Themes in a Streetcar Named Desire A Streetcar Named Desire is a pessimistic work that represents the "culmination of a vision of life in which evil, or at least unaltered insensitivity, wins everywhere, no matter what the leading forces do” (Szeliski 69). In other words, all sensitive individuals meet a similar fate, crushed under the heels of those who lack sensitivity. This play is about Blanche DuBois; therefore, the main themes of the play concern her directly. In Blanche we see the tragedy of an individual caught between two worlds - the past world of the Southern gentlewoman and the present world of crudeness and decadence - unwilling to let go of the past and unable, due to her character, to arrive at any sort of terms herewith (Falk 94). The end result is its destruction. This process began long before his fight with Stanley Kowalski. It all started with the death of her young husband, a weak and perverted boy who committed suicide when she provoked him with her disgust at the discovery of his perversion. In retrospect, she knows that he was the only man she ever loved, and from this initial catastrophe evolved her promiscuity. She is alone and scared and tries to combat this condition with sex. Desire fills the void when there is no love, and desire blocks the inexorable movement of death, which has already ravaged and decayed Blanche's ancestral home, Belle Reve. For Blanche, Belle Reve was the remaining symbol of a life and tradition she knows in her heart. they have disappeared, yet to which he clings with desperate tenacity. In this way, he is “both an individual and a representative of his society, an emblem of a lost tradition” (Krutch 39). It's dated. His way of speaking, his manners and his habits... in the center of the paper... Adler, Thomas. A Streetcar Named Desire: The Moth and the Lantern. New York: Twayne, 1990.Baym, Nina et al, eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. 1995. Falk, Signi. 20th century interpretations of a streetcar called Desiderio. “The Southern Gentlewoman.” Ed. Jordan Y. Miller. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1971. Krutch, Joseph Wood. 20th century interpretations of a streetcar called Desiderio. “Review of A Streetcar Named Desire”. Ed. Jordan Y. Miller. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1971. Szeliski, John T. von. 20th century interpretations of a streetcar called Desiderio. "Tennessee Williams and the Tragedy of Sensitivity." Ed. Jordan Y. Miller. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1971. Williams, Tennessee. The Tennessee Williams Theater. “A streetcar called Desire”. New York: Laughlin, 1971.