Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams

The playwright, Tennessee Williams, allows the main characters in

the plays A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie to live

miserable lives which they try to deny and later change. The downfall and

denial of the Southern gentlewoman is a common theme in both plays.

The characters, Blanche from A.S.N.D. and Amanda from T.G.M., are prime

examples of this concept. Both Blanche and Amanda have had many

struggles in their lives and go through even more through out the rest of

the plays. The problem is that Williams never lets the two women work

through and move on from these problems. The two ladies are allowed to

destroy themselves and he invites us to watch them in the process(Stine

and Marowski 474). The downfall, denial, and need to change of the two

women is quite evident in these two plays.

First the troubles of Blanche and Amanda need to be recognized.

Blanche hides her drinking problem so well when she arrives and sneaks a

shot of whiskey (William A Streetcar Named Desire, ,Scene1. Page 18.

Lines 12-17) that when she is later offered a drink, she acts as though she

has no idea where they keep them (Williams, A.S.N.D. 1.19.12-15). Amanda

cannot accept that no gentlemen callers are coming for Laura,herdaughter,

thus making it harder for Laura to accept it (Williams,The Glass Menagerie,

1.28.1-5). Blanche and Amanda both do not allow themselves to accept

their problems and work them out. They...

Tennessee Williams

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