The past in a streetcar named desire Essay Example for Free

The past in a streetcar named desire Essay The Role of the Past in a Streetcar Named Desire French writer Andri Maurois once said: A man cannot free himself from the past more easily than he can from his own body. This quote exemplifies one of the central themes in Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire. The past is something that characters are locked within chaining them to secret misdeeds and shameful actions ultimately leading them to the question of reality versus illusion, revealing their weaknessess and leading some of them towards their downfall. Williams presents to the audience the first issues of dealing with the past by one of the protagonists, Blanche. Born and raised in the Southern aristocracy, she cannot free herself from her rich past. She first arrives at the Kowalskys aparment daintily dressed in white in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklaces and ear-rings of pearl, white gloves and hat (pg 117) conveying the idea of a summer classic, completely contrasting with the jungle-like atmosphere of decay prevalent in the French Quarter. The author focuses on Blanches introduction as a dramatic technique in order to emphasize the idea of someone who is drawn to the past, by simply describing her wardrobe. Her white clothing portray her similar to a moth, drawn by the light, instead of repelled by it as the audience will soon notice. Her pearls symbolize the sadness she suffers from loss of love and failure. Despite all this, she maintains her rich-girl posture to remain linked to her past in Belle Reve. The plantation in which she and Stella grew up in was lost as their fathers, uncles, and brothers spent all their money drinking, gambling and womanizing. She is haunted by the deaths of her ancestors, which she attributes to their epic fornications. The sins of the fathers are visited upon their children is a good example of Blanches hysterical outburst in page 126, where she says, in an emotionally loaded phrase, I fought and bled. Tennessee Williams makes it clear that one cannot escape genetic inheritance because at the end, it all comes back. Another aspect of Blanche is also introduced to the audience in Scene 1, adding to her characterization: alcoholism. Blanche suffers from delirium tremens as she is drinking from Stanleys whisky bottle in page 120. She effortless tries to convince herself that ones her limit but instead just goes on drinking. Alcohol offers her a temporary amnesia, and a feeling of reassurance but instead, her actions become quite convulsive as she is talking to Stella and shaking all over and panting for breath as she tries to laugh. A state of drunken stupor enables her to take a flight of imagination, such as concocting a getaway with Shep Huntleigh. Her actions, however, do not go unnoticed by Stellas husband, Stanley, as he remarks liquor goes fast in this hot weather (pg 129). Equally, bathing has the same effect on Blanche, as the action is a motif for cleansing, as in baptism, where one is introduced to a new path, a new light. In light of her efforts to forget and shed her illicit past in the new community of New Orleans, these baths represent her efforts to cleanse herself of her odious history. Stanley also turns to water to undo a misdeed when he showers after beating Stella. The shower serves to soothe his violent temper; afterward, he leaves the bathroom feeling remorseful and calls out longingly for his wife (pg 153). Blanches long baths can be seen in almost all Scenes followed by her comments of being freshly bathed and scented, and feeling like a brand-new human being! (Pg 135). However, as Blanche finds herself in constant struggle against her past, Stella has no trouble forgetting it and marrying Stanley. Although she does feel sympathy for the loss of Belle Reve and weeps as Blanche accuses her of indifference (pg 127), she has thoroughly moved on and found confort in Stanleys arms and has chosen to be a part of his life, even adapting to his likes, such as that of reading a book of coloured comics. She no longer has a desire to live the aristocratic life as the plantation is an illusion of the past. By contrast, this scenery has been destroyed, giving space to a urbanized, modernized New Orleans setting. Stella can be seen as a catalyst to Stanley and Blanche as she is driven towards comercialism and has ignored to role of a fallen woman. She has married to Stanley Kowalsky, who has an intense, brutish masculinity, and takes pride in his sexual appetite. Stanley, in a way, denies his roots by responding to Blanche as she calls him a Polack, But what I am is a one hundred per cent American, born and raised in the greatest country on earth and proud as hell of it, so dont ever call me a Polack. (Pg 197) Following Stanley, Mitch is introduced. He acts as a foil to Stanley, as he is clumsy, slow thinking, shy, and insecure. The jokes present at the beginning of scene 33 (pg 144) are a parallel to Mitch, implying that he has spent so much time taking care of his ill mother that he has completely lost his sexual appetite. He has lived with his mother for his entire life, and cannot get away from the comfort zone. The only way to get away is by getting married to Blanche, which at first seems like a good idea for she does everything to look as feminine as possible, trying to conceal her past. For herself, Blanche sees marriage to Mitch as her means of escaping destitution. Mens exploitation of Blanches sexuality has left her with a poor reputation. This reputation makes Blanche an unattractive marriage prospect, but, because she is destitute, marriage is her only possibility for survival. Her will to impress Mitch is addressed by Williams through the interaction between them, where he speaks ungrammatically short and contemptuous lines, while Blanche evidently speaks with an enormous and overused vocabulary, which is artificially calculated and constructed by her in order for her achieve her aims. This is especially true in this scene, since Blanche resorts once more to the educated speech of a schoolteacher in order to take control of an aggressive situation (pg 150-51). The question of which characters represents light and dark is debatable, but it seems that both have an aspect of softness and harshness, whichever the audience decides to sympathize with. Even though Mitch and Blanches characters are complete opposites, there is one correlation between them. Blanches love letters from her husband as well as Mitchs cigarette case with love inscriptions with Blanches favorite sonnet by Mrs Browning (pg 149) show both of them holding onto their past. The silver metal case symbolizes Mitchs closed nature, inflexibility, as well as how he is not open for new ideas. Blanches love letters, on the other hand, symbolizes her young husband, who committed suicide as a result from her disapproval of his homosexuality. The love letters are taken as sacred objects, having a more than a sentimental value. In Scene 2, when Stanley is looking for Belle Reves papers, Blanche cannot contain herself from making a scandal after he touches the love letters instead, Your [Stanley] hands insult them, Ill burn them now! (Pg 139) The antagonistic relationship between Blanche and Stanley is a struggle between appearances and reality propelling the plays plot and creating an overarching tension. The author also conveys the idea of hiding from the past with the motif of light. Blanche tries to maintain the illusion of youth because she is afraid that she will become less attractive as she ages. She hides from all light, and when Mitch finally realises this (I dont think I ever seen you in the light pg 203), he shines a light on her, representing the death of her illusions, the possibility of getting married again. In general, light also symbolizes the reality of Blanches past. In Scene 6, she says the young boy turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow. Bright light, therefore, represents Blanches youthful sexual innocence, while poor light represents her sexual maturity and disillusionment. She is haunted by the ghosts of what she has lost-her first love, her purpose in life, her dignity, and the genteel society of her ancestors. Blanche covers the exposed lightbulb in the Kowalski apartment with a Chinese paper lantern, and she refuses to go on dates with Mitch during the daytime or to well-lit locations. He points out her avoidance of light in Scene Nine, when he confronts her with the stories Stanley has told him of her past. Mitch then forces Blanche to stand under the direct light as she responds by saying that she doesnt want realism. I want Magic! Yes, yes, magic! I dont tell the truth. I tell what ought to be truth! This passage in page 204, clearly describes her inability to accept her present status both socially and relationship wise. Blanches inability to tolerate light means that her grasp on reality is also nearing its end. Other dramatic devices used to portray the interference of the past in the characters lives are the sound effects. The Varsouviana, a song originally from Polands Warsaw, is used to dramatise the influence of the past on the present. It plays whenever Blanche remembers her past in Belle Reve and especially her husband Alan, who she always refers to as a boy, emphasising her feeling that they were too young to be married. When the music first appears, in scene one, it is because Stanley asks Blanche if she was married. This immediately shows the audience that the Varsouviana is related to Blanches past and will be a recurring motif throught the text. The polka and the moment it evokes represent Blanches loss of innocence. The suicide of the young husband Blanche loved dearly was the event that triggered her mental decline. Since then, Blanche hears the Varsouviana followed by a revolver shot whenever she panics and loses her grip on reality. The music plays in Blanches brain continuously as a recording that only the audience is likely to hear. In conclusion, the past is therefore recurring as all the characters have something hid, incapacibilitating them from performing some actions. It is unveilled as the play progresses proving once more, than one cannot free itself from it, but instead have to confront it, eventually leading some of them (Blanche) to their human desingtegration. Tennesse Williams A Streetcar Named Desire conveys the idea of the importance of ancestry and adds to the question of does your background affect what kind of actions you will persue in the future? Show preview only

What You Should Know about Stem Cells Essay -- Stem Cells Science Ethi

What You Should Know about Stem Cells A topic of extended scientific and ethical debate in our society as of late has been the question of Stem Cell research. Going down this path could yield unprecedented medical leaps in treatment and prevention that medicine will be able to offer. Before I address the debate of whether or not Stem Cell research should be done, I want to first explain to my readers what stem cells are, how they come to be and what we can use them for. We must first start with the different types of cells, I will explain them as I take you through part of the fetal development process. The first type of cell is the totipotent cell. This cell is created when a sperm fertilizes an egg. This kind of cell can become anything within the human body. After four days the totipotent cell begins to specialize by becoming a blastocyst. The blastocyst contains an outer layer of cells and an inner cell mass. The outer layer of cells will become the placenta and other support tissues for the fetus as it develops. The inner cell mass will go on to become virtually every type of tissue within the human body. The inner cell mass cannot create a placenta. Since it cannot form a placenta, it is no longer totipotent. It now becomes pluripotent, a cell with the ability to become any number of tissues within the human body. This is the cell that scientists are interested in. One part of Stem Cell debate is the question of when is a fetus a fetus? At what point is the potential for human life extinguished? At this stage the pluripotent cells while able to form almost every human tissue, cannot for a placenta. Therefore if you were to place the cells into another woman?s uterus a fetus would not develop. From this point the pluripotent cells further specialize and become the cells that create heat tissue or brain tissue etc. We need to understand the complex events that occur at this stage of development. There are genes referred to as ?decision making? genes. These genes direct how and what the pluripotent cells become. Now I will get into the possible benefits of Stem Cell research. Once we learn how the decision making genes work we can then begin to use the pluripotent cells to create the typed of tissues needed to treat patients with various types of sickness and disease. There is a bonus here as well. Birth defects an... ...t point come we may have already come to an ethical decision on what to do and with the knowledge already gained in research of adult stems cells we should be able to proceed quickly. Stem cell research is incredibly important. We as a civilization are standing on the brink of a major leap for our society and we must take that leap. Who knows that kinds of doors this research could open, who knows that other leads it could unveil for us? This research has the ability to change out culture, like the discovery of fire and the harnessing of electricity. We can?t let it slip away. Works Consulted: Adult Stem Cells May be Redefinable. 24. Oct. 2001. British Medical Journal. 24. Oct. 2001. http://www.Bmj.org/cgi/content/full/318/7179/282/b Stem Cells and the Human Embryo. 24. Oct. 2001. The Center for Bioethics and human Dignity. 29. Oct. 2001. http://www.bioethix.org/resources/overviews/stemcell.html Stem Cells: A Primer. 23. Oct. 2001. National Institute of Health. 29 Oct. 2001. http://www.nih.gov/news/stemcell/primer.htm Testimony of Nigel Cameron, PH. D. 24. Oct. 2001. Do No Harm Coalition. 24. Oct. 2001. http://www.stemcellresearch.org/testimonies/cameron2.htm

Timeline of British Crime Films of the 20th Century

British Crime Films Of The 20th Century 1910-1920 – WW1 (1914-1918), Depression, Unemployment, men out in France Fighting. 1911 – A Burglar For one Night (Bert Haldane) Silent Film Deals with unemployment (A problem at the time) A man fired from his job, turns to crime but is ‘rescued’ by his lover. Due to the war, the British crime film industry slowed down a little. People didn’t want to be reminded of the harshness of real life but wanted to be taken away from the war and real life therefore, crime films didn’t properly restart until the late 20’s thanks to Alfred Hitchcock. 920-1930 – The Great War had ended and things were looking better for Britain as unemployment and poverty decreased during the 20’s. 1927 – The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Hitchcock) Silent the first true ‘ Hitchcock film' About a man thought guilty by the police to be the killer of his sister amongst other beautiful women but is in fact innocent and is trying to kill the killer himself. A mob try an attack him thinking he's the killer but the real killer is caught just in time for him to be spared.He and his lover live happily ever after. 1929 – Blackmail (Hitchcock) Thriller drama first truly British ‘talkie film' but began as a silent film beautiful blonde accidentally kills rapist. A man knows she's involved and blackmails her into telling the police. He gets blamed (due to his criminal record), chased and dies while she is left innocent. 1930-1940 – British crime film prospered and different formats of film became popular, especially the ‘private investigator' film including the visualisation of the Sherlock Holmes Mysteries. 940-1950 – When WW2 was declared in 1939, instead of stopping altogether crime films adapted with films like, 1941 – Cottage to let (Asquith) A spy film Set in World War II Scotland, its plot concerns Nazi spies trying to kidnap an inventor. 1945 – Waterloo Road (Gilliat) An AWOL soldier returns to south London to save his wife from the advances of a philandering draft-dodger As the immediate post-war period attention focused on gangs that had evolved in the chaos of the urban home front. 1947 – Brighton Rock (Boulting) ilm noire This drama film centres on the activities of a gang of assorted criminals and, in particular, their leader A psychopathic young hoodlum known as â€Å"Pinkie† The film's main thematic concern is the criminal underbelly evident in inter-war Brighton. 1947 – Hue and Cry (Charles Crichton) A vivid portrait of a London still showing the damage of World War II. London forms the backdrop of a crime-gangster plot which revolves around a working-class children's street culture and children's secret clubs. 950-1960 – focus shifted again in the 50's where it looked at how youth crime was on the rise. 1953 – Cosh boy (Gilbert) 1960-1970 – as organised crim e became a reality in Britain the crime film shifted on the activities of criminal gangs and also was starting to present the criminal of the film as a hero 1967 – Robbery ( Yates) follows a gang performing the ‘great train robbery' The film follows their POV as the police try and hunt them down 1969 – The Italian Job (Collinson) gang of British thieves take on Europe in order to preserve British superiority and honour 1970-1990 – Organised crime films still retained their popularity until the late 90's where focus began to shift again. Until then crime films focusing on gang crimes remained popular be it with different themes like prostitution, IRA and the Irish civil war or living in an urban lifestyle. 1971 – Get Carter (Hodges) 1980 – The long Good Friday (Mackenzie) 1986 – Mona Lisa (Jordan) 1990 – The Krays (Medak) 1996 – Small Faces (MacKinnon)Late 90's – the ordinary ‘working-class' criminal came back into focus shortly after this that addressed the victim-criminal and the career-criminal. 1996 – Trainspotting (Boyle) placed drugs as the main focus of the film showing how drugs inflict onto society how the victims of drugs need to commit crime to support their habit. Going into the 21st century British crime films still relate around current social problems like drugs, prostitution etc†¦ they have become more stylised, gritty and realistic. Less romantic which was focused on in the early 20th century and more focused on current issues happening in the world today and real people.

Some Information about Rational Expectations Theory

The theory of rational expectations is particularly important for workers ideological of national security , because it is derived from the consequences of the assumption that reaches people in social policy in a rational way , and some of the consequences of its flavor from the ideological principles such as the principle of expediency or Maximin Rawlsian ( see (1 ) for a survey ) . Research has shown that the relevant bargaining in fashion that can be seen as rational from the point of the individual s point of view , such as the Nash bargaining or Raiffa - Kalai Smorodinsky bargaining , and results in agreements that are fair in some sense. Because of the rigor of this research , much of which depends on the mathematical proof , it is worth careful study of the effects of the ethical . Arguments contract One way to link an individual to work with the principle of rational thought is an argument of the social contract . The basic idea , which goes back to Thomas Hobbes (2) , is that rational individuals will participate in the social agreement to behave morally . They will do so because the alternative is chaos , that life solitary , poverty and filth , irrational , and short . Most importantly , it will continue to comply with the agreement , because (according to Hobbes ) it will install voluntarily and authoritarian government , which gives them an incentive strong to do so. In the context of modern economic standpoint Hobbs may see businesses andShow MoreRelatedNew Classical Macroeconomics And Macroeconomics Essay1555 Words   |  7 PagesNew Classical Macroeconomics is originally evolved from the school of Rational Expectations and monetarism. New classical Macroeconomics is also referred to the Macroeconomics of the rational expectations, or equilibrium method for Macroeconomics. 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