Read the Introduction to Streetcar Named Desire, a very short autobiographical essay by the playwright, Tennessee Williams. Post a reaction of 250 words. What lines, themes and ideas stand out here? Can you make any links to Death of a Salesman, or to the post-War (1950's-ish) culture, or to the themes of fulfillment and ideals we've been discussing?
This time your post must include a reference to a classmate's post (the responses won't be separate from the post). So the person who posts firsts catches a break!
Good luck.
B. Slater
Hugh Reily
ReplyDeleteTennessee Williams eloquent autobiographical essay fully illustrates the possible down sides of reaching your actual ideal life. His life became pointless when there was no more struggle in it, and he felt that his life was wasting away. This can fit into Death of a Salesman because it is almost a continuation of Willy's dream. Willy wanted to be this amazingly successful, just like Williams says how, "exactly what the homesick little boy in you always wanted, absolute protection and utter effortlessness." Most people think that success will satisfy them greatly, but they do not realize that life without a struggle to achieve something is meaningless. In death of a salesman, Willy regretted not going with his brother Ben into the jungle, but according to Tennessee Williams, if Willy did and was rich at such a young age his life would have been terrible too. Williams says his life before he had so much money was, "one that required endurance," and that this is the way life has to be. I think life is much like a book, that there must be a conflict in a book, some struggle, otherwise it would be pointless to read. The 1950's were full of people's dreams to have a pain free suburban lifestyle. Williams says that it is hard to abandon these kind of ideals for another life because people have been constantly bombarded with what will make them happy. Other's peoples ideals do not fit everybody, and success does mean a man is fulfilled.
He is concerned with material things, from what I have read. He describes things that he has, such as his green satin sofa that he loves, and his $125 suit that he is too fat for. He lives a luxurious lifestyle; he lives on room service and eats sirloin steaks. The maid is ever so patient; he leaves the windows open, and the rainwater comes in and floods the room. She cleans it up, every time. A change in situations on why he sees his friends, changes the way he hears the voices and words, how they speak to him. The gauze mask that he was required to wear, changes his view of the world. After he took the mask off, he checked out of the suit, and went to México. He worked on his play, “the Poker Night” which later became “A Streetcar Named Desire”, and this was the only way he found satisfaction. This is the most prominent theme throughout all of the plays we have read thus far. He was not happy with what happened with his other plays, and this is the only that made his feel fulfilled. The author seems worn out, effete, by the American attractions. One line that stands out to me is, “I got sick of hearing people say, ‘I loved you play!’” (2). He wasn’t happy with it himself, so naturally, when people complemented him, he couldn’t think of anything to say other than ‘thanks’, which got old after saying it millions of times. Makes sense to me.
ReplyDeleteThe way Tennessee Williams portrays success is much different from most people. Most people have the goal in life to become successful and not have to worry about financial issues. What Tennessee Williams says is that success makes a person weak, because it creates “false dignities and conceits.” Through his view, success is a bad thing that happens to people, because it creates a loss of innocence. As Williams stated, becoming “Somebody” to the public “is a fiction created with mirrors and that the only somebody worth being is the solitary and unseen you that existed from your first breath.” Being rich and famous isn’t worth the loss of character that comes along with it. You are a better person before success happens even with the struggles that you may face, because that is what builds character. This idea greatly contrasts the thinking of Willy, from Death of a Salesman. Willy believed that success was the key to happiness, and being famous was all that a man needed in life. William’s experience proves Willy’s theory wrong. As Hugh said, “Most people think that success will satisfy them greatly, but they do not realize that life without a struggle to achieve something is meaningless.” This statement sums up exactly what is being taught by Tennessee William’s essay. This lesson can be carried over to Death of a Salesman in order to contrast Willy’s theory of success and popularity being the key to happiness. If Willy were to fulfill his ideals of becoming a successful businessman, he would be faced with the opposing challenges of losing his character.
ReplyDeleteTennessee Williams makes us think a lot about our life, and what we are trying to do in our life. Most people think that gaining prominence and fame and success is a good thing. Williams completely disagrees and he shows us this in a story about his life. He gains sudden fame and success, but he hates his life after this happens. He says, “I sat down and looked about me and was suddenly very depressed.” He thinks that humans are not supposed to live like this. He enjoyed his old life better because it forced him to struggle. He says, “It was a good life because it was the sort of life for which the human organism is created.” He thinks humans are supposed to have some discomfort, and should be forced to live. A line that explains this very well is, “My public self, that artifice of mirrors, did not exist here and so my natural being was resumed.” He explains that his success had kept him away from being himself. He thought that the success was just hiding from having to live. When, he moves to Mexico, nobody knows him. He is forced to live again like a regular human. At the end of his writing he encourages us to live and not waste any of the time you have to do it. He says your time is very short. His introduction links to Death of Salesman in that Willy is striving for this success he is talking about his whole life. Willy wants what Williams discourages you from. Like Elizabeth says, “success is a bad thing that happens to people, because it creates a loss of innocence.” She knows what Williams is trying to say, and understands his message.
ReplyDeleteTennessee Williams clearly has a different outlook on success than the common fame seeking American that make up the majority of the population today. To Williams success is not the reward we receive at the end of our struggles; it is the actions, if they are done in good heart and interest, which provide the reward. He believes that success is the downfall of man because it molds him into something artificial. According to Williams, “somebody you are when you ‘have a name’ is a fiction created with mirrors and that the only somebody worth being is the solitary and unseen you that exists from your first breath…” Meaning that if you for the public’s sake you are not the same person you would be away from the crowd then you are living a false life. When Williams obtained his success from his first play he realized just how much he didn’t want it. He realized that a life without a struggle is not one that, he believes, is not worth living. He grew so tired of the praise of his fans and friends that it all began to sound insincere and hypocritical. In this way he believes that success and luxury should not be sought out but feared; he says, “luxury is the wolf at the door and that the fangs of this wolf are all the little vanities and conceits and laxities that success is the heir to…” Although success and fame are typically considered to be the ultimate fulfillment of man, for Williams that fulfillment is found in a much more genuine lifestyle focused on your person instead of the person you portray to others. In the modern world it is difficult to overcome the glorified idea of fame, and to live Williams’ idea of a genuinely fulfilling life.
ReplyDeleteTennessee Williams has a different outtake of life than the “average” American. Tennessee doesn’t accept success like one would think it should be accepted. When one of Tennessee’s began to become popular and highly praised, he was content with people liking the play. He benefited off his success by splurging in hotels and clothes and food, which is an “ideal” way of how many Americans, would love to use their success. After a while though of people stating how much they liked it, Tennessee became fed up with it, and no longer was happy with his success. Tennessee basically ran from his success, and found that he was able to become his natural self again. Tennessee found that living a basic life is much easier than living a highly successful life. One line that stood out to me was, “One does not escape that easily from the seductions of an effete way of life.” Tennessee is stating that he was lucky when breaking from his success, and that it’s hard to break free from a prosperous that can grant you whatever you want in life. Tennessee actually completely differs from Willy in Death of a Salesman. Willy is has a total belief that being successful is the only key to happiness, yet Tennessee has the idea that being your natural being is the way to a happy life. Tennessee finds that being successful can spoil your life; however Willy believes that being successful is the best thing in life. As with the other plays so far, the theme of happiness and success is a major theme so far. Elizabeth posted that Tennessee believed that “success is a bad thing that happens to people, because it creates a loss of innocence.” This is totally true, because life can become effete and insignificant, and you can lose who you truly are while living a prosperous life.
ReplyDeleteTennessee William’s ideas about becoming fulfilled are very original and very different from what most people expect. Contrary to popular belief, Williams sees fulfillment as the struggle to accomplish something, not actually accomplishing it. Williams says that he spent most of his life working to achieve his goal of having a successful play, and when he finally accomplished this goal and became successful, he found that his life felt empty, and that there was something missing. After a little while of living the successful lifestyle, Williams realized that his character had changed dramatically. He became indifferent to the appreciation of his play, and eventually, he stopped saying thank you. Like Elizabeth said, “Being rich and famous isn’t worth the loss of character that comes along with it.” He realized that what was missing was him trying and struggling to accomplish something. Williams started to feel like he was a completely different person, living with an emptiness in his life, so he decided to go to Mexico. While there, he felt like his old self again. “My public self, the artifice of mirrors, did not exist here, and so my natural being was resumed.” He felt that he wasn’t a figure of success, and that being like everyone else returned him to his natural character, and he was free to start another struggle to accomplish something else. Tennessee William’s idea of the struggle fulfilling someone is very different than Willy’s idea in Death of a Salesman. Willy thinks that there should be no struggle at all, and that becoming rich and successful allows one to be fulfilled.
ReplyDeleteTennessee William’s view of fulfillment is very different from the normal view. He believes that the struggle to try and reach the ideals a person has fulfills them more then when someone reaches theses ideals. This is different from most people because the normal idea of fulfillment is that struggle and attempting to progress in one’s life is a rite of passage and not the fulfillment that everyone is searching for. I definitely agree with Elizabeth when she says “Being rich and famous isn’t worth the loss of character that comes along with it”. I think that this portrays what Tennessee Williams is attempting to say in his introduction. I think that in death of a salesman, the struggles that Willy and his family had to face in the end did not fulfill them, but only made them bitter towards each other. He also believes that when people are successful, it changes them and makes them different from their true self. “You know, then, that the public Somebody you are when you “have a name” is a fiction created by mirrors”. By saying this, he is saying that the eyes of society change people into something that they are not, and into what they want people to see them as. This is true in my life also because although I haven’t reached any amount of success, I constantly find myself acting in ways I would not usually act. This happens usually because of the different people I talk to, and I believe that I need to act differently to appeal to the people that I talk to.
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