"Williams' American Dream"

All of us have a concept of the American Dream. It’s been glamorized in movies and TV shows for decades. We’ve heard politicians talk about it and we’ve heard about people achieving it. This dream, of going from rags to riches though hard work and coming to this nation with only a few pennies in one’s pocket has been talked about in literature since this country was founded almost. It is one of the most common tropes in literature. Tennessee Williams delves deep into our concept of the American Dream in his plays “Streetcar Named Desire” and “The Glass Menagerie” to form his own thoughts about what that really means.

“The Glass Menagerie” is in essence to me, a story about class and uniqueness. The Wingfields represent the nature of what it means to be an American Family to Williams. Amanda looks back and longs for the old days as an esteemed southern Belle, while striving to achieve some kind of life, through marital union, for her daughter Laura. Tom is the dutifully brother and son forced into being responsible for his family. This represents the American family, struggling along attempting to make it in the world. Then comes Jim O’ Conner, Tom’s fellow warehouse worker and proposed suitor to Laura. The situation that unfolds with Jim is used to illustrate the futility of hope, perhaps in Williams’ mind. The whole family is revolving around the prospect of Jim marrying Laura, when this hope is crushed at the revelation of his engagement. I think this is a window into Williams’ view of the American Dream. Perhaps the Dream is the obtaining of what we associate as the ideal American life.

In “Streetcar Named Desire” Williams continues to describe the American Dream in the comparison between ideal America, and the realistic industry that has developed. Blanche’s character is from a dying era, and has lost all her possessions, while Stanley survives on the sweat of his work in industry. To me, Williams is pointing out that the American Dream is not as magical as we believe it to be. It involves hard work, suffering, and toil. The conclusion of the story is interesting in the regard, when Stanley commits Blanche. The comparison between the two embodies Williams comparison between the magical America, and the real one. One involves heady ideas and inheritances, while the other is a gruesome struggle for survival in a harsh environment. I believe Williams is showing us two extreme views of what pursuing the American Dream looks like.