Women In Fences And A Streetcar Named Desire

Power for women in America in the 1950s was a different for women than in present day. The plays Fences by August Wilson and A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, examines two different women from different social classes and races. Despite these women having vastly different pasts, there are some similarities in the role they play in their families and marriages and the way their power is important to the storylines of the two plays in relation to the other characters. Stella and Rose were both influential characters that have different elements of power, such as their caring nature and levels of control within their respective marriages, which impacts the storylines of their respective plays. Rose is the wife of Troy in the
She did not have the obvious power that Troy possessed. Nonetheless, she was more powerful as the caretaker and the one person that both Cory and Troy obviously cared about. Her position as a caring and peaceful mother gives her a lot of force as the story unfolds. Even during turbulent times in her marriage with Troy is the strong character that keeps the family together. When Troy has an affair and baby with Alberta, Rose remained the caretaker. Despite being angry with him during this time she continued to take care of him through her actions. She continued caring for the home and family, continuing to hold everyone together as she had for the entirety of the marriage, as she said, “I gave up everything I had to try and erase the doubt that you wasn’t the greatest man in the world” (Wilson 71). She was the caregiver for eighteen years for Troy, Cory, and to some extent Lyons. Then following the death of Alberta, she took Troy’s daughter Raynell in and raised her caring for her, even after Troy died, and she had no obligation to raise Raynell. The way Rose acted as a caretaker resembled the character of Stella in the play A Streetcar Named Desire. The way these two women embodied and controlled their power was vastly different. However their caretaking elements were critical in both plays. Stella had similar caretaking qualities to Rose, with her interactions with Stanley and her sister Blanche. However, her power in the way she cared for
This was the case when Blanche told Stella that Stanley had raped her. Stella refused to believe her sister because, “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with him” (Williams 1172). Due to her need to take care of herself and her child financially she wrote her sister off, with the power to determine both Blanche’s and Stanley’s fate. Blanche comes to see Stella in a vulnerable position. Stanley utilized some of his contacts and found out that Blanche, “for the last year or two she has been washed up like poison” (Williams 1157). He discovered that Blanche was not welcome to return to her hometown because she, “was kicked out of that high school, according to Stanley because, “a seventeen year old boy- she’d gotten mixed up with” (Williams 1157). Furthermore, Blanche arrives at Stella’s broke. In addition to losing her job as a teacher Blanche lost their families estate. Blanche told Stella, “you are the one that abandoned Belle Reve not I! I stayed and fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it (Williams 1123). Blanche does this in an attempt to blame Stella for the loss of the estate. However, after some prodding by Stella Blanche reveals despite these efforts she did, in fact, lose the Belle Reve (Williams 1123). These scenes reveal Stella’s power through socioeconomic status, ironic considering she lost a bit of socioeconomic status when