Essay Sample on The Case of the Crushed Petunias by Tennessee Williams

In life stagnation, no one cannot find joy this is clearly shown in the play by the life of a young woman in her twenties Miss Simple being young and energetic this woman seem not to enjoy life as most of the women in her age in most society. Her life revolves around her house, shop, Petunia and Canary; this young lady has no time to engage in any social activity. She, therefore, put barriers around her house and her heart the reason why she is not married. Most people tend to think unmarried people are lonely. The only time she interacts with fellow humans is when customers come to buy products from her shop otherwise its her and the two things she is forced to care about. Dorothy has no choice but to pretend to love her life because even if she was to stop the life she is living where can she go to or what can she do? That is all the town she lives in has to offer. Miss Simple has been living her life without realizing that her personal bubble is a prison. This is until the tall young man storms her shop and crushes her precious petunias without regrets. The young man points out flaws of Dorothy lifestyle from how she pretend to like the petunia and Canary and how her single life is just okay to her. When the reality is, she doesnt have an option .but how can Dorothy get options with the kind of lifestyle she lives and having been surrounded by people who lack interest in other peoples lives. No one can go against the odds and enlighten this woman, Miss Simple. Force is needed to get her out of her she and experience the reality of life; her old ways somehow had to be destroyed for her to accommodate the new changes. After the visitation by the young man Dorothy is seen to be full of life and nothing is holding her back, she can visit the place that was considered no-go zones by the town people such as the cemetery and Highway 77 which most city people even the police officer have vivid information about. The sky is the limit for Dorothy now.

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Tennessee Williams was an American playwright born on 26th March 1911 in Columbus Mississippi. He had two siblings, Rose Isabel Williams and Walter Dakins Williams. He attended the University of Missouri in the year 1929 to 1931 where he enrolled in journalism classes which he later found to be boring. He entered his poetry essays plays in writing contest with the hope of getting extra cash. This earned him to be the first freshman to get an honorable mention in a writing contest. He authored many stage classics and considered in 20th century American drama the three foremost playwrights. In the 1930s he struggled for his work to be accepted as he supports himself by doing menial jobs. Audrey Wood helped him to get a grant from Rockefeller Foundation in recognition for his play Battle of Angels which was produced in 1940 in Boston. The Glass Menagerie of 1944 made him famous suddenly after years of being forgotten. A lot of his work his acclaimed work were adapted for cinemas, but he was also a writer of poetry, short stories, essays and volume of memoirs. The difficult time of his life was during the 1960s his work received poor reviews and the playwright increasingly turned to drugs and alcohol as a way of coping. He was then hospitalized by his brother in 1969, but when he was released, he got back to work even wrote the Memoirs in 1975 where he told his afflictions and story of his life. He meets his death on 25th of February 1983 this was after inhaling a plastic cup of the nasal sprayer. In honor of his grandfather, he left his literary rights to the University of the South in Sewanee where his grandfather Walter Dakin was an alumnus. Creative writing is supported by this funds. In 1979 he was inducted into American Theater Hall of Fame this being four years after his death. Tennessee left a good body of work including plays that are still performed all over the world. His writing is overwrought and melodramatic in his worse but lyrical haunting and a powerful voice if felt at his best being one of the most significant forces in 20th century American drama.

Written during 1941 historically this was the period when world war two was taking place. The war that involved most of the world nations even the great powers giving rise to two opposing military alliances. Its the widest spread war in the history of men. This is the war that altered the social structure and political alignment of the world leading to the establishment of the United Nations to create international peace and prevent future conflicts. Hitler, the Nazi leader, was among the powerful and infamous dictators; he rose to power after World War 1 in the National Socialist German Workers Party .in 1933 he took control of the German Government.

He established the concentration camps to inter Jews and other groups which he believed to be a threat to Aryan supremacy which resulted in the death of more than six million people in the Holocaust. In 1939 his attack on Poland is what caused the World War 2 to begin, and Germany occupied much of North Africa and Europe. Hitler believed that Germans should fight wars for the great lands for them to settle; raise big families that in future will replace casualties and in the incoming battles provide soldiers. He projected the first war to be easy as it was against Czechoslovakia then a somewhat difficult war against Britain and France and assumed that the third war against the Soviet Union would be straightforward and quick. This is the war that was going to provide raw materials for the fourth war against the United States after which Germany will be a superpower. Series of war followed an invasion of U.S.A and Russian into the battle, and Hitler killed himself moments after Germanys defeat.

Conservatism is the control of society by a class of people who are considered superior to others. It is a catastrophic system that impacts unfairness and prejudice founded on deception that has no place in the modern world. This is a sociopolitical philosophy that promotes retaining traditions in the context of civilization and culture. Conservatives seek to maintain things the way they are.

In the play; the case of crushed petunias this is portrayed in various instances. Miss Simple lives alone with some bird, canary, barricaded her house and heart behind silly little rows of petunias. This kind of life has blocked Miss Simple from another form of life outside her shop, house, and petunia. All she cares about is these delicate, fragile creatures which have a terrible resistance she is. Therefore, nothing significant or meaningful can come in her house.in as much as she dislikes the lifestyle she still does it because thats the norm. Even if she quit her lifestyle what are the other option she has in the town? None .Plus her shop sells the essential commodities for the city people if she stops the town people will be unable to get this product that they use almost on a daily basis. Miss Simple though young and full of energy has nowhere else to channel her energy but to care for her petunia and canary and block any other things. The naming of character and places in the play portrays conservatism, trying to hide /cover the real identity of the people /locations for example Miss Dorothy Simple her name kind off tells us about her lifestyle which very simple. Her life is all about her shop, Petunia, and the canary. The only time she interacts with other people is when they come to her shop to purchase stuff otherwise she is always alone. If she ever leaves the town is because she is going to restock her shop otherwise she is stuck in her house, stuck in the day in day out traditions. When Dorothy is told by the young man that after they had the supposed dinner, he would like them to take an open ride to Cypress Hill, the woman is shocked d because thats the towns cemetery. Normally people dont hang out in cemeteries as in around the dead people. Most people are scared of such places, and they prefer to let the dead be since they got nothing to offer the living with. Mrs. Dull she is portrayed as the typical housewives who have nothing exciting in their lives other than the boring wife duties such getting your husbands clothes in order, the main reason she is at Dorothy shop is to get her husband a pair of wine colored socks otherwise she could not have been there. She is so conservative that if the norm is changed she disassociate with it .this is seen when she threatened to shop at Miss Simples shop if she changes from simple notions to tremendous inspiration. Mrs. Dull is used to getting the wine colored socks for husband at Dorothys shop when she gets there and doesnt find some and like that isnt enough the last pair is reserved kind of surprises her this is because its against the norm. Highway 77 is a no go zone for the people of Prime proper even the police officer is worried why Dorothy wants to go there .the police officer doesnt have enough information about the place according to the direction he is giving Miss Simple because no one goes there it is abandoned. The activities that take place there are senseless to the people of Prime proper. The people of this town are reserved. The annoyance of the canary in as much as Miss Simples life is about the canary. she can beat off the fact that they get to her nerves and if it had an option the canary would not be priority in her life, because these creatures are seriously annoying especially the noise these birds produce starting from the lowest pitch to highest pitch. The poor woman troubled by this as secretly she would wish the bird be chocked to death by the petunia seeds but what can she do, that is her life for as long conservatism reigns. Conservatism is also revealed in the play by the way people lack interest on each other some broke into Dorothys shop and destroyed her property, but no one in the town seems to notice, even the police officer who happens to be nearby the store did not see anything unusual. When Miss Simple called the police officer, the police officer did not show her any concern about her destroyed property the officer goes to the extent of asking Miss Simple what she wants him to do. The officer doesnt even realize that its his job to maintain law and order and provide the town people with security and to Dorothy apprehend the petunia ci dal maniac as this person possesses a danger to the whole community. The young man who entered Dorothys shop did not even bother looking out for the things he might destroy. He didnt care for the womans property. This is typical of some men they think women do not deserve respect and they are superior to women. Its mens world. The young man did not offer Miss Simple greetings or even condolence given the state of her shop. When the young man invites Dorothy out ta Highway 77, he did not care that Miss Simple had other things she normally does perhaps at that time. The young man just cared for his intentions and making Dorothy drop any other thing she was to do and prioritize the mans invitation. Mrs. Dull when she came to get her husband a pair she did not greet the owner of the shop or sympathize with the fellow woman whose property had been destroyed by some malicious person.

Rape culture is a situation in which is widespread of sexual violence against women has seen the standard and exempted in modern culture and media. Rape culture is perpetuated by the use of the objectification of womens bodies, glamorization of sexual violence and misogynistic language making a society not to pay attention to women safety and rights. This affects every woman. Most girls and females tend to limit their acts /behavior because of the existence of rape making women live in fear. In this way, rape works as superior means in which females are held in lower position to the males. In the play, men are revealed more dominat...