Streetcar_and_Death_of_a_Salesman

Question: “ Modern Literature asks questions instead of providing answers” Tennessee Williams along with Arthur Miller are considered two of the greatest American playwrights since World War II, their tragedies A Streetcar Named Desire and Death of a Salesman are assed as Modern American Literature. Both authors provide messages in order to help the reader understand the plays thoroughly but they do not offer answers to the questions asked. To a certain extent A Streetcar Named Desire and Death of a Salesman face the same difficulty: they are unable to provide answers. The protagonists Willy Loman and Blanche Dubois are assed with a tragic flaw : hubris that slowly destroys them socially and physically. Blanche Dubois’s vanity is exposed in the first scene of the play when she arrives at her sister’s house and questions her about her appearance “ You haven’t said a word about my appearance”. This remarks shows how Blanche is consumed by her looks and is unable to accept the passage of time and how much she has aged. Blanche is trapped in her own illusions and fails to grasp reality, for example when she lies about her unexpected visit in New Orleans and pretends she took a leave of absence. Willy Loman is also consumed by his vanity and his illusions opining that he is an important asset to his company, “ I’m the New England man, I’m vital in New England.” This statement exposes the misbelieves that Willy has of himself; in reality he is not vital in New England and fails to recognize it. The protagonist’s false aspirations enable his son Happy to make the mistakes as he did, for example Willy commits adultery and so does Happy with married women. The questions are in this case: To what extent are the characters victims of their flaws' Does Willy die because he is too conceited to face reality' And does Blanche never rehabilitate the present because she is trapped within her illusions' In fact the reader must discern for himself what ultimately destroys these two characters, is it their flaws' Is it society' In Blanche case the answers can be somewhat more obvious than in Willy Loman’s case. Stanley confronts his world to hers, his “real world” versus her “fantasy world” which inevitably destroys her since denies the present. Although for Willy we can discuss that both society and his flaws destroy him for example when his company releases Willy. Due to his relinquish Willy goes over the edge and becomes unstable. But on the other hand we can consider the fact that appearances and acceptance are what drive him to insanity. For example when Willy compares his sons to Greek Gods and enable them to believe that appearances and acceptance are the most valued qualities in society “Be liked and you will never want”. In this we can perceive Willy’s misconceptions of life and society. In all since the reader does not have any solutions to the protagonists problems, he can ask himself what could they have done differently to avoid their down fall' On the other hand we can discuss that modern literature asks questions but also provides the answers to them. To a certain extent the authors do deliver answer but in a subtle way, which is more perceived as a message than an answer. Throughout the novel the authors discretely offered solutions, which appeared more as opportunities or “doors” that protagonists ended up missing. For example in Death of a Salesman when Charley, Willy’s neighbor proposes him a job but Willy refuses the proposal “Why don’t you want to work for me'” This was an opportunity for Willy to turn his life around hence answering the reader’s question that Willy’s pride did destroy him. Along with the opportunities, Arthur Miller also delivers a message towards the end of the play which resembles more of a lesson than an answer but it can often clarify some questions. Arthur Miller’s message is a call for dignity of the common man which show the failure of the New American Dream, asking society to pay attention to the common man. For example towards the end of the play a confrontation erupts between Willy and his son Biff, Willy cannot come to terms with reality whereas Biff can. Although Biff tries to make his father understand that they are not worth anything, Willy denies it “ I am not a dime a dozen, I am Willy Loman and you are Biff Loman” Willy has momentarily relapse in which he realizes that his son loves him “ Isn’t that remarkable-Biff he loves me” but he quickly returns to his illusion with Ben “ The boat. We’ll be late” Tennessee Williams also offered opportunities to Blanche, which she turned down, for example when Mitch finds an interest in Blanche, but she commits adultery and lies about her past. Tennessee Williams also delivers a subtle message towards the end of the play, which permits the reader to answer certain question such as what caused Blanches downfall. The overall message of A Streetcar Named Desire is: deliberate cruelty is unforgivable, referring to Blanche’s rape, which pushed her over the edge which was Stanley’s intentions “ We’ve had this date with each other since the beginning” In all modern literature does ask question instead of providing answers but to a certain extent it leaves the reader in control of the answers, which is a positive outcome. If the authors gave the reader the answer than there would be no point in reading the novel or tragedy. Therefore the author would be forcing His answers upon the reader hence obliging the reader to believe that what the authors has said is automatically true. Whereas letting the reader search for his own answers is letting him understand the novel in his own way. We all understand and perceive things differently.