Pub 2- Streetcar

John F. Kennedy once said, “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining”. In the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, Stella is stuck inside an illusion of a perfect life with her perfect husband Stanley. An illusion will help the broken repair what they know needs help in their lives. On page 1232 of the play, Stella says “I couldn’t go on believing her story and live with Stanley”. Stella is avoiding the truth about her sister Blanche so she can continue living her ideal life with her husband.

Stella is stuck inside a fantasy trying to convince herself that Stanley is a great husband and he would never do anything to hurt her. She tries to hide his mistakes and doesn’t think anything of them. On page 1190, as Stanley and his friends are playing cards, Stanley angrily attacks Stella. “Stanley charges after Stella. ..You lay your hands on me and I’ll-” Stanley has no control over himself and Stella doesn’t blame him, instead she blames the alcohol. Even when he beat her, she ran right back into his arms like nothing even happened. Stella didn’t want to believe her sister Blanche’s story because she knew that if she did, her fantasy of a perfect family, along with her arriving baby, would be ruined. She knew that she couldn’t be able to raise her baby alone and she needed a man in her life. Stella chose her husband over her sister so her fantasies would stay a reality.

Stella not believing Blanche’s rape may be connected to the Netflix show “Thirteen Reasons Why”. In “Thirteen Reasons Why”, the main character, Hannah Baker, has killed herself and gave her colleges a set of 13 tapes as to why she has harmed herself. The part of the show that is connected to the play is when the 13th and final tape is played for the audience. It includes that Hannah has been raped, and when she finally decides to tell someone about it, which is her guidance counselor, she gets a shocking reaction. The guidance counselor doesn’t believe Hannah when she tells him. Instead, he says that they were probably just playing around and it wasn’t an actual rape. He wasn’t confident in his answer, but, in order to keep the school’s reputation clean, he chose to shut out Hannah’s cry for help.

The show strongly relates to the play because just like the guidance counselor, Stella refused to believe Blanche’s cry for help. Both Blanche and Hannah’s rapes went unheard, and they both didn’t get the justice they deserved. Both Stella and the guidance counselor wanted to stay in their perfect realities, Stella with her perfect husband and perfect family, and the guidance counselor, with his perfect school reputation.

Despite Blanche’s cries, Stella didn’t believe a word her sister said. She chose to live a long, happy life with her husband and dump her sister in a mental hospital. Stella was motivated to keep her house perfect, as was the guidance counselor with his school. In both the play and the show, these two rapes, unfortunately, where ignored.