Analyze Scenes 1 and 2 using the "feminist" critical lens.

Analyze Scenes 1 and 2 using the "feminist" critical lens.

Veer Raxwal

A Streetcar Named Desire is a stage play written by the Tennessee Williams. It was published in 1947 and the setting for the play was New Orleans, Louisiana. In the play, women can be described as weak, passive and powerless who are chained to their male counterpart due to economic, social and physical needs.

Feminist critics are those who accept the idea that gender differences are culturally determined and interpret literature as a record of male dominance. In A Streetcar Named Desire, the dominance of men on women is evident throughout the play - the way they view, converse, and abuse them. Furthermore, traditional literary works such as this play present women as submissive characters that are dependent on male authority and control. This is evident throughout the play.

To begin, Blanche is a character who believes she must act in a feminine stereotype to find a man who will fulfill her craving for stability. She can also be described as an ostentatious individual who leads a profligate lifestyle. Similarly, Stella also heavily depends on Stanley in respect to her decision making and actions.

In terms of a feminist approach, the play reflects and challenges male-dominated social values. For instance, Stella is subjugated to Stanley and when Blanche is introduced in the play, the stage directions describe her physical appearance. On the other hand, with Stanley, the focus is on his overall masculine “energy”. This is also seen when Stanley hits his pregnant wife and Stella still submits to him. Another example is when Blanche tries to flirt and cajole Stanley. Another instance is the exclusion of the sisters’ from poker night.

To continue, this uneven power balance is demonstrated in the introduction of Stella’s character. As she asks Stanley “Can I come watch” when he is going bowling. This shows Stella has to ask permission, which illustrates Stanley as the power holder in the relationship. Furthermore, Stanley also patronizes Stella when he refers to as a little women rather her name, which objectifies and diminishes her social standing.

Another common theme is both Blanche’s and Stella’s need for a man in order to survive. This is shown when Stella explains how she can hardly stand when Stanley is away for a night, as she says when he comes back “she cries on his lap like a baby”. This illustrates her extensive dependency on a male figure.

In terms of the male characters, writers have depicted them as exploitive and repressive in their relationship. Williams shows this in his description of Stanley as a “gaudy seed bearer” who “sizes up women at a glance”. This directly portrays him as a dominant and oppressive figure to women. The diction used also confirms the superior role in his interactions with Stella and Blanche.

Moreover, feminist also believe that gender differences are culturally determined rather than biologically. This suggests that women aren’t irrational and self-pitying as much as Williams describes in his play. For instance, Williams shows Stella as an irrational and unsophisticated individual. This is expressed when Stanley talks about the Napoleonic code, as Stella says her “head is swimming” from the legal information, implying that she doesn’t understand it. Stereotypically, masculinity means a rational decision making individual while women are thought to be less rational. Stella’s failure to understand Stanley further reinforces this idea.

In total, a feminist critic would interpret this play as Tennessee William’s view of patriarchy in American society in the 1940s which made it difficult for women to survive independently. This is shown through his characterization of Stella and Blanche as well as Stanley and his choice of actions.

Analysis of Feminism in a Streetcar Named Desire

Muskan Sharma

Feminism refers to the ideology of the advocacy of women’s right on the ground of the equality of the sexes.  It is a range of political movements, ideologies and social movements that share a common goal which is to define, establish and achieve the political, economic, personal and social equality of the genders. Feminism was put into play to empower women that were considered as the weaker gender in the society, it was an effort to put them at the same level as men and ensure that they get equal rights and standard society value as any human being. The harsh treatment that was bestowed on women had to come to an end for as long as it should’ve supposed to and this ideology ensured that laws would come in respect to the ideas that they had for women in mind.

The role of feminist critics is to analyze and understand the role of control and power that exist in the two genders not only in respect to personal relationships but also in a larger picture of the society. They try to understand the role by using feministic ideology and try to locate the origin and existence of why control and power exists and to what extent does it exist. By using feministic viewpoints, they try to establish ideologies that come into play with respect to feminism and their own beliefs of how women should be compared to what they are expected to be in English literature. Feminists tend to pay attention to how much independent and importance is given to the women in the work of literature. Feminist critics believe that the acts that neglect the idea of feminism have existed for a long period of time in literature and has created gender stereotypes within which means that it completely neglects the idea of men and women being equal and on the other hand specifies them into their own “characteristics”.

The play “A streetcar named Desire” focuses on the treatment of women in the 1960’s and opens a sense of imagery in the lives of how they lived and how they were treated. Feminist critics believe that this contrast between gender roles have existed for a long time in English literature and this turmoil has been briefly examined in a lot of novels as well as plays that have been written over the centuries. It also shows a contrast of how gradually or increasingly this has changed or has not changed at all. The debate of females reinforcing these stereotypes or trying to fight the wrongdoings has also been highlighted but their sense of disability to overcome it due to lack of power and control has also been explored by the critics.

The relationship between Stanley and Stella acts as an example of portraying these stereotypes in the play. Stanley is shown as the leader of the family and Stella the weaker character following whatever Stanley tell her to. It portrays Stanley as a superior figure whereas Stella is more fragile and hesitant to respond back to the behavior against her, which also shows a sense of fear in Stella with respect to her fighting back the wrongdoings that happen to her. “Poker Night” also plays acts as an example of showing a sense of authority and power in men as women were not allowed to attend the game in Act 1. When Stella join this night, she gets treated violently and abusively which she refers to as “normal” which highlights the treatment and relationship between the two characters. When Blanche tries to fight Stanley, Stella defends his actions and acts like everything is normal and Stanley losing control was a consequence of drinking and gambling.

These examples provide a clear account of the gender roles in the 1960’s and the discrimination faced by women in terms of their treatment and authority and the place they held in society.

Group 4- Blog

Group 4 is an essential part of IBDP journey for grade 11 students, it is a requirement as well as a cofounding variable to work as a team and use our creative skills to find a solution to a problem that is given to us. The challenge given to us was to create a greenhouse model which would then be modified later into existence. I worked with a team of 6 in biology and our goal was to find the optimal conditions that could have been used in creating this greenhouse by uing different plant types, soil types, PH, Pesticides, Fertilizers and well as different types of composts.

Through our journey in biology we focused on using different plant species and tried three types of compost to find which works the best, we also researched in depth on the purpose of the greenhouse, it’s needs and requirements, species of plants, structure of the greenhouse (drainage system) and finally the ingredients of the soil used (manure and fertilizer).

After some of our failed experiments with different composts, we decided to work with natural compost and our goals were to minimize and utilize waste, use the waste to create compost with the final goal of having completely organic plants grow in the greenhouse and across the school, promote an environment friendly mindset in the student body and promote goals of “Green Pathways”. 

Our initial planning focused on 5 things. First, the plant species where we looked at its climatic conditions, edaphic factors and to what extent is it economically viable. By choosing Areca Palm, Devi’s ivy/money plant, Madagascar periwinkle, Sword fern, Song of India and Snake plant we started discussing how by using these plants we could create a compost that could go from inorganic to organic.  I with 2 other members of my group researched about these specific plants by looking at their functions and reliability to grow and sustain themselves in a climate such as the greenhouse. We also focused on looking at how the greenhouse could promote the growth of these with the bigger goal of functioning as a medium to help the idea of “Green pathways.” We later looked at the inter/ intraspecific relationships between these plants, the rotation of species and finally the most effective soil type.

One of the most important part of our group 4 project was also to understand and learn how we ourselves could create organic compost by using waste for which we did research and understood the four materials required which were brown waste, green waste, compost container and soil. We also asked ourselves leading questions such as “why is compost helpful for the plants?” and “Why is good for not only the plants but the environment?” which led us to our discovery of understanding how to make this waste.  

We concluded our research by looking at edaphic factors which means that the biotic factor that helped determine their chemical and physical composition and also that the compensation point was shifting towards photosynthesis.

With respect to participating and completing the group 4, the factors that should be reflected on was my understanding of how experiments can repeatedly fail and your hypothesis might never actually be proven or disproven. It also makes you understand the importance of the results and the process that takes place while working with experiments as it might be creating dispensaries in the analyzed question.

Women and Men in the 19th century- A dispensary

The Victorian period made the roles of men and women sharply defined compared to any time in history. It had been usual in the older times for women to work along their husbands in the family business, they could help out by serving customers or keeping accounts while also attending their domestic duties but as the 19th century progressed men started commuting to work places while women were left at home all day to oversee their domestic duties. The two sexes inhabited “separate spheres”, only coming together at breakfast and again at dinner. Women were also meant to study a different syllabus of education which meant that they should’ve been good at “singing”, “drawing”, “dancing” and “modern languages” to play the role of the “Angel in the house”.  At the same time, a young girl was not expected to focus too obviously on finding a husband. Being ‘forward’ in the company of men suggested a worrying sexual appetite. Women were assumed to desire marriage because it allowed them to become mothers rather than to pursue sexual or emotional satisfaction.  The various conditions provide a good account of what had been happening in the 19th century with respect to gender roles and the inequality amongst them.

Ibsen’s play called “The Doll’s House” brings out this imagery of the inequality clearly through the usage of characters and their descriptions and behaviors. 19^th century’s daily life clearly portrays a picture of the importance of domestic work and the social image of men and women in the society. Men had to be the leader of the family covering the money that could feed and sustain their families and with this creating an ethical image of a “perfect man”. They were supposed to be clean in terms of their work and whoever did not fit in this criterion were supposedly not fit to the character. Women on the other hand were supposed to be “good mothers”, they were supposed to care for their families specially their husbands and children. They were supposed to be under the shadow of their husbands and were supposed to follow their limelight which means do as their husbands told them to do, their image in society was also followed by their husbands not with their own personalities. If their husbands owned a superior position in the society, they instantly were looked at with respect. Men were supposed to show no emotions as it was looked at as their weakness where as women were supposed to be emotional and fragile which symbolized gender stereotypes in the current century.

Nora, the female protagonist in Doll’s house fits to the example of what it was like to be a woman in the 19th century. She has been repeatedly called childish names such as “My little lark” which symbolized the relationship between him and her husband which was nothing but manipulating her to do as her husband wished in the name of “love”.  She is expected to be traditionally and morally perfect and is supposed to please her husband emotionally and physically. She is expected to be a good mother and take care of her children without asking or expecting anything as well as be there for her husband no matter what his character or social image is. She’s meant to take care of the family and do all of the domestic work while her husband works to feed the family which later makes her question her existence and think of suicide as she feels she’s nothing more than a doll that’s meant to obey her owner without little say in any other matter. Tovard on the other hand symbolizes a 19th century man, he humiliates her by treating her like a child and expects her to be okay with how he’s treating her. This represents a patriarchal difference between the two genders in the 19^th century and also provides an account of the relationship between the two characters. Tovard works as the leader of the family and cares a lot about his social image, he gives Nora no sense of freedom and expects us to follow what he tells her to. The treatment that’s given to Nora by her husband shows the toxicity and the ill treatment of women as objects in the era.

Concluding the dispensary, it shows that women in the 19^th century were considered doll’s which is metaphorical for somebody inferior and who obeys. They had little say in family matters and followed the steps of their husbands and lived under their shadows while men being the superior gender controlled not only themselves but their wives and families and portrayed all of their images included in society.