FACULTAD DE FILOLOGÍA

UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA

FACULTAD DE FILOLOGÍA

GRADO EN ESTUDIOS INGLESES

Trabajo de Fin de Grado

From Women to Women: The Portrayal of

Violence Against Women in A Streetcar Named
Desire and Flyin’ West

Autora: Lara Lebrero Lozano

Tutora: Olga Barrios Herrero

Salamanca, 2014
 FACULTAD DE FILOLOGÍA

UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA

FACULTAD DE FILOLOGÍA

GRADO EN ESTUDIOS INGLESES

Trabajo de Fin de Grado

From Women to Women: The Portrayal of

Violence Against Women in A Streetcar Named
Desire and Flyin’ West

This thesis is submitted for the degree of English Studies

2 September 2014

Tutora: Olga Barrios Herrero

Vº Bº

Signature
ABSTRACT [EN]

This essay deals with the analysis of characters in two North American plays, Tennessee

Williams‟ A Streetcar Named Desire and Pearl Cleage‟s Flyin’ West, and attempts to

analyze their response towards the gender violence they are subjected to. Both plays reflect

the mentality of the times they were published in, 1947 and 1995 respectively. The first one

is significant for its portrayal of patriarchy while the second one is more orientated towards

demonstrating struggles based on gender and race and the importance of solidarity among

women as a force field against patriarchy. Coinciding with two different waves of feminism

both plays illustrate two reactions against violence which differ strongly form each other;

the former deals with the helplessness of the woman‟s situations in marriage and her

ultimate submission to her male victimizer while the latter shows the collective courage of

women and their active engagement in order to free a woman from her abusive husband.

With these two different kinds of approach towards gender violence, the authors of both

plays try to make the readers conscious about the importance of gender equality in order for

women to break out of the patriarchal chains and be free thinking and independent

individuals.

KEYWORDS: Feminism, gender violence, North American theatre, A Streetcar Named

Desire, Flyin’ West, women‟s reactions to violence.

RESUMEN [ES]

En este ensayo trato de analizar los personajes de dos obras de teatro norteamericano: A

Streetcar Named Desire de Tennessee Williams y Flyin’ West de Pearl Cleage; teniendo en

cuenta la actitud que muestran respecto a la violencia de género a la que están expuestos.

Ambas obras reflejan la mentalidad de la época en la que son publicadas, en 1947 y 1995;
la primera más aferrada a la sociedad patriarcal, y la segunda más liberal respecto a los

problemas y a la imagen de la mujer. Coincidiendo con dos movimientos feministas

distintos, estas dos obras reflejan dos reacciones a la violencia de género completamente

diferentes: la primera muestra la sumisión de la mujer respecto al hombre y la segunda

muestra la valentía de la mujer para enfrentar una situación de violencia y lograr ser

liberada de su opresor. Con estos dos finales los autores pretender concienciar a todas las

mujeres de la importancia que tiene rechazar una actitud machista para poder ser libre e

independiente.

PALABRAS CLAVE: Feminismo, violencia de género, teatro norteamericano, A Streetcar

Named Desire, Flyin’ West, reacciones de la mujer a la violencia.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To my parents who have encouraged me and have lent me their constant and

unwavering support throughout the process of writing this dissertation. I am extremely

grateful to them for all the sacrifices they have made for me till date and their trust and

confidence in me. I thank them because everything I am today is because of them.

To my tutor, Olga Barrios, whose commitment, thoroughness and critical insight

regarding my work have helped me to do my best. Thanks to her I have discovered that

mistakes are a part of the learning process and that we must constantly try and improve

ourselves and never give up. Under her guidance, I have developed my critical reasoning

skills which have made me more acutely aware of experiences and topics concerning

gender issues.

To Teresa, whose patience and kindness have always managed to cheer me up when

I needed it the most. She has been by my side during the entire process of writing; her faith

in me gives me the power to believe in myself.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1

1. The History of Feminism ........................................................................................ 2

1.1.First Wave of Feminism ................................................................................ 3

1.2.Second Wave of Feminism ............................................................................ 3

1.3.Third Wave of Feminism ............................................................................... 4

1.4.Black Feminism ............................................................................................. 5

2. A Historical Overview on Gender Violence ........................................................... 8

2.1. Main Causes of Mistreatment ..................................................................... 10

2.2. Different Types of Mistreatment ............................................................... 12

2.3. Women‟s Attitude Towards Mistreatment ................................................. 13

3. Various forms of Gender Violence in American Plays –

A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Flyin’ West (1995) .............................. 14

3.1.The subordination of female characters in Tennessee Williams‟

A Streetcar Named Desire ............................................................................. 14

3.2.Sorority of Women Against Male Oppression in Pearl Cleage‟s

Flyin’ West .................................................................................................... 19

Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 23

Work Cited ................................................................................................................ 25

 Lebrero 1

INTRODUCTION

Throughout history, women have fought for gender equality attempting to break

down oppressive patriarchal norms, such as subordination of women by men, their

treatment as second-class citizens and the association of womanhood solely to her role as

mothers and wives. However, it was not until the nineteenth Century that women joined for

the first time in a women‟s movement (the Suffragette Women‟s Movement) to fight for

their rights. This movement has been considered part of the First Wave of Feminism.

Though the perspectives have differed in each wave, women in all three Waves of

Feminism have nonetheless raised their voices for women‟s rights against inequality,

gender violence and racial discrimination. The First Wave, which started at the end of the

nineteenth century till the beginning of the twentieth century, focused on attaining equality

between women and men with regards to legal rights; the Second Wave dealt with social

and political inequality between the two genders although it only took into account the

concerns of middle-upper class white women; and finally, the Third Wave of Feminism,

focused on gender violence and also dealt with the discrimination suffered by women of

color.

The gradual increase in awareness regarding women‟s rights could be attributed to

these three Waves of Feminism as well as the use of theatre as a medium for the same. In

the plays, the authors illustrate violent situations of sexual and racial discrimination in order

to expose the daily harassment suffered by women in society and thereby attempting to

instigate a reaction and create awareness among the audience. Two notable examples of

North American plays which deal with these feminist themes are Tennessee William‟s A

Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Pearl Cleage Flyin’ West (1995). These two plays,

though in different ways, deal with the theme of gender violence which is rightfully

depicted as something deep-rooted within the patriarchal framework of society. Both plays
 Lebrero 2

show female characters with distinct personalities as well as different methods and ways of

addressing the issue of gender violence. The final solution given in the two plays vary

vastly from each other and this could be due to the different time periods in which they

were written –the publication of the first play was during the First Wave of Feminism while

the second one coincided with the Third Wave. As aforementioned these two waves fought

for women issues but differed in terms of perspectives and primary goals and motives.

In this paper I will discuss the three waves of feminism and the various causes, types

and consequences of gender violence. I shall then proceed to analyze the different

behavioral responses of the characters to the issue of gender violence in both plays, as per

their personalities which could be broadly categorized into rebellious or submissive; and

their attitude towards the type of violence they suffer, which are either gradual acceptance

and tolerance or resistance and rejection.

1. The History of Feminism

Pearl Cleage claims that “women are full human beings capable of participation and

leadership in the full range of human activities – intellectual, political, sexual, social,

spiritual and economic” (qted. by Collins 12). I use this quotation to begin my chapter on

the history of feminism because Cleage‟s definition of feminism makes no distinction

between women of different races and classes. Her statement includes all women, white and

non-white women, because all of them throughout history have fought for their right to

equality with men and freedom from patriarchal oppression.

In this section I attempt to explain the three waves of feminism and the key reasons

behind their materialization into crucial movements. Education, women‟s rights, the right to

vote and gender equality were the main agendas which gave rise to feminist movements.

Furthermore, I will introduce Black Feminism because it is present as a subcategory in

 Lebrero 3

these three waves. However, Black Feminism must be viewed in its own right because the

term feminism as such varies from woman to woman depending on race, age, class or

culture.

1.1. First Wave of Feminism.

This First Wave of Feminism took place during the late nineteenth century and the

early twentieth century, although it formally began at the Seneca Falls Convention in New

York, in 1848. During this period women focused on marriage, parenting and property

rights. At the end of nineteenth century this feminist movement began to be related to the

abolitionist movement, whose arguments were used by feminists to fight for human rights

and equality in an attempt to end slavery. The abolitionist and women‟s rights movements

brought together white and black women although the former, middle class white women,

did not advocate the presence of the latter, poor black women, in the women‟s rights

movement. I will explain this racial discrimination within the feminist movement in the

forth section, which deals with Black Feminism. During the first decades of the twentieth

century, at the end of the First Wave Feminism, the women‟s rights movement stuck

together to the Suffragist Movement. For the women the right to vote became an important

step towards being treated as more effective members of the society. In 1920, women in the

United States achieved this goal and were enfranchised. However, despite of that, most

white women voted as their male-counterparts did, without actually making an independent

decision about their own choice.

1.2. Second Wave of Feminism

This movement took place during the second half of the XX century, between the

60s and 90s. This wave fought for social and political inequalities as opposed to the First

Wave which was focused on the legal aspects between men and women. Some authors say
 Lebrero 4

that the Second Wave began in United States with the publication of Betty Friedan‟s The

Feminine Mystique (1963); others mark the beginning in the years 1968/1969 when the

Miss America Pageant was met with criticism because the feminists believed that its

meaning was reduced to portraying women as mere objects of beauty as per the codified

norms of patriarchy. This movement was more radical than the First Wave of Feminism and

they claimed for freedom of expression of sexuality and reproductive rights, they also tried

to deal with patriarchal oppression, capitalism and the role of women as wives and mothers.

However, the Second Wave Feminists sought specifically the liberation of white upper-

middle class women without taking into consideration the rights of colored women.

One radical organization during the Second Wave of Feminism was called

Redstockings, founded in 1969. They believed that women were oppressed as a class and

spread the idea of conscious-raising groups (C-R) and the slogan Sisterhood is Powerful. C-

R groups were important for women because they gave the women a platform to interact

with each other, shared their experiences and therefore provided solidarity and support to

each other. It also helped in spreading awareness regarding what patriarchy really meant

and how women were oppressed. Redstockings‟ women believed that sexual differences

were more relevant than class and race differences. Once again, in spite of claiming that

Sisterhood is Powerful, they did not take into account the experiences and concerns of the

poor and colored women.

1.3.Third Wave of Feminism

This wave began in the mid-90s and is a mixture of different types of feminism,

such as Grrrl-feminism, New Feminism, Multiracial Feminism and Postcolonial Feminism

among others. This movement had “local, national and transnational activism in areas such

as violence against women, trafficking, body surgery or self-mutilation” (Three Waves of

 Lebrero 5

Feminism, From Suffragettes to Grrrls 17). Besides, the Third Wave of Feminism

readopted elements that were considered oppressive by the First and the Second Wave

feminists like lip-stick. Beauty products specially created for women were regarded as

accessories that harmed women‟s self confidence, i.e. a woman is not worthy enough for a

man and therefore must beautify herself. This trend of women altering themselves for men

can be seen in the light of the Miss America Pageant in 1968/1969 as I have commented

before. The whole notion of beauty becomes objectified through the patriarchal gaze of

society. As Martha Rampton claims in her article, Pinkfloor expressed that “it is possible to

have a push-up bra and a brain at the same time” (“The Three Waves of Feminism.”).

In this period women fought for further changes in stereotypes and the kind of

language used to define them. Certain achievements made in the Second Wave, such as

access to contraception or domestic-abuse shelters, became a tool in the Third Wave of

Feminism, which made use of the internet to further enhance their movement.

One important aspect of this last wave of feminism is the issue of gender violence,

which I will explain in the second chapter of this paper. It was the central issue of the Third

Wave and it infringed upon white and non-white women; women of all classes and races

came together to participate in this movement fighting for their rights. Postcolonial

Feminism is another subcategory of feminism which focuses on non-white women or

women from the colonies and tries to bring into light how so far feminism has solely

focused on the experiences of women in Western cultures. It criticizes previous ideas of

feminism because they generalized the experiences of all women.

1.4.Black Feminism

Black Feminism aimed exclusively towards black women‟s rights, working in

parallel with the previous waves of feminism. Within this group there were women of color
 Lebrero 6

and third-world women who lent a voice towards legitimate criticism against Western

Feminism for focusing only on themselves. The fact that black women were doubly

marginalized based on their gender and race, became the most important factor for the

emergence of Black Feminism.

In the middle of the nineteenth century Sojourner Truth, a black woman who

achieved freedom after living in slavery became an important figure for Black Feminism.

During the second annual convention of the women‟s rights movement in 1852 she gave a

famous speech, “Ain‟t I a Woman”, in which she called for the attention of black slave

women by talking about her personal experiences. The reactions to her speech were diverse,

some people criticized her and others became conscious of the situation. Despite being

more affected by patriarchal oppression, black women were not taken into account during

the First Wave of Feminism because of white women‟s racism. As Bell Hooks points out in

her book Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, “the 19th century women‟s rights

movement could have provided a forum for black women to address their grievances, but

white female racism barred them from full participation in the movement” (161). Besides, it

may be said that white women defended their racist attitude by claiming that black women

were only interested to work for the benefit of blacks while they were more oriented

towards women and their rights. Black women then created only black women groups such

the National Association for Colored Women in 1896, as a reaction against the

discrimination they suffered.

Black and white women fought for their rights but in different ways and times.

While blacks fought against poverty and prostitution, white women fought for education

and charity. However, during the twentieth century both were involved in the Suffragist

Movement. The issues of race and gender became connected but after the enfranchisement

both strings of feminisms got separated again, forming Black Feminism and the Second
 Lebrero 7

Wave of Feminism. While white women enjoyed their right to vote, black women suffered

the consequences of a system of racial apartheid. During the 1930s black women‟s main

focus was on racism, meanwhile, as I explained before, white women sought gender

equality.

During the 1960s, many black women accepted their subordination as they believed

that a “woman‟s role was that of a helpmate to her man” (Hooks 182). They assumed that

supporting oppression could be good for the Black community because white women

accepted it and they did not rebel against this abuse, so to look like them black women

became more passive and tolerant towards patriarchy. After four decades, at the end of the

twentieth century, all women fought for women‟s rights as a single unified voice without

giving way to distinctions based on race or class. They all cooperated and participated in

organizations and groups, and gradually they started to realize that each woman‟s

experience was unique and they formed a stronger sisterhood by taking into consideration

non-white women‟s concerns.

To sum up, these three Waves of Feminism were involved with women‟s issues

although only the last wave focused more strongly on the issue of gender violence and the

situation of women of color. The various different agendas in each wave are reflected in

many literary works, such as Tennessee William‟s A Streetcar Named Desire and Cleage‟s

Flyin’ West. The former was published in 1947, coinciding with the beginning of the

Second Wave, while Cleage‟s play, Flyin’ West was published in 1995 during the Third

Wave of Feminism. Consequently, on the one hand, in A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams

brings into focus the theme of violence by creating characters like Stella and Stanley, a

dysfunctional couple where the woman despite being physically abused continues to stay

with her aggressor. On the other, Pearl Cleage focuses on the themes of violence against
 Lebrero 8

women based on racial prejudices and offers a solution in the form of resistance by creating

a strong bond among black fearless women as portrayed by Sophie and Mrs. Leah.

2. A Historical Overview on Gender Violence

This chapter deals with the complex definition of gender violence. In a short

introduction to this chapter I will explain the different terms related with women and

violence, such as domestic violence, gender violence and sexist violence. Those terms have

a lot of in common but they are used in different contexts. Gender and sexist violence refer

to mistreatment by a male dominant authoritative figure against a woman considered a

subordinate figure inferior by that man in lieu of her sex. However, domestic violence

occurs in the familiar environment, and there is no reference to gender (the victims can be

women, men, children or old women and men.)

In this chapter I will consider the theme of gender violence by explaining the causes,

the types and the reactions to it by the victimized women. As noted before, it was during

the Second Wave of Feminism when gender violence emerged as one of the important

issues. Nevertheless, in order to interpret the roots of gender violence one must consider the

constant presence of the dictates of the patriarchal order effective from several decades in

the minds of the people and how it still continues to exist in the present day scenario.

Patriarchal society, as the term itself suggests, is about a male supremacist society which

leads to unjust treatment of women. For decades women have been considered the weaker

sex and men have used this belief in order to further strengthen their dominant grasp on

women. Patriarchy views woman as mere objects considering them men‟s property. As it is

pointed out in the article of the United Nations “Ending Violence against Women: From

Words to Action,” “violence against women is a form of discrimination and a violation of

 Lebrero 9

human rights . . . [it] stops them from fulfilling their potential, restricts economic growth

and undermines development” (i).

In order to render women powerless, patriarchy deprives women of their freedom in

all aspects of life, such as economic, social, sexual, etc. At the beginning, women are not

able to identify the mistreatment because it starts slowly with the use of “control and

isolation strategies” (39), as it is described in 161 respuestas sobre la violencia de género

(desde el derecho constitucional, la sociología, la psicología y el derecho procesal). These

strategies grow in intensity until they reach their peak in its violent form, physical abuse.

Mistreatment is a cycle that, according to Lenore Walker, has three “distinct phases

associated with a recurring battering cycle: (1) tension-building accompanied with rising

sense of danger, (2) the acute battering incident, and (3) loving-contrition” (91). During the

first phase a drastic change occurs in the batterer‟s behavior that the victim cannot explain.

She usually believes that it is caused by stress and tension at work, or that it is the

consequence of external issues rather than psychological or mental ones. In order to avoid

this rage-inducing behavior of the man she tries to do her best and initially she mistakenly

believes that she has the situation under control. Nevertheless, this first phase is the

beginning of the psychological process of learned helplessness. This process is experienced

by people who suffer harassment in their homes, and they are unable to reach a solution. As

a consequence women are left trapped and helpless and become vulnerable targets of

gender violence.

The second phase, the acute battering incident, reflects the increase in tension and

the batterer attacks the victim verbally and physically. The figure of the police or the third

person, who intercedes as an intermediary, appears in this phase. At the end of this stage the

tension between both, the aggressor and the victim, is reduced, but the victim‟s fear reaches

alarmingly high levels.

 Lebrero 10

The final stage is the one of regretting, which lacks tension. The batterer appears to

be regretful and considerate towards the victim and tries to please her so that she forgives

him and forgets the violence he inflicted on her in the previous stages and she thinks that

the aggressive behavior of the batterer was a mistake and will never occur again. As Lenore

Walker points out “the batterer himself may believe . . . that he will never allow to be

violent again” (94). Battered women stay with their aggressor because most of the actions

that took place during their courtship period occur again in this stage and women are won

back, which is clearly illustrated by Stella‟s behavior with Stanley in William‟s A Streetcar

Named Desire as it will be examined later.

2.1.Main Causes of Mistreatment.

In this section I will analyze the reasons given by men as justification for their abuse

of women. The most obvious reason is the sexist ideology of men legitimizing the notion

that women are inferior to men in all aspects. Men, therefore, with the belief that they are

stronger and better, dominate women physically, financially and emotionally and

consequently the women are bereft of any authority and power to operate as independent,

free thinking individuals. As mentioned before, women try to explain this behavior but

when dealing with this “causa estructural” (32) (structural cause), as it is defined in 161

respuestas sobre la violencia de género, there are no arguments for men to stop their

violent actions.

As the batterer‟s aim is to deny women any effective power it is important to take

into account that when a couple is not well educated or comes from a poor economic

background, the woman is more vulnerable to attacks of gender violence because the man

who lacks power in the outside world tries to negate its absence by asserting power on the

woman. As William J. Goode claims “individuals lacking other means of power, such as
 Lebrero 11

income or educational status, will be more likely to rely on violence to achieve greater

power within the relationship” (636). Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire and Minnie in

Flyin’ West fall into this category as it will be studied in next section. Nevertheless, culture

and economic status are not only the causes of mistreatment, as neither is addiction to

alcohol or drugs. As explained in 161 respuestas sobre la violencia de género people tend

to blame these external issues, and use them as an excuse to validate gender violence (57).

Although, consumption of drugs and alcohol does affect the mental stability of the

victimizer, their aggressive behavior arises more out of the general feeling of male

superiority, which during the state of inebriation further heightens itself.

On the other hand, some men justify their behavior declaring psychological

problems as the main cause, as Marta Fernández-Morales, Inmaculada Pineda-Hernández,

et al claim in their essay on "Violence Against Women: Forms and Responses": “[Men]

introduce the themes of jealousy and uncontrolled sexual desire as serious psychological

factors” (22). These reasons are perfect examples of sexist thought, also the theme of

jealousy, mentioned by William Stacey and Anson Shupe, “suggests that the man is

consumed with fears of the woman‟s promiscuity yet preoccupied with his own barely

restrained sex drives” (50). Men hide their sexist thoughts using these psychological, and

presumably uncontrollable, problems to keep on considering natural to see women as their

property.

To end with, I argue that there is only one main cause of gender violence which is

the men‟s belief that women are inferior and therefore must be subordinated and controlled.

In order to deny women any power men resort to the use of violence in various ways, which

I will elaborate in the following section.

 Lebrero 12

2.2.Different Types of Mistreatment.

As aforementioned, there are several types of violence that men use to make women

powerless. These are physical, psychological, economic, social, ambient and sexual abuses.

The first one, physical abuse implies the use of force in order to cause bodily harm.

As I have commented in the previous section physical violence takes place during the

second phase of the cycle of violence. I refer to psychological abuse when the aggressor

denies power to the victim by attacking her psychological and emotional integrity. The

aggressor achieves his purpose of reducing the power of the victim and she experiences the

process of learned helplessness and finally, she becomes a passive subject. If the batterer

believes that his victim is still powerful he begins to use another type of violence: the third

one, economic abuse, which deals with the intentional privatization of women‟s well-being

resources. Furthermore, it aims at effective discrimination and segregation of women

regarding access to shared resources. Men, therefore have control over women because they

lack the resources necessary for their survival and so they become even more dependent

and subordinate to him. Social mistreatment deals with the act of humiliation, shaming and

mocking of the woman in public: ambient abuse refers to the damaging of objects which are

of high sentimental or material value to the victim. And finally, the last form of violence is

that of sexual abuse. It refers to forced sexual activity by one without the consent of the

other. Alluding to the thoughts of a man who is clinging on to patriarchal ideas, the batterer

uses this type of abuse to make the woman sexually submissive, and to reinforce the

traditional definition of men as the superior sex and women as mother and wife, whose only

aims in life are to bear and raise children and performing the tasks as expected of them

within the framework of marriage, thereby adhering to the rules set for women by the male

dominated society.
 Lebrero 13

2.3.Women‟s Attitude Towards Mistreatment

As I have previously explained, in the third phase of the cycle defined by Lenore

Walker as “loving-contrition” (91) the batterer tries to make the victim forget about the

suffering caused by the abuse he had inflicted and he puts in his best efforts to have a

peaceful reunion with his beloved. However, when this same cycle of violence is repeated

several times, the victim realizes that nothing will change but she still continues to stay with

her aggressor. The battered women usually believe that they cannot escape from the

situation because as Michael J. Strube and Linda S. Barbour declare “both economic

dependence and commitment were significant; and independently, related to decisions to

leave an abusive relationship” (785). They are economically dependent on their male

partners and furthermore, as mothers they do not want to abandon their children by walking

out of the marriage.

The main reason why a woman remains in a relationship with the aggressor is the

supposed economic dependence on her husband. I define it as supposed because, in my

opinion, it is ironical for the victim to think that if she leaves her abusive husband her future

will be uncertain and unpleasant, despite the fact that her present is not any better. She

chooses to stay in an abusive relationship where at least the man supports her economically

even though she has no power and freedom of her own. The prospect of not leaving the man

is further diminished if the aggressor and the victim have children as the mother would not

want to be separated from her children and therefore continues to suffer silently for their

sake. The woman believes that separation from the aggressor is not in the best interest of

the kids as Strube and Barbour have stated “traditional values suggest that being a wife and

mother are the most important roles of a woman . . . and that one cannot be a full woman

unless one is married” (786). Because of the presence of social prejudices, such as
 Lebrero 14

traditional values of patriarchy, women keep on living together with their aggressor,

suffering the abuse silently.

There was a time when the women too sincerely believed that they were born to

please men and diligently obeyed the rules set by the society but over the past few decades,

patriarchy is slowly but surely losing its stronghold. In the next chapter I will analyze how

the authors Tennessee Williams and Pearl Cleage have treated the theme of gender violence

in their plays, A Streetcar Named Desire and Flyin’ West, respectively. Both plays deal

with this issue set in different periods of time and from different perspectives, the first one

from a white male perspective and the second one from a colored female perspective. In

both plays we come across characters (Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire and Sophie in

Flyin’ West,) who fight against gender violence and see it as an inhuman and intolerable

act. In addition to this, both authors have created submissive characters who get victimized

(Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire and Minnie in Flyin’ West) in order to make the reader

conscious about the magnitude of the problem of violence. In the next chapter I will analyze

the behavior of both brave and submissive characters and also the dominant male figures of

the plays. All these characters will be analyzed according to the types, causes and

consequences of mistreatment which I have commented on at the beginning of this section.

3. Various Forms of Gender Violence in American Plays – A Streetcar Named Desire

(1947) and Flyin’ West (1995)

3.1. The Subordination of Female Characters in Tennessee Williams‟ A Streetcar

Named Desire.

Published in 1947, at the beginning of the Second Wave of Feminism, this

American play is one of the first to deal with the issue of gender violence in the United
 Lebrero 15

States and it shows how abused women in a domestic setting are unable to actively engage

in any kind of resistance due to their inferior and powerless status within the patriarchal

structure. American playwright Tennessee Williams illustrates this delicate situation by

creating two female characters, Stella Kowalski and Blanche DuBois, and both are shown

to be victims of gender inequality. For Williams, “frustration is the surface evidence of the

predicament of his female characters” (Blackwell 9). In this play the issue of frustration is

related with the problem of gender violence because Stella has to decide whether she should

continue to stay with Stanley Kowalski, her aggressor, or to break with him and live with

her sister, who too has been abused by Stanley and is depressed due to her loneliness. In

this section I will analyze the attitude of these two female characters in relation to Stanley‟s

aggressive and abusive character.

Stanley Kowalski is the male protagonist of the play, and right at the beginning of

the play he is described as:

Medium height, about five eight or nine, and strongly, compactly built.

Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest

manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women . . . [he has] the power

and the pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens . . . he sizes women up at a

glance, with sexual classifications. (128. Emphasis added)

With this description of Stanley, we are immediately able to identify him as a

dominating character who only sees women as mere sexual objects whose sole purpose,

according to him, is to provide him pleasure in whichever way he wants. He is also violent,

aggressive and insensitive to the women characters around him; whom he constantly

attempts to control, using his power as a man.

The analysis of Stanley Kowalski„s character is a good way to understand the cycle

of violence −previously commented upon in the second chapter. During the first phase, as
 Lebrero 16

referred to by Lenore Walker, we see “tension-building accompanied with rising sense of

danger” (91), Stanley would have experienced a change in his behavior but in the play this

change does not appear. The second phase, talks about the aggressor‟s attack on his victim

due to an increase in tension and in the case of this play, the victim, Stella expresses her

desire to abandon this abusive relationship: “I want to go away, I want to go away” (152).

After the episode of physical abuse, the abuser seemingly appears to go through a stage of

repentance; he feels sorry for his actions and becomes submissive, lending the power to the

victim in order to be forgiven. This is the beginning of the third phase and I quote from the

play: “[Stanley] falls on his knees . . . and presses his face to her belly. Her eyes go blind

with tenderness as she catches his head and raises him level with her” (154). At the

beginning of the last phase, the abuser, with his act of meekness, successfully gets the

victim to forgive him. The abuser is usually forgiven when such an incident happens for the

first time but with the repetition of the cycle of violence the victim gradually loses hopes

but still finds it difficult to leave the man, regardless of his inhuman behavior.

The character of Stella Kowalski is that of a typical submissive woman functioning

as per the norms of patriarchy. She suffers gender violence but stays on with her aggressor,

Stanley, her husband. She has no friends of her own and is completely dependent on

Stanley and silently faces the humiliation which he inflicts on her in front of his friends.

Sometimes in the play she rebels but without success, against the aggressive behavior of

Stanley: “This is my house and I‟ll talk as much as I want to” (147). Although she rises up

against Stanley, she is unable to let go because she is in love with him, as she says referring

to him: “When [Stanley‟s] away for a week I nearly go wild . . . and when he comes back I

cry on his lap like a baby…” (125). She feels she cannot live without him and, in my

opinion, she seems incapable of raising a baby on her own. As explained in the second

chapter, Stella exemplifies the two main causes as to how the victim is tied to the aggressor,
 Lebrero 17

i.e her financial dependence on him and her concern for her children. Stella is subjected to

various kinds of abuse as Stanley continues to increase the nature of his violence depending

on the given situation of his victim. She suffers physical, psychological, social, and

economic abuse. As commented above, Stella is physically attacked during the second

phase of the cycle of violence and then Stanley verbally attacks her ego claiming: “What do

you two [Stella and Blanche] think you are? A pair of queens? . . . I am the king around

here, so don‟t forget it” (194). Stella also suffers social abuse because she is ridiculed in

front of Stanley‟s friends. Besides, Stella depends economically on Stanley who “does not

give [her] a regular allowance” (161). She defends her husband‟s behavior and at times

even covers it up with the excuse of addiction: “When men are drinking and playing poker

anything can happen” and “he was as good as a lamb when I came back and he‟s really

very, very ashamed of himself” (157). To sum up, Stella comes across as a submissive

character who, according to Louise Blackwell, “subordinates herself to [Stanley‟s] way of

life because they have a satisfying sexual relationship” (11). Furthermore, her lack of power

which leads to her dependence on Stanley turns her into a victim who cannot escape from

her aggressor.

The next character I attempt to analyze is Blanche DuBois, Stella‟s sister who

appears to be the antithesis of her sister. It can be said that in certain aspects Blanche‟s

personality is similar to that of Stanley‟s, as Anca Vlasopolos points out: “Critics have

noted astonishing similarities between these two antagonists . . . their charged sexual

presence, their tendency to aggrandize themselves” (326). The character of Blanche is

strong yet insecure. Consumed by loneliness, she looks for male company in order to gain,

what appears to be a sense of security which she terms as “protection”: “Intimacies with

strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with…I think it was panic, just panic,

that drove me from one to another, hunting for some protection” (205). This can be noted as
 Lebrero 18

the first example of how she is similar to Stanley: both of them actively engage in seeking

sexual gratification. The next similarity would be how they both have strong personalities

when Blanche‟s powerful personality confronts and clashes with Stanley‟s dominant one.

Blanche is even domineering with her sister. According to her, Stella is living in a city that

is too primitive for Blanche; she is confident and not afraid of Stanley: “Beauty of the mind

and richness of the spirit and tenderness of the heart − and I have all of those things – aren‟t

taken away, but grow! . . . When I have all of these treasures locked in my heart I think of

myself as a very, very rich woman!” (211). Right from the beginning of the play Blanche

constantly works towards undermining Stanley‟s power and disinvesting his authoritarian

status, since she is not as submissive as Stella; Stanley cannot bear the loss of his power or

territory and attacks Blanche verbally and physically, by raping her. Despite the

aforementioned similarities shared by Blanche and Stanley they are fundamentally different

on moral and humanist grounds. Blanche cannot tolerate the violent and primitive behavior

of her brother-in-law: “I‟m terrified…I‟m not used to such…violence!” (155). Blanche does

not understand why her sister allows Stanley to behave the way he does and how she can

continue to love him and live with him.

In the end, Stanley manages to hold on to his power by maintaining his relationship

with Stella and effectively getting rid of Blanche, who was seen a contesting force to his

authority and therefore a threat which needed to be dealt with and removed. In this play,

Tennessee Williams illustrates the issue of gender violence without giving a solution for the

victim, who continues to suffer; because the only character in the play who does protest

(Blanche) is silenced by rape. It may be noted that rape is never about sexual desires but

about assertion of power and has always been one of the vilest instruments used by men to

prove their authority over women.

 Lebrero 19

3.2. Female Solidarity Against Male Oppression in Pearl Cleage‟s Flyin’ West.

Pearl Cleage‟s play is set in 1898, during the First Wave of Feminism, although it

was published in 1995 at the time of the Third Wave of Feminism when black women‟s

rights finally emerged as important concerns. In her play, the author, herself an African-

American female author, deals with the themes of racial and gender discrimination because

black women are doubly marginalized in terms of their race and gender. Female characters

in this play, such as Sophie, Minnie, Fannie and Mrs. Leah, fight for their rights together as

a community, presenting a solution to the harassment as opposed to William‟s A Streetcar

Named Desire. In an interview with Jocelyn S. Zachery, Pearl Cleage stated: “I think that

most of my work is very deeply rooted in community, in trying to say whatever the problem

is we all together, we can fix it” (9:04). Cleage is a black feminist writer who is deeply

concerned with women‟s issues, I believe that through this play she wants to give courage

and hope to the victims of gender violence by portraying characters who despite of facing

discrimination on the basis of being black and female still manage to free themselves out of

the violent situation.

First of all I am going to analyze the male dominant figure in this play, Frank. He is

arrogant and believes himself to be superior to everyone and more so to women, because he

is a famous poet in London. Frank is only interested in being famous and remaining the sole

authoritarian figure by negating everyone else‟s rights and voices around him. Despite

being a mulatto, he hates black people and aspires to be a white man in order not to be

marginalized. His wife, Minnie, is a black woman who has been manipulated by Frank in

order to be the perfect woman in terms of what a perfect woman means to him, which is

white, submissive and tolerant, as he points out in the play: “When I first took Minnie to

London, I made sure to take her shopping before I introduced her to my friends. But I

always knew she had potential” (50). As he hates black people he cannot tolerate his friends
 Lebrero 20

judging him for having a black wife therefore he makes Minnie behave and dress like a

white woman.

Frank is a typical abuser who attacks women in order to assert his power, even

though he lacks it in the outside world. In the play when he loses all his money in a bet he

beats Minnie. This assertion of masculine power is a form of self-consolation for his actual

state of powerlessness. At the beginning of their relationship, like all domestic abusers,

Frank is kind and gentle to Minnie because he wants to win her heart and more importantly,

her confidence. Shortly after that, Frank‟s behavior changes, as Minnie claims: “He was

mad all the time” (61). Then, he starts the cycle of violence without Minnie noticing it. The

second phase of violence occurs before Frank meets his sisters-in-law, Sophie and Fannie,

as we are told that Minnie already has a bruise. Minnie, like most victims, wants to believe

that Frank‟s violent behavior is something temporary: “I used to think it must be a dream

and that I‟d wake up one day and Frank would be the way he used to be” (61). During the

third phase, as previously commented, the abuser becomes gentle and tame and once he is

forgiven the cycle starts all over again with more violence than before, as Minnie says “I

can‟t make him stop…hitting me!” (74). Fortunately, in this play, we discover that the

presence of the family, especially Sophie, plays a significant role in curtailing the domestic

violence faced by Minnie.

Minnie‟s elder sister, Sophie, is brave and rebellious, she fights for the

enfranchisement of black people and she wants to create a city with no white people

because she does not want to be racially discriminated. Although both Sophie and Blanche

do not tolerate gender violence, Sophie is more courageous and is more headstrong about

what she wants to achieve. She is proud of what she is and she will do everything in her

power to get what she wants and believes in. She says: “Two things I‟m sure of. I don‟t

want no white folks tellin‟ me what to do all day, and no man tellin‟ me what to do all
 Lebrero 21

night” (21). She is self-confident and independent and she does not need anyone but

herself: “The day I need somebody else to defend my land and my family is the day that

somebody‟s will be on the deed” (77). Furthermore, she cannot tolerate Minnie‟s

submissive behavior towards Frank and his violent behavior towards her sister. Freda Scott,

commenting on Frank‟s behavior states: “Frank, through his verbally and physically

abusive behavior, threatens not only Minnie‟s life, but the homestead itself” (710). Since

Sophie sees Frank as a danger to the black community and by extension, to her family, she

decides that he can no longer be a part of it and therefore with the help of Mrs. Leah, a

black woman who was formerly a slave, she tries to make Minnie understand the politics

behind gender violence and power-play claiming that “a man that will hit a woman once

will hit her again” (70) and encourages her to leave him. But, despite their efforts, when

Minnie is unable to abandon her husband, Sophie and Mrs. Leah, start to look for a

different solution.

Sophie‟s sisters, Fannie and Minnie, are quiet, submissive and both are shown to be

tolerant towards gender violence. Minnie is a victim, who protects her aggressor‟s behavior

and is resigned to it. She makes excuses on Frank‟s behavior to defend him: “Sometimes

Frank says things in a way that…that doesn‟t sound like how I know he means them” (44).

Despite being physically and emotionally abused she defends Frank because she depends

on him financially, and wants to continue living the life he offers her in London. Moreover,

we are told that she is going to have a baby. Frank uses violence against Minnie on her

account of being black, and since he hates blacks, he finds it hard to live with the fact that

his wife belongs to the same race he despises so much: “You‟re too black to bring me any

good luck. All [black people] got to give is misery. Pure D misery and little black

pickaninnies just like you” (55). Minnie‟s lack of authority stops her to rebel against
 Lebrero 22

Frank‟s abusive character, and when she refuses to do something in favor of her husband,

as is the sign of the deed, Frank resorts to physically abusing her.

Apart from Minnie, her sister Fannie also defends the abuser alluding to the violence

suffered by her mother and thereby insinuating that since physical abuse is faced by most

women, wives must learn to accept it as a part of their domestic lives as Fannie states:

“[Fannie‟s father] didn‟t like what [Fannie‟s mother] was saying, and then he got up real

fast and grabbed her arm and he just shook her and shook her . . . we have to understand

and be patient” (62). Fannie defends her father‟s violent attitude towards her mother who,

in Fannie‟s opinion, was supposed to be quiet and tolerant. By defending her father, Fannie

also justifies her brother-in-law‟s behavior throughout the play but she changes by the end

and participates in giving Frank a piece of poisoned apple pie, hence becoming the active

agent of the plan hatched by Mrs. Leah and Sophie to finish with the aggressor.

To sum up, in this play Pearl Cleage, though extreme, presents us with a solution for gender

violence and racial discrimination. As it is said in the play: “[Minnie] approaches the body

slowly . . . realizing the enormity of what they have done” (82). The solution is something

which is reached at and executed by the coming together of women characters and therefore

emphasizing the importance of female solidarity in the face of racial and gender violence

and discrimination.

The two plays analyzed in this paper deal with the issue of gender violence in

different periods of time. William‟s A Streetcar Named Desire reflects upon the thought

processes and concerns prevalent at the time of the First Wave of Feminism whereas

Cleage‟s Flyin’ West, written during the Third Wave, shows a women‟s collective

resistance against patriarchy and in doing so gives hope to victimized women.

 Lebrero 23

CONCLUSION

The two North American plays analyzed in this paper, A Streetcar Named Desire

and Flyin’ West, show two different approaches towards gender violence in terms of

depiction of the issue and the response of the victimized women towards it. The plays also

try to fulfill the goal of making the audience aware of gender inequality and discrimination.

The author of A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams, illustrates how

despite being in a highly physically and emotionally abusive relationship, the woman

continues to live with her abuser and is forever relegated to a position which is inferior to

her male counterpart and therefore entailing her dependency and submission to him. We

are introduced to Blanche as opposed to her submissive sister Stella. Blanche is shown to

have a strong personality and she resists Stanley‟s authoritarian nature but ultimately she is

also silenced for trying to rebel against the patriarchal structure of her society. She is raped

by Stanley and is left powerless. Stella, Stanley‟s wife, could leave him, but due to her

economic dependency and her pregnancy she decides to stay on with her victimizer. With

this ending, the author makes the audience think what happens when women are devoid of

any power and are only expected to fit into their roles as obedient wives and mothers so

much so that their identity is only limited to the functions they are meant to serve within the

codified patriarchal framework.

On the other hand, Pearl Cleage, a black feminist writer and the author of Flyin’

West, deals with the theme of gender violence along with racial discrimination; which were

two important issues in the Third Wave of Feminism. The time when the Third Wave took

place coincides with the date of publication of the play (1995). As opposed to Williams,

Cleage shows a solution to gender violence by insisting on the power of collective

resistance of women and the importance of it in the face of physical and mental domestic

abuse. The women in the play work actively to put an end to the abuse inflicted by the
 Lebrero 24

racist and masochist husband. Cleage‟s female characters face and overcome two types of

discrimination: gender and racial; they rebel against the patriarchal structure and are

successful at attaining their goal of freeing Minnie from the dominating clutches of Frank.

Withstanding and finally overcoming these abusive situations they give out a message of

hope to all those women who find themselves in dysfunctional and abusive relationships

and are victims of domestic and racial violence.

 Lebrero 25

WORKS CITED

161 respuestas sobre la violencia de género (desde el derecho constitucional, la sociología,

la psicología y el derecho procesal); (incluye un anexo de protección institucional de

la violencia ejercida contra las mujeres por sus parejas o exparejas sentimentales).

Salamanca: Caja Duero, D.L. 2008. Print.

Blackwell, Louise. "Tennessee Williams and the Predicament of Women." South Atlantic

Bulletin 35.2 (1970): 9-14. Web. 12 Feb 2014.

Cleage, Pearl. Flyin' West and Other Plays. New York: Theatre Communications Group,

1999. 1-86. Print.

---. Interview by Jocelyn Stargell-Zachery. A Sit-Down with Mrs. Cleage 03 February 2014.

Tiger's Roar, Savannah State University. . Web. 29 April 2014.

Collins, Patricia. “What‟s In a Time: Womanism, Black Feminism, and Beyond.” The Black

Scholar 26.11 (1996): 9-17 Web. 29 May 2014.

"Ending Violence against Women: From Words to Action." United Nations, 9 Oct 2006.

Web. 12 Jun 2014.

<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/public/VAW_Study/VAWstudyE.pdf>.

Fernández-Morales, Marta, Inmaculada Pineda-Hernández, et al. "ViolenceAgainst Women:

Forms and Responses." Trans. Array Performing Gender Violence:Plays by

Contemposary American Women Dramatists. . 1st ed. United States: Palgrave

Macmillan, 2012. 15-26. Print.

Goode, William J. "Force and Violence in the Family." Journal of Marriage and Family 33

(1971): 624-636. Web. 13 Jun 2014.

Hooks, Bell. Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism. United States: South End Press,

1981. Print.
 Lebrero 26

Martin Browne, E. In Tennessee Williams, Sweet Bird of Youth, A Streetcar Named Desire

and The Glass Menagerie. New York: Penguin Books, 1981. 113-226. Print.

Rampton, Martha. “The Three Waves of Feminism.” The Magazine of Pacific University.

Pacific University, 2008. Web. 25 May 2014.

Scott Giles, Freda. "The Motion of Herstory: Three Plays by Pearl Cleage." African American

Review 31.4 (1997): 709-712. Web. 12 Feb 2014.

Stacey, William and Anson Shupe. The Family Secret: Domestic Violence in America.

Boston: Beacon Press, 1983. Print.

Strube, Michael J., and Linda S. Barbour. "The Decision to Leave an Abusive Relationship:

Economic Dependence and Psychological Commitment."Journal of Marriage and

Family 45.4 (1983): 785-795. Web. 22 June 2014.

Three Waves of Feminism, From Suffragettes to Grrrls. 1-24. Web. 28 Mar 2014.

Vlasopolos, Anca. "Authotizing History: Victimization in "A Streetcar Named

Desire"." Theatre Journal 38.3 (1986): 322-338. Web. 12 Feb 2014.

Walker, Lenore E. and E. Lenore. The battered woman syndrome. New York: Springer Pub.

Co., 2009. Print.