An Occurrence w/ A Streetcar Named Desire
Buna!
This week the discussion will be about An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce and the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. Though both of these stories incorporate the elements that represent the American society as well as the literary styles realism, naturalism, and regionalism.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is divided into three sections. In section I, Peyton Farquhar is standing on a railroad bridge, twenty feet above the water. His wrists are bound behind his back, and around his neck is a noose that is tied to a beam overhead. As a Southern civilian escapes his execution at the hands of Union soldiers when the hanging rope breaks.
A Streetcar Named Desire follows troubled former schoolteacher Blanche DuBois as she leaves small-town Mississippi and moves in with her sister, Stella Kowalski, and her husband, Stanley in New Orleans. Blanche's flirtatious Southern-belle presence causes problems for Stella and Stanley, who already have a volatile relationship, leading to even greater conflict in the Kowalski household.
Realism attempts to illustrate life, it focuses on the actualities of life, and truthfully treats the commonplace characters of everyday life. The purpose of using realism is to emphasize the reality and morality that is usually relativistic and intrinsic for the people as well as the society.
In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, obvious examples of realistic detail are the setting of the Civil War with the enmity existing between the two sides fighting. This description of the setting told from the third person point of view is conventional realism, of course. However, with the switch to the first-person point of view and then back to the third person, there is a disorientation of the reader as to what is actually happening. But, ironically, through this change in point of view, Bierce creates his most brutal realism: the horrors and ugliness of war. The character of Faquhar, whose name conquers romantic tales of adventure, entertains the romantic idea of an "opportunity for distinction" by sabotaging the railroad bridge. But, Bierce satirizes this romantic idea in Faquhar's being a prime target for entrapment by the Union soldier. Even with the rope around his neck, Faquahar cannot accept reality, imagining that he escapes. The return to third person point of view underscores the cold reality of the ugliness and brutality of war: Faquahar, is, indeed, dead.
In A Streetcar Named Desire, there is a rapid growth in industrialism and urbanization with Stanley being a factory salesman and there is an influence of immigration which also relates to Stanley's ethnicity and this being a point of conflict in the story. Then there is a relative rise in middle-class affluence as it allows a change in culture to occur between the characters and how they were brought up.
Naturalism portrays realistic situations often with a pessimistic and detached tone. Naturalism grew out of and against certain movements; the theory to which it owed most, in fact, was Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Naturalist writers believed that anything that happened could be traced to genetic or environmental causes, and characters would act in “scientific” ways according to these principles.
When the story opens, Peyton Farquhar has been subjected to a hanging. This is a result of his being caught by opposing soldiers. He is thus a victim of his social environment: being in the midst of a civil war. Peyton's hands are tied and a noose is around his neck. He is guarded by two privates, a sergeant, a captain and two sentinels at each end of the bridge. This describes an environment in which escape seems impossible. As he is about to be hanged, he experiences a profound dream sequence in which he escapes the hanging and floats downstream. This is an illusion. In terms of naturalism, we can say two things here. Within the world of the illusion, he is at the whims of nature.
The conflict between Stanley and Blanche has been viewed also by critics as symbolically the Old South's decline under Industrialization. This conflict is predetermined as Blanche is a product of the aristocratic, more genteel way of life while Stanley is a product of the new social order. When, for example, he utters his passionate outburst that he is not a "Polack," but an American citizen, Stanley declares himself part of the new society of multi-cultural America. His desire for power as such is exerted in his animalistic behavior and his violence towards his wife and Blanche alike.
Regional and local color stories concentrate on the landscape, dialect, customs, and folklore specific to a geographic region or locale; in fact, the setting can be so integral to the story that it sometimes becomes a character in itself. The narrator of the story is often a person native to the setting, and he often adds local color to the narrative.
Though the author Ambrose Bierce restrains himself from adding many examples of local color in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." The narration takes on an almost neutral tone, unlike a true narrative with local color. It is possible to imagine Farquar with a Southern accent, but there is an absence of colloquial expressions in his dialogue. Bierce does describe some of the topographical areas in this region of Alabama, and there is mention of the Civil War Battle of Corinth in addition to the local secessionist views held by most Southerners. The Union spy, pretending to be a Confederate soldier, refers to the Union soldiers as "Yanks," but there are really few other examples in the story.
In A Streetcar Named Desire, regionalism occurs when the setting interacts with the scene taking place, as Blanche may sing in the tub or during a certain scene we can read the mood of a situation by the music that's playing. Then with regionalism, it isn't only setting but even the stereotypes of some characters, as Stella is the housewife and Stanley the working, dominant husband, as well as Blanche, exaggerated southern belle personality.
The story Streetcar named Desire is a vastly confusing and complicated piece of literature, with this it includes the psychoanalytical critical lens that will examine this play. The characters in the story are constantly developing and you seem to find out their background history and their mental issued from beginning to end. The many aspects of the psychoanalysis theory apply greatly to each of the characters throughout the story and understanding the theory helps you understand their histories and their inner conflicts. Stella is the sister of Blanche and throughout the whole story, she plays the peacekeeper of all the characters that enter her apartment. Selective perception is Stella's way of keeping her senses about herself because throughout the story Stanley her husband is the opposition of Blanches lies. Stella wants to believe that her sister is the same person mentally that she was when Stella was living back in Bella Reve. When the subject about Blanche's lies comes up, Stella avoids the situation of talking about it. This helps her act like nothing is going on; also it buys Blanche time in the house because Stella is blocking Stanley from confronting Blanche. When Stella gets hit by Stanley, the fear of abandonment creeps in because she comes back to him instead of staying in the neighbor's house. Partly this is because of the baby they are about to have and also because of the time period the story is set in. Stella's self-esteem is constantly belittled by her husband because of their constant fighting ever since Blanche arrived. Stanley is the epitome of a dominant male figure over women during the 1950's. He feels empowered by his knowledge and the fact that he brings in all of the income. Stanley is a very unstable human being and constantly teeters between the sane and insane. He is constantly belittling all of the women in the story and it only increases when he drinks and plays poker with his friends.
According to Freud's model of the psyche, the id is the primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memories, the super-ego operates as a moral conscience, and the ego is the realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego. The id operates on the pleasure principle (Freud, 1920) which is the idea that every wishful impulse should be satisfied immediately, regardless of the consequences. When the id achieves its demands, we experience pleasure when it is denied we experience ‘unpleasure’ or tension. Stanley's id side is constantly striving to be right about Blanche's lies and he will not stop till he is. When he crosses the line such as when he strikes Stella and she runs away, his fear of abandonment comes into play. Out of all the characters in the story, he struggles with abandonment the worst. At a point, he ends up crying out for Stella at the bottom of the stairs and this is very out of character for him, being the strong manly man act he puts on. He often displaces he anger with Blanch on his friends and wife. This cause unnecessary fighting an more turmoil that increases throughout the whole story.
The techniques of realism, naturalism, and regionalism impact the meaning of both of the stories by emphasizing the significance if certain aspects. As there is the main character in An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge who doesn't have control over what's happening to him as well as Stanley not having the routine of his usual life now that his sister-in-law Blanch has arrived. This brings out a different side of these characters and regionalism provides awareness of how their surroundings affect them and realism accords a relatable aspect to the audience in this period of time. They reveal social issues by demonstrating the danger and emptiness of war in An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge as Faquahar misses his wife and children. Then there is the domestic abuse shown in A Streetcar Named Desire, before The Women's Liberation Movement, domestic violence was seen as a forbidden subject. In the play Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams shows how society accepted had ignored it. One of the characters, Stanley Kowalski, even found it to be a positive and very sexual part of him and his wife, Stella's, relationship. Throughout the play, Williams shows that he believes that it is wrong. In Streetcar Named Desire, the forbidden subject of domestic violence is a major theme. At the time that Streetcar was written, society ignored domestic violence. People knew that it happened, but they pretended that it wasn't important. "Ho, ho! There's nothing to be scared of. They're crazy about each other" (Act 1 Scene 3). In this quote, Mitch shows that either doesn't care that Stanley hits Stella, or he just doesn't think that it is significant enough to be a problem. He basically believes that it doesn't matter, so he ignores it. Throughout the play,Williams gives strong evidence that he abhors domestic violence. He also appears to believe that a woman that is abused should leave her husband. Williams might consider women like Stella should be strong and make themselves a better life with someone else.
This was an issue in American society at the time of publication because this play tackled issued that weren't acceptable during this period of time. As spousal abused wasn't talked about much and if it was most dismissed it, though it continues to be an issue in American today because many are ashamed of asking for help. Often, as this happened in the past as well, many women are afraid to lose their children and there's manipulation of the belittlement and dependence that is formed with any type of abuse. As violence has been characterized in the story by each character having a different experience with it, and the consequences of violence in their lives have been so diverse that each has made up their own conclusion on what it is to be violent or to be a victim of it.
This is a matter that will commence unless something is done about it, there should be advocacy of protection to survivors and that promote safe, stable families and assist children and youth to teach them how to prevent being drawn into this cycle.
Please feel free to share your thoughts and join the conversation!
This week the discussion will be about An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce and the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. Though both of these stories incorporate the elements that represent the American society as well as the literary styles realism, naturalism, and regionalism.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is divided into three sections. In section I, Peyton Farquhar is standing on a railroad bridge, twenty feet above the water. His wrists are bound behind his back, and around his neck is a noose that is tied to a beam overhead. As a Southern civilian escapes his execution at the hands of Union soldiers when the hanging rope breaks.
A Streetcar Named Desire follows troubled former schoolteacher Blanche DuBois as she leaves small-town Mississippi and moves in with her sister, Stella Kowalski, and her husband, Stanley in New Orleans. Blanche's flirtatious Southern-belle presence causes problems for Stella and Stanley, who already have a volatile relationship, leading to even greater conflict in the Kowalski household.
Realism attempts to illustrate life, it focuses on the actualities of life, and truthfully treats the commonplace characters of everyday life. The purpose of using realism is to emphasize the reality and morality that is usually relativistic and intrinsic for the people as well as the society.
In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, obvious examples of realistic detail are the setting of the Civil War with the enmity existing between the two sides fighting. This description of the setting told from the third person point of view is conventional realism, of course. However, with the switch to the first-person point of view and then back to the third person, there is a disorientation of the reader as to what is actually happening. But, ironically, through this change in point of view, Bierce creates his most brutal realism: the horrors and ugliness of war. The character of Faquhar, whose name conquers romantic tales of adventure, entertains the romantic idea of an "opportunity for distinction" by sabotaging the railroad bridge. But, Bierce satirizes this romantic idea in Faquhar's being a prime target for entrapment by the Union soldier. Even with the rope around his neck, Faquahar cannot accept reality, imagining that he escapes. The return to third person point of view underscores the cold reality of the ugliness and brutality of war: Faquahar, is, indeed, dead.
In A Streetcar Named Desire, there is a rapid growth in industrialism and urbanization with Stanley being a factory salesman and there is an influence of immigration which also relates to Stanley's ethnicity and this being a point of conflict in the story. Then there is a relative rise in middle-class affluence as it allows a change in culture to occur between the characters and how they were brought up.
Naturalism portrays realistic situations often with a pessimistic and detached tone. Naturalism grew out of and against certain movements; the theory to which it owed most, in fact, was Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Naturalist writers believed that anything that happened could be traced to genetic or environmental causes, and characters would act in “scientific” ways according to these principles.
When the story opens, Peyton Farquhar has been subjected to a hanging. This is a result of his being caught by opposing soldiers. He is thus a victim of his social environment: being in the midst of a civil war. Peyton's hands are tied and a noose is around his neck. He is guarded by two privates, a sergeant, a captain and two sentinels at each end of the bridge. This describes an environment in which escape seems impossible. As he is about to be hanged, he experiences a profound dream sequence in which he escapes the hanging and floats downstream. This is an illusion. In terms of naturalism, we can say two things here. Within the world of the illusion, he is at the whims of nature.
The conflict between Stanley and Blanche has been viewed also by critics as symbolically the Old South's decline under Industrialization. This conflict is predetermined as Blanche is a product of the aristocratic, more genteel way of life while Stanley is a product of the new social order. When, for example, he utters his passionate outburst that he is not a "Polack," but an American citizen, Stanley declares himself part of the new society of multi-cultural America. His desire for power as such is exerted in his animalistic behavior and his violence towards his wife and Blanche alike.
Regional and local color stories concentrate on the landscape, dialect, customs, and folklore specific to a geographic region or locale; in fact, the setting can be so integral to the story that it sometimes becomes a character in itself. The narrator of the story is often a person native to the setting, and he often adds local color to the narrative.
Though the author Ambrose Bierce restrains himself from adding many examples of local color in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." The narration takes on an almost neutral tone, unlike a true narrative with local color. It is possible to imagine Farquar with a Southern accent, but there is an absence of colloquial expressions in his dialogue. Bierce does describe some of the topographical areas in this region of Alabama, and there is mention of the Civil War Battle of Corinth in addition to the local secessionist views held by most Southerners. The Union spy, pretending to be a Confederate soldier, refers to the Union soldiers as "Yanks," but there are really few other examples in the story.
In A Streetcar Named Desire, regionalism occurs when the setting interacts with the scene taking place, as Blanche may sing in the tub or during a certain scene we can read the mood of a situation by the music that's playing. Then with regionalism, it isn't only setting but even the stereotypes of some characters, as Stella is the housewife and Stanley the working, dominant husband, as well as Blanche, exaggerated southern belle personality.
The story Streetcar named Desire is a vastly confusing and complicated piece of literature, with this it includes the psychoanalytical critical lens that will examine this play. The characters in the story are constantly developing and you seem to find out their background history and their mental issued from beginning to end. The many aspects of the psychoanalysis theory apply greatly to each of the characters throughout the story and understanding the theory helps you understand their histories and their inner conflicts. Stella is the sister of Blanche and throughout the whole story, she plays the peacekeeper of all the characters that enter her apartment. Selective perception is Stella's way of keeping her senses about herself because throughout the story Stanley her husband is the opposition of Blanches lies. Stella wants to believe that her sister is the same person mentally that she was when Stella was living back in Bella Reve. When the subject about Blanche's lies comes up, Stella avoids the situation of talking about it. This helps her act like nothing is going on; also it buys Blanche time in the house because Stella is blocking Stanley from confronting Blanche. When Stella gets hit by Stanley, the fear of abandonment creeps in because she comes back to him instead of staying in the neighbor's house. Partly this is because of the baby they are about to have and also because of the time period the story is set in. Stella's self-esteem is constantly belittled by her husband because of their constant fighting ever since Blanche arrived. Stanley is the epitome of a dominant male figure over women during the 1950's. He feels empowered by his knowledge and the fact that he brings in all of the income. Stanley is a very unstable human being and constantly teeters between the sane and insane. He is constantly belittling all of the women in the story and it only increases when he drinks and plays poker with his friends.
According to Freud's model of the psyche, the id is the primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memories, the super-ego operates as a moral conscience, and the ego is the realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego. The id operates on the pleasure principle (Freud, 1920) which is the idea that every wishful impulse should be satisfied immediately, regardless of the consequences. When the id achieves its demands, we experience pleasure when it is denied we experience ‘unpleasure’ or tension. Stanley's id side is constantly striving to be right about Blanche's lies and he will not stop till he is. When he crosses the line such as when he strikes Stella and she runs away, his fear of abandonment comes into play. Out of all the characters in the story, he struggles with abandonment the worst. At a point, he ends up crying out for Stella at the bottom of the stairs and this is very out of character for him, being the strong manly man act he puts on. He often displaces he anger with Blanch on his friends and wife. This cause unnecessary fighting an more turmoil that increases throughout the whole story.
The techniques of realism, naturalism, and regionalism impact the meaning of both of the stories by emphasizing the significance if certain aspects. As there is the main character in An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge who doesn't have control over what's happening to him as well as Stanley not having the routine of his usual life now that his sister-in-law Blanch has arrived. This brings out a different side of these characters and regionalism provides awareness of how their surroundings affect them and realism accords a relatable aspect to the audience in this period of time. They reveal social issues by demonstrating the danger and emptiness of war in An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge as Faquahar misses his wife and children. Then there is the domestic abuse shown in A Streetcar Named Desire, before The Women's Liberation Movement, domestic violence was seen as a forbidden subject. In the play Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams shows how society accepted had ignored it. One of the characters, Stanley Kowalski, even found it to be a positive and very sexual part of him and his wife, Stella's, relationship. Throughout the play, Williams shows that he believes that it is wrong. In Streetcar Named Desire, the forbidden subject of domestic violence is a major theme. At the time that Streetcar was written, society ignored domestic violence. People knew that it happened, but they pretended that it wasn't important. "Ho, ho! There's nothing to be scared of. They're crazy about each other" (Act 1 Scene 3). In this quote, Mitch shows that either doesn't care that Stanley hits Stella, or he just doesn't think that it is significant enough to be a problem. He basically believes that it doesn't matter, so he ignores it. Throughout the play,Williams gives strong evidence that he abhors domestic violence. He also appears to believe that a woman that is abused should leave her husband. Williams might consider women like Stella should be strong and make themselves a better life with someone else.
This was an issue in American society at the time of publication because this play tackled issued that weren't acceptable during this period of time. As spousal abused wasn't talked about much and if it was most dismissed it, though it continues to be an issue in American today because many are ashamed of asking for help. Often, as this happened in the past as well, many women are afraid to lose their children and there's manipulation of the belittlement and dependence that is formed with any type of abuse. As violence has been characterized in the story by each character having a different experience with it, and the consequences of violence in their lives have been so diverse that each has made up their own conclusion on what it is to be violent or to be a victim of it.
This is a matter that will commence unless something is done about it, there should be advocacy of protection to survivors and that promote safe, stable families and assist children and youth to teach them how to prevent being drawn into this cycle.
Please feel free to share your thoughts and join the conversation!
Until next time, All love Aya.
Works Cited
- Campbell, Donna M. “Regionalism and Local Color Fiction.” Public WSU Education.
- Shmoop Editorial Team. "A Streetcar Named Desire Writing Style." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 5 Nov. 2017.
- “Freud's Theory of the ID, Ego, & Superego.” Study, Psychology 101.
I agree with the ideas you presented on the use of Naturalism within the story and how it incorporates the story. I also agree with the points made on how the play says that gender and brutality go hand in hand.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your claim that Stella was blocking Stanley's attempts to investigate Blanche's story about what happened to the farm. In addition, your claim about Stella's abandonment issues makes sense. That is the reason why Stella would go back to Stanley even after he abused her. Stanley has belittled her so much that she now lives with the idea that she can't survive without Stanley. That is why she would endure abuse like that, while pregnant, and continue to go back to him when he decides to apologize.
ReplyDelete