A Rhetorical Narrative Study On Blanche And Brick's Plight

The plight of alienated individuals is a central concern for Tennessee Williams. Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire and Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof are guilt-ridden, pathological, sensitive, and alienated from the mainstream society. The plight of these two alienated individuals is intensified, when people consider Blanche's tragedy self-made, her fate doomed, and Brick good-for-nothing.With the plight as the focus, the surface structures of Streetcar and Cat share a similar deep structure, that is, the alienated individual is seeking for recognition and identity to extricate herself/himself from the plight. Traces of rhetoric are hidden behind the narrative discourse chosen to render the plight, since the cogency of discourse, i.e. rhetoric, is realized through narrative. Rhetorical narratology focuses on how the narrative works. Hitherto, little attention has been devoted to how the narrative discourse of the plight achieves its persuasiveness in academia. Few researches are on Blanche and Brick's plight from the rhetorical narrative perspective. Based on the narrative communication model, the theoretical framework, a hypothetical reading experiment is conducted to track how the playwright arouses audience's cognitive and emotional responses through the dynamic movement of narrative text and that of audience's participation, shedding light on how the plight in two Pulitzer-Prize winning plays has received great social and critical acclaim.The text and the playwright anticipate audience's participation in plight depicting. The audience participate in the narrative progression, and become more and more conscious of their concern for Blanche's plight with loaded past and tormenting present, and for Brick's predicament in searching for truth and identity in a world full of mendacity. The parallels and disparities of two progressions are viewed against social context to detect implications. Blanche and Brick's efforts to reverse their tragic fate are futile, largely due to the destructive powers of social conventions. The disparity lies in the denouement:Blanche is routed despite her desperate struggles, while Brick's fate is not a complete tragedy because of Maggie's help. The disparity suggests an implicit message, or rather, one feasible and possible way for alienated individuals to avoid their doomed fate, that is, people's support and assistance. By garnering audience's attention and compassion, and then conveying the implicit message, the playwright achieves the persuasiveness of his narrative discourse. The plight of alienated individuals is a central concern for Tennessee Williams. Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire and Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof are guilt-ridden, pathological, sensitive, and alienated from the mainstream society. The plight of these two alienated individuals is intensified, when people consider Blanche's tragedy self-made, her fate doomed, and Brick good-for-nothing.With the plight as the focus, the surface structures of Streetcar and Cat share a similar deep structure, that is, the alienated individual is seeking for recognition and identity to extricate herself/himself from the plight. Traces of rhetoric are hidden behind the narrative discourse chosen to render the plight, since the cogency of discourse, i.e. rhetoric, is realized through narrative. Rhetorical narratology focuses on how the narrative works. Hitherto, little attention has been devoted to how the narrative discourse of the plight achieves its persuasiveness in academia. Few researches are on Blanche and Brick's plight from the rhetorical narrative perspective. Based on the narrative communication model, the theoretical framework, a hypothetical reading experiment is conducted to track how the playwright arouses audience's cognitive and emotional responses through the dynamic movement of narrative text and that of audience's participation, shedding light on how the plight in two Pulitzer-Prize winning plays has received great social and critical acclaim.The text and the playwright anticipate audience's participation in plight depicting. The audience participate in the narrative progression, and become more and more conscious of their concern for Blanche's plight with loaded past and tormenting present, and for Brick's predicament in searching for truth and identity in a world full of mendacity. The parallels and disparities of two progressions are viewed against social context to detect implications. Blanche and Brick's efforts to reverse their tragic fate are futile, largely due to the destructive powers of social conventions. The disparity lies in the denouement:Blanche is routed despite her desperate struggles, while Brick's fate is not a complete tragedy because of Maggie's help. The disparity suggests an implicit message, or rather, one feasible and possible way for alienated individuals to avoid their doomed fate, that is, people's support and assistance. By garnering audience's attention and compassion, and then conveying the implicit message, the playwright achieves the persuasiveness of his narrative discourse.