“Modern Literature shows isolated characters as being profoundly damaged”.
Discuss the significance of isolation in A Streetcar Named Desire and The Handmaid’s
Tale
Isolation is a key theme in both WIlliams’ ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and Atwood’s ‘The
Handmaid’s Tale’ and can be seen in both of the protagonists, Blanche and Offred. In both
cases, this isolation is caused by the patriarchal societies which they both live under.
However, despite the different worlds they live in, Offred is left much less profoundly
damaged than Blanche who is completely broken by her isolation.
Both writers use clothing to establish the protagonists as isolated characters. Blanche is
introduced as “incongruous” to the setting, immediately establishing her as an outsider. This
difference is continued when Williams describes her as “daintily dressed in a white suit with
a fluffy bodice” as opposed to the “blue denim work clothes” of those around her, creating a
contrast between the Old South, which Blanche represents and the New North of New
Orleans represented by Stanley Kowalski and his friends. Critic, Thomas Porter likens
Blanche to an alien “invader” into the New America with a presence like an “inverted version
of the civil war romance”, showing that she is very different to those around her, isolating her
further. Similarly, segregation through clothing is also used by Atwood to show Blanche’s
difference from other women in Gilead. In the repressive Republic of Gilead “some [dress] in
red, some in green...striped dresses...mark the women of the poorer men…[they are] divided
into factions”, this rigid ‘uniform’ of life infantilises the women and makes it almost impossible
for them to form any sort of bond with each other - isolating them further from each other,
into almost rival camps. The strict uniform of the Handmaids serves as the most repressive
and isolating of all; the “white wings around the face...enclose [them]”, this headdress serves
as a set of blinkers on Offred, preventing her from looking to the side, meaning that she is
only able to look forward - to the task in hand: procreation. Having blinkers also
dehumanises Offred, making her seem like a workhorse, which she has essentially become
as a reproductive machine to the Commander. It is clear that the use of clothing as a device
to isolate Offred and Blanche works in distancing them from other characters within the
narrative.
A sense of loss from the past enables both women to be seen as isolated characters. In
‘Streetcar’ most of Blanche’s isolation stems from the loss of her husband, Allan Grey, which
years later still evokes a strong emotion in her when Stanley mentions him, she says “the
boy died...I’m - going to be sick”, showing that this emotion even has the ability to cause a
physical reaction also. Even with Blanche’s distancing from him by calling him “the boy”
rather than by his name, her feeling was still strong enough to cause this extreme response,
highlighting the profound damage that the isolation ensuing from his death has caused her.
Williams further emphasises the isolation of Blanche du Bois through her assertion that “the
grim reaper had put up his tent on [Stella and Blanche’s] doorstop’, showing the large
number of deaths in the family, meaning that Blanche was the only member of the family left
in Laurel. Through the use of this metaphor, Williams establishes Blanche’s belief that she
has been specifically targeted by death, adding to the sense that she is profoundly
damaged. Similarly in ‘Handmaid’, Offred is overcome by past emotions when “[she has]
these attacks of the past, like faintness, a wave sweeping over my head.’, however the use
of tidal imagery suggests that these memories are only temporary and soon - like a “wave” -
Offred will reach dry land and relief from these painful thoughts. But the seriousness of these
“attacks of the past” cannot be underestimated, Atwood deliberately describes them
“sweeping over [Offred’s] head”, showing that memories do have the power to ‘drown’ her.
