Desire - A Destructive Driven Force

A desire for attention, devotion, and to be observed, considered, praised, and admired is common in A Streetcar Named Desire. It gives the characters a reason to keep on going when life becomes difficult and the future is uncertain. However, this desire manifests itself in many ways. For example, Mitch and Blanche—they are opposite in gender, but desire the same thing. They both desire love and companionship. However, the degree of this desire for love and companionship plays itself out cruelly in Blanche’s case because she cannot control it. As for Mitch, he is able to maintain it within his power.

Blanche's pursuit of her desire in Belle Reve has forced her to leave town which eventually traps her into fantasies and illusions. This desire leaves her with disgrace and shame when it gets out of control. This indicates that Blanche cannot manage the risks or consequences of her desire; she is not always in control of what she wants. Also, her unfulfilled desire to love and be loved has crippled her spirit and left her deserted and insane. Lies after lies, she denies reality and is content with her delusions, fantasies, and her make-believe world. Even when Stanley rapes her, this incident is supposed to bring her back to reality. Although reality crashes down on her when this happens; nevertheless, she is delusional-- this brings back to the idea that she is incapable of controlling her desire. Mitch's desire is less extreme. He wants Blanche; he wants to marry her, but when he discovers Blanche's dirty past, he retreats. This indicates he knows the extremity where this desire will lead him. He is cautious of the consequences of this desire and knows how to maintain a tight control of it when things don't turn out the way he wants.

The streetcar named Desire is symbolic to Blanche's desire. Although Blanche comes to Elysian Fields as a broken woman, she keeps alive her desire to be with a man who can help get her life back together. Mitch can be that man-- he is capable. Mitch is single and alone; he is craving for love and companionship. To fulfill his mother’s wish of seeing him getting married before she dies, he is planning to ask Blanche to marry him. Blanche, in many ways, is accustomed to the fulfillment of her desires because she is raised that way. She can be a match for Mitch. Now, she is craving for love, companionship, protection, and stability in life. She is also single and alone. Blanche and Mitch can be each other paradise. They can fulfill each other needs.

Unfortunately, Stanley tells Mitch Blanche’s secrets. Mitch becomes disgusted with Blanche even when he loves her and would ask her to marry him. He desires for her companionship and love, but this desire vanishes. It is under his control. He determines its limitations. When he learns Blanche’s dirty past and habit of telling lies, he says Blanche is not clean enough to be in the home where his mother lives-- his desire dies. However, Blanche's desire is still lingering. She continues to be delusional which ultimately drives her into insanity. She lies, cheats, and steals, but never harm any one. She only wishes to preserve an illusion--she has it in the end.

Stanley - Opposing Views

Stanley, a Polish man in his late 20s, appears to be a nice guy at the beginning of the play; he loves his wife and treats his friends nicely. He invites friends over for social events at his place and would hang out with them at the bar for bowling and other activities (scene 1-2). However, as the play progresses, the true character of Stanley is revealed, given readers a fuller account of how he is. He roughly dresses in blue denim work clothes most of the time. He possesses an animalistic physical vigor that tends to raise his voice and is always in the mood for action. He can be very violent with words; he yells at others. He enjoys gambling, bowling, and drinking (scene 2).

He has very little respect for women; especially Stella and Blanche. He physically assaults Stella while she is pregnant, but somehow still deeply in love with her (scene 3). He harasses Blanche and invades her privacy by digging into her past. For example, he learns from Shaw that the townspeople considered Blanche as a disgraced individual and the school removed her teaching position due to a relationship with a seventeen-year-old kid. He gives Blanche a one-way bus ticket back to Laurel as a symbolic birthday gift that depicts his uneasiness and animosity of her presence in his house. In addition, he ruins her relationship with Mitch by unsympathetically revealing to Mitch her secrets and ugly characteristics (scene 7). Overall, he represents a serious man with an animalistic physical vigor without remorse as he tries to reassert his control and dominance of his household.

However, Kazan’s 1951 film of this play depicts a different side of Stanley. Stanley still possesses his manly characteristics as shown in the play. Unexpectedly, Stanley is more submissive in the film. The posted video clip shows the scene where he kneels and begs Stella for forgiveness when she comes out from the room to see him; this is not a characteristic of Stanley because he is a straight-down-to-earth man, serious and aggressive. This scene shows a shift in power and dominance; at the moment, he is no longer a man in control. He cries with tears of joy as he hugs Stella as if she possesses something that dismantles his ego and tranquilizes his animalistic physical vigor.

Paralysis and Mundane

“Araby” is based on the theme of frustration. The nameless narrator has fallen for Mangan’s sister. He is driven by his desire to win her heart; so without any thought, he offers to buy her something from the bazaar even when she does not ask for it. The anticipation of what might come after he gives her a romantic gift fills him with great joy and fantasies.

The narrator waits for his uncle to come home to give him some money so he can come to the bazaar to buy the gift. During the late night, he happily travels to the bazaar only to discover its shops are closing. However, his tardiness does not matter because he realizes he only has a little bit of money. His price range is way too low to afford anything on sale. In reality, he is poor and can’t afford such a luxury; his financial situation is tight, so there are limitations on what he can and cannot do. He is paralyzed at the moment when he notices that all the items in the bazaar are so expensive. Everything is beyond his affordability; he is going to be ashamed because he can’t buy what he has promised Mangan’s sister. He says to himself, “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger” (Joyce 25). He finally realizes his harsh reality. He is stuck in an economic situation, and there is no escape from it.

The nameless narrator’s paralysis is similar to the moment when Lurie looks out the window watching the robbers shoot the dogs one by one in Disgrace. Lurie can’t do anything to prevent that from happening because he himself is also a victim of violence. He has been burned and locked up in the bathroom. His movement has been limited; he is scared. The dogs' killing happens in his presence, it horrifies him. However, he is powerless to intervene and too weak to save those dogs from brutality and death.

The nameless narrator and David Lurie both experience paralysis and epiphany. The narrator assumes that he can carry out his desire to purchase a gift as a symbol of love, but in the end it costs too much for him. As for David Lurie, a once almighty man, is attacked and trapped in a confined place where he is powerless to break free.

Lucy's Story - My Land, My Baby, My Love

Life passes by so quickly; things go so fast. I have spent most of my life on the land that I own. It is a little piece of land that I've considered as my home sweet home. It is a place where I find joy, peace and happiness in my everyday life. I don’t want to give it up because it is engraved in me. It is a piece of me, a part of my life. Now I am pregnant because I never took the emergency contraception after the rape. I do not know what to do right now, but abortion is not an option at all. I have gone through it before, and do not want to do it again. I do not hate children; I do not choose against a child because of who its father is. My father asks that I leave the farm. I really despise that idea. The farm, what farm is he referring to? In fact, it is not a farm, but the place where I grow things. It is the place that embraces my presence and sings me beautiful songs every day and also the place that I hold dear to my heart and will always cherish.

Analysis:
A lot of things happen on the farm that directly affect both Lucy and David. Lucy is the only person that David has been able to maintain a relationship with over the years. He looks upon her place and upon her companionship as a retreat from the things that have gone wrong in his life, for all the misdeeds that he has done. Lucy welcomes him warmly. During his stays he seems to impose his ideology on Lucy’s life and her ways of dealing with things. Despite the fact that Lucy is quite different from David in terms of personality and perceptions of life, they live together quite harmoniously for the time being.

And now that Lucy has been raped, a lot of things have changed; their relationship becomes distant as David tries to influence her further. Lucy says to David, “I have a life of my own, just as important to me as yours is to you, and in my life I am the one who makes the decision" (Coetzee 198). She wants to make decisions for herself and be in control of her life. She wants to keep the child and continues to stay on the plantation even when David says, “Particularly when he [Pollux] may be the father of the child you are carrying. Lucy, your situation is becoming ridiculous, worse than ridiculous, sinister. I plead with you, leave the farm before it is too late. It is the only sane thing left to do" (Coetzee 200). Lucy is upset that David refers the plantation as “the farm.” To Lucy, it is a piece of land where she grows things and she will not give it up. Her decision to keep the child is similar to her desire to keep the land.

Phases of Lurie's Life

Although David Lurie is an independent and controlling man at the beginning of the story, he later transforms into a dependent and vulnerable man. As a professor, he has no respect for the material he teaches, and very little regard for the law, societal rules or ethics that are associated with his position. He teaches because it provides him with a livelihood (Coetzee 4-5). He lives within his income. He can provide and support himself without relying on outside help which reflects his financial security and independence. He also cooks for himself, which is another way of displaying his independence (Coetzee 14).

Besides being independent, he is also controlling. He lives within his emotional means at the expense of others, particularly women (Coetzee 2). For example, he dislikes the stickiness of the makeup that Soraya, a prostitute, puts on her face, so he asks her to wipe it off. He also satisfies himself with a sexual experience with Melanie, a student, even when she averts and feels uncomfortable. These women are passive when dealing with Lurie as he dominates the stage and directs what happen to them and their bodies.

Lurie has always been a man of the city, but once he has made up his mind to leave, there is little to hold him back (Coetzee 59). After the exposure of his sexual misconduct, Lurie leaves the university and settles in the country on his daughter's farm. His settling in the country implies the depletion of his independence. He becomes more and more dependent on external forces. He used to cook for himself, but now he depends on Lucy, his daughter, to provide for him when he is hungry (Coetzee 61). He also depends on his daughter for clothes during the winter and as a guide to help him adapt to the country life (Coetzee 70-71).

The afternoon the three men attack Lurie and Lucy, Lurie receives a blow on the head that knocks him unconscious, and is set on fire with alcohol (Coetzee 96). His daughter is raped, the dogs that he spent some time with are killed and his car is stolen. This shows that he has become susceptible to outside forces more than ever before.The transition from the city to the country has transformed a once independent and controlling man like himself into a person whose survival and wellbeing are rely on others, and whose safety and personal security also depend on others.

Parody to Williams' poem

This Is What I Do

throw
the rotten
plums out
of the kitchen' window,

embrace
the broccoli
that my mother's hands

create
it was delicious
so green and healthy,
and full of love

Just for Fun (not for grading)

Just to Tell

I have put on
the socks
that were left in
the blackshoe

and which
you were probably saving
for special occasion

forgive me
they are new
so comfortable
and so warm

The So-Called American Dream

"A Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes speaks for African-Americans in a long struggle for racial justice, for people who believe in the American dream that anything is attainable through hard work. The concept plays on the idea that American is a classless society, although it is obviously not, as any honest examination of the United States will reveal. The idealistic vision of the American Dream also assumes that people are not discriminated against on the basis of race, religion, gender, and national origin, another thing which is unfortunately not true in the United States.

Many people believe that the structure of American society belies the idealistic goal of the American Dream, pointing to examples of inequality rooted in class, race, and ethnic origin which suggest that the American Dream is not attainable for all.

For instance, African Americans in many parts of the nation resisted to racial segregation and discrimination with strategies such as civil disobedience, nonviolent resistance, marches, protests and boycotts. However, still they were denied the American Dream that all Americans deserved.

Dream a Little Dream

"Harlem" by Langston Hughes incorporates a series of similes to generate an abstract sense of the possible catastrophe when a dream is put on hold. What happens to such a dream is not clearly stated, but the use of critical verbs gives various senses to hint that a beautiful dream could negatively affect everybody when it’s deferred.

It becomes dark when it’s dried up, and gross when it festers like a sore. Then, it stinks like rotten meat but eventually it gets covered up. In the end, the dream turns into despair and negatively impacts society. These similes give the readers various senses because they could see when something’s dried up, smell when something’s stink, taste when something’s sweet, and hear when something explodes.

Hughes compares a deferred dream to a raisin. He is creating an image that doesn’t have any extreme connotation in it, besides saying that the dream is being deserted and now it turns dark. When he compares a deferred dream to a festering sore, the image is getting negative and gross. The image gets more intense and disturbing when he associates a deferred dream with rotten meat. Lastly, he conceals the negative image with a syrupy sweet. But the dream gets worst and turns into despair and bursts.

Hughes starts the poem out with a main question, and then follows a series of sub-questions, each containing a critical verb that shows the progression of the possible unfortunate event that radiates from a deferred dream. The order of the questions is critical to the construction of this poem. Hughes’ special use of verbs in each question creates a progressive imagery of the temporary stages that a deferred dream resides.

As the poem unfolds and more questions emerge, the tone gets more and more disturbing and eventually ends with something similar to a threat, which may or may not be truly why Langston Hughes organized the questions the way he did in "Harlem."

Thesis: "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost carries a retrospective tone as its speaker is reflecting about his choices in life and determining that he has made the right choices even though he chose his path differently than most people.

Essentials of Life

This simple image stands for the simple idea that Williams presents in "The Red Wheelbarrow". In his poem, he includes three concrete images, "wheelbarrow", "water", and "chicken" which help him develop the idea that life depends so much on labor, growth, and food.

Williams uses the wheelbarrow to symbolize labor. A wheelbarrow is a one-wheeled, hand-propelled vehicle designed to be pushed and guided by a person. It could be used to transport food, tools, materials, etc. However, it functions only when a person puts labor into it. Without labor, the world tends toward disorder. Things become chaotic; food runs out; growth ceases. In the end, people starve.

Another essential of life is growth. Williams uses water to symbolize growth and development. Without growth, all labor is wasted. A shortage of food occurs and famine spreads.

Lastly, Williams uses a chicken to symbolize food. Without food, labor is limited. When labor is short, growth is not sustainable.

So much depends upon labor, growth and food; without one, we can't have the others. This visual has the three critical images that Williams includes in his poem. It serves as a way for readers to grab something concrete as they try to understand Williams’ abstract idea about dependency. The visual has a white chicken, a red wheelbarrow, water, and a lot of cupcakes in the wheelbarrow and on the ground as a way to amuse observers.

Similarly, when readers first look at Williams’ poem, they see it as a humorous rather than a serious poem because it is not properly punctuated and only contains sixteen words. Despite the shortness, Williams’ poem, with its images, successfully engulfs a gigantic and complex life phenomenon circulating around the idea of dependency.

Metaphors for Death

Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 73" and Thomas’ "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" focus on the theme of death and its effect on human beings. Both of the poems heavily use metaphors to develop emotions and attitudes toward death.

In "Sonnet 73", there exists a melancholy tone that engulfs the entire poem. This may be intended because Shakespeare wants to express that death is a not a happy ending. He compresses time down from a season, to a day, then to a moment to convey his message that youth is fading. He uses death’s second self, night, twilight, ‘sunset fadeth’ and the ‘glowing of fire’ as a mechanism to manifest death. By using these metaphors, Shakespeare indirectly talks about how sleep, darkness, sunset, and the dying of a fire lead to the theme of death. For example, Shakespeare refers to death’s second self as sleep to indicate that there is a possibility that a person may not wake up again when fallen asleep. He also uses ‘sunset fadeth’ to specify the last state of life that a person is in.

Similarly, in "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", Thomas uses ‘good night’, meteors, ‘close of day’, and ‘dying of the light’ as a way to bring the readers to the idea of death. However, Thomas’ poem has a frustrated and angry tone in it as he pleads with his father not to give up his fight for life. The ‘dying of the light’ is a powerful metaphor. Thomas uses it to describe the moment between life and death that his father is in. He also uses ‘close of day’ as a way to indicate that death is creeping in as the life ended. This is another way for him to talk about death indirectly. Lastly, he mentions ‘good night’ to refer to sleep. Again, this could invoke the idea of death because when a person sleeps, he or she might not wake up the next day.

Both of these poems have different approach toward death. Shakespeare’s approach is more relax and accepting because he is addressing a lover in order to get more love. As for Thomas, his approach is furious and upset as he urges his father to "curse" and fight death.

Both Shakespeare and Thomas talk about death, but their tone is different. Nevertheless, both of them effectively use metaphors to manifest death and how it could potentially affect human beings.

Favorite Word&Quote

Word: Etymology

Quote: In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently. -Tony Robbins