Paranoid Structures and Fractured Identities: A Postmodern Reading of A Streetcar Named Desire

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which paranoid tensions and fractured identities shape the dramatic universe of A Streetcar Named Desire. The analysis argues that the play anticipates key postmodern concerns by presenting characters whose sense of self is unstable, fluid, and continually challenged by competing versions of truth. Blanche emerges as the central figure of psychological dislocation, shifting between multiple performed identities in an attempt to manage her unraveling inner world. Her desire to remake reality according to personal fantasy exposes the fragility of the self when confronted with traumatic memory and social judgment. In contrast, Stanley embodies an aggressive insistence on certainty, order, and dominance, yet his behavior also reflects a deeper insecurity that fuels his need to control the narrative surrounding him. Stella becomes caught between these conflicting perspectives, revealing how subjectivity is shaped not by clear truths but by the narratives individuals choose—or are compelled—to believe.

The play’s setting and structure further reinforce this atmosphere of uncertainty. The cramped apartment, shifting emotional landscapes, and Blanche’s weakening grasp on past and present dissolve the boundaries between illusion and fact. As the characters navigate a world marked by suspicion, competing realities, and the erosion of stable meaning, the drama reveals a deeper cultural condition in which identity can no longer be grounded in unified experience. Ultimately, the article contends that Streetcar portrays not only personal collapse but also a wider postmodern sensibility characterized by fragmentation, distrust, and the continual negotiation of truth