Gran Torino - Analytical Essay

Similar to Stanley, Blanche also faces a power struggle. Her ultimate downfall is a result of Stanley’s cruelty and lack of understanding for human fragility. Comments about Stanley’s ‘animal habits’ and ‘sub-human’ nature act as the agent of Blanche’s downfall. Stanley cannot deal with her mocking him in his own home and is fed up with her lies. During the final scenes his

Although Miss Dubois seems to grab the spotlight in terms of alcohol abuse, the reader must not overlook the play’s other abuser: Stanley Kowalski. However, Stanley’s dependence is quite different from Blanche’s as noted in a literary critique, A Streetcar Named Desire and Other Plays:

It was not just her self that put her in the lime light of being a victim; it is also her new change of environment and people. Stanley is Stella's husband; he is described to be very masculine and aware of his sexual magnetism. “Strongly, compactly built”. He is mostly at ease with people however, if they lack loyalty and affection to him, he will bully them. Especially women, as he believes them just to be easy conflict. It is seen in scene 3 that Stanley has little respect for women. “I said to hush up!” This is addressed to his wife who is seen emotionless and impassive in this play. As for Blanche how is fussy and at edge, she would be very effected by the crude attitude that Stanley presents and so tries to hysterical take Stella away from her husband. Stanley does not forget of this act of interference and makes him all the more determined to be rid of Stella’s “charity case”. The real reason for Stanley’s bulling is that Blanche immediately received all Stella’s attention. “How about my supper huh? I’m not going to no Galatorires’ for supper” This made Stella dominant in power over Stanley and Blanche, something Stanley was not used to. “I put you a cold plate on ice”.

Stephen’s father begins to notice all the time his son and Leka spend together talking, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company and so do the other pulp-cutters. They make ridiculous assumptions as to why Stephen and Leka spend so much time together, and they judge Leka, saying he is odd and has weird intentions just because he s from another country. Stephen s father orders his son to quit spending time with and talking to Leka because of the embarrassment it is causing him. At this moment Stephen feels scared and pressured by his father to obey because he is his father after all, and in the end he is convinced to distance himself from Leka. Although Stephen makes this decision that appears to show he‘s reverted to his old ways and beliefs of his father, we are given hope as we see Stephen still cares enough to wake Leka from a nightmare. Stephen grew up surrounded by men who believed they needed to be strong and fearless to be the best men they could be. He adopted these beliefs as his own because he didn’t know any better. When Leka began sharing his stories, Stephen was exposed to

In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, Stanley Kowalski is portrayed as a very stereotypical and animalistic man; he feels the need for dominance and is very condescending towards not only the women in the first three scenes, but those who he considers friends too. He is a common working man and his intentions with women are always sexual and demeaning.

Belle Reve has been lost. He does not care for Belle Reve as a bit of

In contrast the name Stanley offers no specific meaning in relation to meaning in the play. Secondly the name Dubois sounds aristocratic, with a possible proud heritage, whereas the name Kowalski sounds more modern. A Dubois speaks softly and flittingly, as the name is pronounced, whereas a Kowalski speaks loudly and brutally as the name is said. Kowalski 's enjoy loud, rowdy poker parties, whilst Dubois 's wince and prefer teas, cocktail parties and luncheons. The names of these two characters help in constructing the conflict between the two classes. The dialogue of Blanche and Stanley and the symbolic use of names help to construct class conflict in the play, A Streetcar Named Desire.

The conflict between old and new is demonstrated clearly by a statement made by Stanley, which really shows the audience how contrasted the two families in the play are, ‘The Kowalskis and the Du Bois

The film Pleasantville directed by Gary Ross is about two modern teenagers, David and his sister Jennifer, somehow being transported into the television, ending up in Pleasantville, a 1950s black and white sitcom. The two are trapped as Bud and Mary Sue in a radically different dimension and make some huge changes to the bland lives of the citizens of Pleasantville, with the use of the director’s cinematic techniques. Ross cleverly uses cinematic techniques such as colour, mise-en-scene, camera shots, costumes, music and dialogue to effectively tell the story.

Much like Mitch, Stella does nothing to address Stanley’s overemphasized masculinity. Stella has convinced herself that she enjoys her role as Stanley’s sexual object, which allows him to continue his problematic behavior. She is there for his gratification and her well-being is irrelevant. To be fair, during this time period Stella did not have many options for herself if she were to leave Stanley, but her complacency speaks volumes. Stella is the example of what happens when no one challenges a patriarchal society. She is complacent and therefore in part responsible for her own downfall as well as Blanche’s. Her failure to acknowledge the assault Stanley carried out on her sister is almost just as bad as the assault itself. The reader is left to assume that because she has refused to stand up to Stanley for herself or for her sister, her son will grow up to be like his father, creating another generation of Kowalski men who believe that being a man means being brutal and oversexualized. Stella is undeniably in a tough situation and her fear of ending up like her

Stanley Kowalski is a controlling, aggressive, dominant man. His worst features come to surface when he

Finally, Stanley rapes Blanche because “he has tried and tried to keep her down to his level” (Kagan 26) but she cannot go there.  The rape is his way of getting her there.  In the powerful scene where Stanley loses total control of his actions and strikes the person whom he has sworn to protect, love and cherish, William's shows Stanley's lack of control and hatred of the new threat in his life, Blanche.  What makes this scene so important to the topic is the way that the three characters react once the party has broken up.  Blanche is in her usual state of panic; Stella has retreated upstairs, while Stanley stumbles around calling out 'Steeelllaaa' in a drunken sweaty animal-like manner.  Surprisingly Stella answers her mate's calls and embraces him, the two of them exchanging words of compassion and kisses.  Stanley then picks up Stella and carries her off to his den to make love, which is Stanley's way of apologizing.  Stanley has to be the dominant male figure in all his relationships, not only with Stella and Blanche, but with his friends as well.  He is a leader and instantly rises to the challenge whenever his status is threatened.

Stanley is the epitome of machismo, interested in only the basic pleasures, which are parallel to what a simple animal enjoys. Stella, Stanley’s wife, is the mediator between Blanche and Stanley, though she ultimately fails in preventing these two from verbal or, later, physical violence. Essentially, Blanche instigates the “fight” by entering the apartment and trying to usurp Stanley’s reign, which is partly comprised of Stella’s love and attention. Without even seeing Stanley, Stella immediately sizes him up and subscribes to the idea that the Polish are“ not so-high-brow” (23). There is a dialogue between Stanley and Stella about Stanley, stating:

Stanley Kowalski created gender roles to maintain control of Stella Kowalski and will allow nothing to get in the way of feeling superior. Stanley “wants to live as lord of his domain, in sexual union with his wife. He wants nothing to interfere with his dominion (Welsh 27).” When Stanley’s status is threatened, the frustration

Snowstorms are angry, loud, and dangerous. This is very much like how Stanley Kowalski is portrayed in the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams. Stanley loves to be the man of the house, however, when Blanche comes around, she starts criticizing Stanley and telling Stella that he is animalistic and not a good person. Stanley feels threatened and angry that Blanche is changing Stella’s attitude towards him and he feels that his role as the king is not being respected anymore. Blanches’ influence on Stella causes Stella to call Stanley greasy and order him to clear the table. Stanley then, hurls a plate on the floor and starts shouting, “...them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister’s too much around here! What