleigh. They would be leaving one man and depending on another to supply them with their daily needs. "But he could do it, he could certainly do it," Blanche states in her determination to get Stella on her side (pg 67). After that, Blanche begins to take an interest in Mitch after she meets him in scene two, and she is hoping that he would marry her.
"You need somebody. And I need somebody," Mitch says on page ninety ­ six; noticing that
Blanche is in an obvious need for someone to take care of her, and he is willing too. That is her only choice since she is a woman that does not have a job or a place to live. Stella tells her husband later in the book of her sisters wishes. "Stanley, she thought Mitch was­ going to­ going to marry her. I was hoping so too (pg 104)." When Blanche finds out that Mitch is no longer

Temples, 2

interested she immediately thinks of Shep Huntleigh. "Then­­ just now­­this wire­­inviting me on a cruise of the Caribbean (pg 124)." Blanche has a troubled past with men, because the man that she loved killed himself. She began to have many scandalous affairs with a bunch of men to cope with her feelings. This is another way that she is shown relying on a man to help her through hard times.
Stella's actions are not as critiqued as her sisters because she is already a married woman.
Stella is experiencing some domestic abuse at home when her husband drinks, but she still decides to stay with him. "There is the sound of a blow. Stella cries out (pg 57)." Even after getting beat she still shows her husband kindness and love. "Her eyes go blind with tenderness as she catches his head and raises him level with her (pg