Street Car Named Desire

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RJ Wenger English III 11/17/12 Motif Essay A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams contains motifs that he uses to develop his main characters. Williams uses the animal motif more specifically meat to depict Stanley as an animal. For example Stanley comes home with a package of meat and says “Catch” (Williams 3) to Stella, he heaves the package at her. She cries out in protest but he manages to catch it. This is an example of Stanley acting like an animal because men are not supposed to throw objects at women and he did fiercely. In addition, Blanch observes “He acts like an animal, has an animal’s habit! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one!”(52). To Blanche, Stanley appears to have habits of a caveman. Finally, Stanley’s animalistic violence when Stanley irrationally, “crosses to the small white radio and snatches it off the table. With a shouted oath, he tosses the radio out of the window”(40). Stanley’s outrageous temper are like of someone who is crazy and out of control. In much the same ways Williams develops color to depict that Blanch is a virgin. The color white is a symbol of pureness and virginity a virtue Blanch desires to reclaim. For example, when Blanch and Stella were talking, Stella decided to pour Blanch a coke. When she was pouring it she accidently over poured it and Blanch yelled “Right on my pretty white shirt”(8). This is very symbolic because it is stating that even though Blanch believes she is pure, but in reality her pureness and virginity has been ruined. In addition, when Blanch was talking to Eunice about her house she stated that her house was “A great big place with white columns”(6). What she was trying to reference was that the house where she came from was a very pure and elegant house and nothing bad happened in there. Which in reality it was the opposite she was very

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