The Exile And The Abject-A Kristevan Study Of A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire is a masterpiece of American playwright Tennessee Williams,which is also a classic drama.Since its debut in 1947,various studies and reviews have emerged.And these studies mainly focus on interpretations of themes,Blanche's fate,Blanche's conflict with Stanley,the symbolism,etc.This article is intended to analyze the internal and external causes of Blanche's tragic fate from the perspective of Julia Kristeva's theory of signifying process,namely,the subject in process,the semiotic,the symbolic,and the abjection.The semiotic is the pre-linguistic stage,which is characterized by maternal care;the symbolic represents language and social conventions,which is dominated by paternal features.As the subject in process,a man is influenced by both the semiotic and the symbolic.For a rational subject,the symbolic plays a dominant role.This thesis first analyzes Blanche's inner world from the perspective of the signifying process.For Blanche,the semiotic represents her unrestricted desire,and the maternal care,that is,Belle Reve.On the other side,she believes that the rules of the symbolic are the natural laws she must obey.Blanche's inner conflict is that although she tries to enter the symbolic and reject the semiotic,she is still unable to suppress the impulsiveness of the semiotic.She releases her desire and shows nostalgia.Then,this thesis analyzes the process of Blanche's abjection.In order to enter the symbolic,the subject will expel the alien elements in his/her body.And this process is called abjection.Blanche becomes the abject,and she is rejected twice by the society,once in Laurel and the other in New Orleans.In Laurel,she is cast aside by society for misbehaving;in New Orleans,her arrival disrupts the order of the symbolic,and is therefore punished.In short,Blanche's tragedy is the result of a combination of inner conflict and external abjection.