Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams - Book Report/Review Example

Kowalski has a very passionate but volatile relationship with his wife. Stanley saw Blanche’s intrusion into his and her sister’s life as a threat to the marriage. In the denouement of their conflict, Kowalski raped Blanche as his wife was giving birth. This led to Blanche’s insanity. One of the most telling aspects of Williams’ characterization of Kowalski was his drinking habits. He drinks with friends during their bouts of bowling and in several of their poker nights.

Williams used this dimension to underscore Kowalski’s deep dissatisfaction with his life. With alcohol, as with his other brutal acts, he was attempting to bring down everybody’s lives down to the level of his own. Furthermore, when drunk, Kowalski was at his element as a macho man, trying to show who “wears the trousers” in the house. Kowalski’s drinking, as one sees here, has many social representations and these were reinforced by Kowalski’s nature and fate in the narrative.

All in all, Kowalski’s brutality and virility seem to be a defense mechanism for his own vulnerability and insecurity. He turns to violence, animal sexuality and alcohol as forms of reassurances. The most important lesson, however, that a reader would find in Kowalski’s character – with all his redeeming factors, which are few – is that he represented the side that of humanity that are least preferable in comparison to the Blanches, with all their vanity and deceit. If civilization would be left in his hands, we would slide faster into disorder and chaos.

It is important to note here that Kowalski might have been almost the hero who fought social pretension. However, as the narrative progressed, it became clear that Blanche, of all her weaknesses and vanity, emerged as the tragic hero that society was better off having. Williams’ sympathy with her is evident at the end of the story.