Reality vs. Fantasy

Most literature has a deeper meaning than just entertainment; however, different people may interpret things in different ways. For example, someone may watch a movie and the movie may touch them emotionally because they may be able to relate to it. Others watching the same movie may just view it as entertainment because they have not experienced the same things. A piece of literature or dramatic viewing may also have a different inspirational story behind it according to different peoples view. This is also true for a play I recently saw, A Streetcar Named Desire. While viewing this play one may contrast the difference in one person’s reality and fantasy.

A Streetcar Named Desire may be viewed as an internal fight inside one person about external experiences. The different characters in the play represent different personalities and different desires. The internal problems one person has, perhaps Tennessee Williams, may be externalized in this way by letting the viewers see different personality traits and desires, or characters. This helps the audience view the difference in Tennessee Williams’ reality and fantasy throughout his life.

Some of the characters that portray Williams’ reality are Stanley and Stella. The character of Stanley represents Tennessee Williams’ father. He was a traveler and also abusive to his family as was Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire. Stella’s character represented the reality of Williams’ mother. She lived in poverty and loved her husband in spite of his bad qualities. This was the reality of Williams’ life that he portrayed through the characters of his play.

The fantasy Tennessee’s family wishes to fulfill is seen in the character of Blanch. This character represents the fantasy of his mother just as Stella represents the reality she experiences. She fantasized about being a southern belle as well as having a perfect life within her family. She smothered her children as Blanch tries to smother Stella by telling her how she should be living. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanch finds out that a man she is dating is gay. This gay fellow represents Tennessee Williams himself. The audience can tell by observing that this truth is difficult to grasp by the way Blanch neglects to tell people. This event represents how Williams’ mother reacted to his situation due to the fact that she had a separate fantasy for her family that consisted of perfection and being visually appealing.

A Streetcar Named Desire is more than an entertaining piece of art. This story was inspired by the life of Tennessee Williams himself. The characters represent different people in his life and their realities and fantasies. While watching or reading other pieces of literature, try to guess the story behind it whether it was real or a fictional desire.

WORD COUNT: 459