A Streetcar Named Desire Overall Reflection

       At the beginning of the play, the first character that I noticed that I liked and "felt for" was Stanley. I believe I liked him because I believed he was right, for all intents and purposes. Sure, he was picking on Blanche and making life hard for her, but at the end of the day, SHE was the one who went to his house, SHE was the one who would constantly steal his liquor, and SHE was the one who was trying to take his wife and unborn child away from him. I believe that if Blanche had been a split image of her sister, simply visiting her to pass by on her way to somewhere, then I think that Stanley would have enjoyed her presence more, and perhaps they wouldn't have "had [the] date with each other from the beginning" (162).
       Something that I liked more about the writing style itself was how Tennesee Williams gave such detail in all of the stage directions. I found it interesting, as, in most plays, there simply isn't nearly as much detail as in A Streetcar Named Desire. I doubt it has any special meaning to it, but I simply find it interesting as an actor to take note of.
       While the title of the work is quite odd, I believe that it has some meaning to it, and that Williams put more thought into it than was originally conceived. Primarily, one connection that I made was from a quote on page 162. Right before Stanley rapes Blanche, he states that they've "had this date with each other from the beginning". When one is on a streetcar, there is only one way that a person can go: forward. No matter what someone on the streetcar may do, they will always end up at their final destination. This could go to state that Williams believes in fate, or a one way street that, no matter what you do, you'll always end up on.
       Throughout his play, Williams was very specific with which songs should be played at certain times. I definitely believe that there is some reasoning behind it all; without having listened to each song being played overtop of each scene being read, I believe that I won't be able to understand Williams' reasoning behind it all.

Dornik