Professor J.Mignano-Brady
English 102
21 October 2015
A Streetcar Named Desire
Gender inequality is the unequal treatment based on their gender. Gender roles compose the attitudes and behaviors that are expected of males and females in a given culture of society. It is these gender roles that give the impact of gender inequality among the male and the female sex. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams uses a range of different characters in the play to bring out the theme of gender role, sex and reality being the main reasons as to the males being the higher standing sex compared to the female.
In the play, gender role plays a major theme. There are characters that fit these prescribed gender roles. For example, Stanley who includes characteristics such as being sexual, brute, primitive, rough, and animalistic. He is characterized as the stereotypical strong male. He is lusty and sexual because women who is Stella are charmed by his good looks. His dominant male sexual nature is seen through his abuse of Stella and the rape of Blanche. Through both, Stanley is able to control his home. In the play, Stanley literally brings home the meat, and throws the meat at Stella, his wife. This shows that he is not the provider, but he is primitive and rough. Stanley is unrefined, he works a blue collared job. In the play, Blanche states to Stella “He acts like an animal, has an animal's habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one! There's even something sub-human something not quite to the stage of humanity yet! Yes, something ape-like about him, like one of those pictures I've seen in anthropological studies. Thousands and thousands of years have passed him right by, and there he is Stanley Kowalksi survivor of the Stone Age! Bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the jungle. And you-you here waiting for him! Maybe he'll strike you or maybe grunt and kiss you! That is, if kisses have been discovered yet!” (Blanche 1199). Blanche is explaining that Stanley is very animalistic, and selfish. He demonstrates absolute control of his household, including his wife. Stanley then is the hard, brutal man who does not understand the refinements of life. He is controlled by natural instincts untouched by the advances of civilization. Thus, when something threatens him, he must strike back in order to preserve his own threatened existence. Stanley plays the protagonist in the play. He doesn’t obey or respects anything but himself. He disrespects his wife and thinks Stella needs to obey him. We see that he is powerful assertion of all that is male disregarding his wife’s concern and selfishly continues on his own course of action.
On the other hand, another character that also contradicts the prescribed gender roles is Mitch. Mitch initially contradicts this gender role. To begin with, Mitch is thoughtful and cares for his mother. In the play Mitch says “I gotta sick mother. She don’t go to sleep until I come in at night” (Williams 1184) explaining that his mother is sick, and that he has to go home and take care of her. This quote shows that Mitch is very careful man. In addition, he has a cigarette case that has a poetry quote in it. Mitch is a feminized man because of his interest in literature and because of his thoughtfulness towards his mother. This is explanation that in this play, literature is considered a feminine quality, and that Mitch is a feminized man because of his interest in literature and because of his thoughtfulness towards his mother. Mitch is very different from Stanley. Mitch also says “Poker shouldn’t be played in a house with women” (Williams 1190) it is showing respects from Mitch to women.
Gender discrimination continues to be an enormous problem within Indian society. In India study found that one in three men surveyed do not allow their wives to wear the clothes of their choice, 66 percent of the men believed they had a “greater say than their wife/partner in the important decisions” that affected the family and 75 percent of men expected their partner to agree to sex. Moreover, 52 percent of the women surveyed reported they had “experienced some form of violence during their lifetime,” while 60 percent of men claimed they had “acted violently against their partner at some point in their lives.” The study, which surveyed a total of 9,205 men and 3,158 women aged 18-49 in seven states across India, also found that violence and son preference was least likely among wealthier, more educated men who grew up in families with more joint decision-making between parents. Moreover, men with higher levels of education and economic stability were less likely to “exercise control over their partners” and more likely to “respect their partners as equals.” Of those who expressed a preference for offspring gender, sons were almost four times as popular as daughters. Both men and women who wanted more sons were generally poorer, older, less literate and more likely to live in a rural setting. Economic status played a particularly important role in gender preference, with men in a higher economic bracket being only half as likely to have a high preference compared with poorer men.
In conclusion the women were not the dominant ones in their relationships and in fact had no control. This aspect of William’s female characters presented the lack of equality between men and women. William is stating that human sexuality can be seen as a tool of power. Both Stanley and Blanche use sex to gain the things they need. In addition in India, they are necessary to give powers to women. Everyone in this world is equal. Although many like to forget, humans are animals and can die just like every other beast. Constantly remember that death is around the corner for every person you see and you'll realize how equal we are. Nothing else is important.
Work Cited
WILLIAM, TENNESSE. Streetcar Named Desire. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
"Gender Equity Issues in India." Gender Equity Issues in India. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
BEEDY, KATRINA. "Gender Roles in India - BORGEN." BORGEN. N.p., 28 Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
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