How Does Tennessee Williams Use Color In A Streetcar Named Desire

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Tennessee Williams uses colors throughout A Streetcar Named Desire multiple times. Williams uses color to express the theme of the struggles between the upper and lower classes, as the lower class characters are described as being upbeat, colorful and energetic, which disagrees with Blanche’s appearance, she’s described to be dressed in all white illustrating an absence of color. This shows how the two classes are going to eventually flip flop and the lower- working class will soon be more successful and strong and the upper class will lose its strength and its energy. Williams uses the motif of color throughout the play to advance the plot, show character growth, and foreshadow future events in the play. Color is used in these examples to portray the classes and how they relate to the people who represent them. “Roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes. Stanley carries his bowling jacket and a red stained package from a butchers” (2). This is when we first meet…show more content…
“Right on my pretty white skirt” (84). Here we see how easily Blanche can be weakened. She has faded, as represented by the white of her skirt, but it’s easily stained which shows the delicacy of Blanche’s situation. “This is after the home-place had slipped through her lily-white fingers!” (107). The fall of the upper class is represented by the lack of color in Blanche’s fingers, and her not being able to keep possession and control of her property. “Her appearance is incongruous to this setting. She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat” (3). There is no color, Blanche is just wearing white. This shows the upper class is beginning to decline because it lacks the liveliness of the lower class, which Williams believes will soon take place of the upper

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