Minor Characters In A Streetcar Named Desire

Patrick Frampus
Professor Anne Dewey
English 202
2 July 2014
Eunice in A Streetcar Named Desire

In Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire he creates many minor characters that have a huge underlying significance in the plot. All of the minor characters have huge impacts on Stella, Stanley, and Blanche, all of whom are main characters. Eunice is both Stella’s friend and neighbor who often helps Stella when the going gets rough. Not only is Eunice very helpful, her relationship with her husband Steve gives us an understanding of the neighborhood and relationship between couples in general. In most aspects Eunice is actually quite similar to Stella and in fact Eunice is a close representation of what society was like at the time. We
Eunice’s relationship with her husband Steve is extremely similar to Eunice and Stanley’s relationship. Actually the two relationships are almost identical. Just like Stella, Eunice is also physically beaten by her husband. In scene five there seems to be some ruckus taking place up in Eunice’s flat and you soon hear Eunice scream at Steve “You hit me! I’m gonna call the police!” (Williams 86). But in Stella’s flat her and Blanche are able to giggle about the fight because they know that their relationship will go on and be okay regardless of the fight. Eunice quickly gets over the fight and turns to alcohol to forget about it and Stella refers to this as “much more practical!” (Williams 87). The fact the Eunice is able to get over the fight so quickly portrays hope for Stella. If Eunice is able to get over fights so quickly obviously it is possible for Stella to get over fights with Stanley hence the laughter. Similar to Eunice being abused, so is Stella in scene three. Stanley and his friends are playing poker and drunkenly “Stella charges after Stella” (Williams 63) and it is presumed she is physically attacked and she then goes on to say “I want to go away, I want to go away” (Williams 63) and she then storms up to Eunice’s flat where she is very welcoming and tries to keep Stella calm. Eunice once again shows her kind-heartedness when she defends Stella yells at Stanley “You can’t beat on
Eunice’ most significant scene comes during scene eleven when Blanche is in the bathroom. Through Eunice and Stella’s conversation in the beginning of the scene it is made clear that Stella and Stanley are planning on getting rid of Blanche by making “arrangements for her to rest in the country” (Williams 164-165) and Blanche believes they are sending her off to meet with Shep Huntleigh, the man she desires to be with. We quickly learn that Blanche is actually being sent off to a mental institution. While Blanche is still in the bathroom Stella is second guessing herself about whether she should actually send Blanche to an institution “I don’t know if I did the right thing” (Williams 165) and this is where Eunice plays a huge role and convinces her that she in fact did do the right thing. Stella admits she could not have continued to be with Stanley if Blanche continued living there, and Eunice responds to that with “life has got to go on. Not matter what happens, you’ve got to keep on going.” (Williams 166). Despite how tragic it is to be sending off her sister, Stella must allow her life to go on. If Eunice were not here to forbid Stella from changing her mind the entire ending of the play could have been different! Eunice literally put an ending to the play. With out her in this scene, Blanche would have continued to stay