Sara Master 08 June 2008 The Endurance of Women Thesis- In the southern society of “old America” and the ideals of “new America” distinguished southern families’ saw their economic fortunes as well as their dreams decline in the 1940’s. Consider the idea of “mother woman” Amanda Wingfield verses the independent (by force) Blanche DuBois to look at the way each woman struggles to fit into society. The social circumstances of the two women reflect the social hypocrisies regarding gender oppression. The struggles of Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerieand Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desirewill be analyzed to demonstrate that both women seek to maintain their autonomy in the face of a patriarchal society, while both following their dreams of finding the “gentleman caller.”
Sara Master 08 June 2008 Both of these plays were written in the 1940’s exposing the true feelings many women had towards themselves. Women had of themselves the image that society dictated as appropriate. This created a struggle during a time that images needed to be upheld externally while survival most importantly was internal. The stereotypes and attitudes push the female characters to cling to another pace and time where they were objects of desire and in some ways believe that they still are. This is shown in scene 1 of The Glass Menageriewhere Amanda boastfully reminisces about her past as she coaxes her daughter to be more aggressive in securing a future for herself:” One Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain I received seventeen…gentleman callers!” The needs of her daughter are overlooked in this self centered statement by her need to live vicariously through her child. Blanche displays the same behavior of desperation in scene nine (117) where her true colors are exposed by Mitch when he wants to see her in the light and she refuses. She states,” I don’t want realism. I want magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell the truth, I tell what ought to be the truth!” Blanche and Amanda retreat into their own world of lies and illusions to maintain their everyday lives. Williams states in his introduction “Security is a kind of death…” His plays were considered memory plays because his feelings played out through his characters.
Sara Master 08 June 2008 Psychological stress was unrecognized during the time these plays were released.
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