The main character of A Streetcar Named Desire is Blanche Dubois. She came from a plantation and had many problems when she moved to her sister’s. Since the beginning, her fate leads Blanche’s fate is decided.
First of all, the title foreshadows the fate of Blanche. Indeed, when Tennessee Williams call his book A Streetcar Named Desire, he introduces the streetcar that represents the reality. Change the direction is impossible, it moves in one way and you have to follow it. Then, an other important word in this title is Desire because it is one of the many Blanche’s needs. Only with the title, we know that the story cannot change because of desire. Next, the first Blanche’s speech resumes it, “They told me to take a streetcar named Desire”. By using the verbs tell, the writer wants to lead Blanche, it is like an order to surfer her fate. The other part of her speech is “then transfer to the one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at- Elysian Fields”. This sentence uses very symbolic words. The first is Cemeteries, which makes the transition with Desire. It foreshadows the end of Blanche. The second one, Elysian Fields, strengthens the idea of death, destruction of Blanche.
Secondly, Williams uses also the image of the grim reaper in scene one said by Blanche to show her sadness when she speaks to her sister. It is an other symbol of death. She tells how she was alone when all of her family die, when she lose her husband and the plantation. She begins the tragedy with nothing and it must be worst at the end. But the author uses some other elements to focus on the tragic end of Blanche. For example, in scene one, he speaks about the “muddy Mississippi” which must be clearer as the story must be. Indeed, at the beginning, Blanche says pack of lies to hide all her needs. She lies to the others but also to herself. As she says, “she doesn’t tell the truth, she tell what ought to be the truth”. She cannot say the truth because she cannot accept it. But the other characters discover the truth after and she doesn’t realise. When she speaks to Stella in scene four about what she really thinks of Stanley, a train cover the entry of Stanley and he can listen what Blanche says of him. Here, the train represents Blanche’s fate and she cannot change it. Moreover, in scene seven, Stanley offers a train ticket back to Laurel for Blanche’s birthday. It is a classic literary device to lead her to her downfall, to come back to her fate. Blanche had the same problem in Laurel before to come in New Orleans. Her sexual needs obliged her to have a sexual relation with one of her student and she was sacked of her school for that. She was alone again and Stanley wants to send her back to this lonely life.
