Desire

The play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, was first performed in 1947, and has become a classic. But how many of the people who hear about it for the first time know what that title means? For one thing, streetcars (“trolleys”), which used to be the major urban provider of public transportation, are no longer common, and many cities don’t have them. Like trains, they required tracks, which led to many traffic problems as the streets became clogged with automobiles. Streetcars couldn’t suddenly change direction. Pedestrians had to dodge them. (And did you know, that’s where the L.A. Dodgers team got their name? They were originally the Brooklyn Dodgers – and that nickname derived from the fact that inhabitants of Brooklyn, where there were once many streetcars, were jokingly referred to as the “Brooklyn trolley dodgers.”)

Anyway, getting back to the play, it was set in New Orleans, which actually has a district named “Desire”) – and, since streetcars usually carried signs showing their destination, you could indeed take a streetcar “named” Desire. 

As my own contribution to this discussion, one of my early epigrams said, “All I want is a little more than I’ll ever get.” The illustration showed a giraffe, stretching upwards to get at some leaves on a tree from which the lower leaves have evidently already been nibbled off. But even the long neck of the giraffe (produced, no doubt by evolution, “selecting” the creatures who could reach higher on those edible trees) is, in this case, not long enough.

After our hunger for food, what comes next on the list of common desires? I know – you probably don’t care what comes next. You’re impatient for me to get to that most exciting of all our desires, the one for sexual satisfaction, also known as “Lust,” but which we idealize as “Love.” I’m certainly no authority, but to me what seems most remarkable is that this is not just a human characteristic, but, in one way or another, is common to all living things. We could call it the desire of life to perpetuate itself. But then we would have to ask, what exactly is “life”? And of course there are many different answers to that, from the biological to the philosophical.

Maybe we can find firmer footing in the territory of Law. What desires are legal, and which ones are not? The trouble is, it’s almost always a matter of degree. And very often it’s a matter of money. You can have almost anything you desire, if you can pay for it. So, what about the desire for money? To the extent that it can get you other things you want – and if those are things you need, want, and ought to have – why shouldn’t you desire it? But doesn’t the Bible say that money is the root of all evil? Actually, the correct quote is that “The love of money is the root of all evil.” And we’ve already established the close connection between love and desire.

Of course, much of our greatest literature has to do with human needs and desires. One passage that for some reason seems to me particularly relevant comes from Rudyard Kipling’s “Mandalay,” written in the voice of a British soldier, reminiscing about the time when he was stationed in what was then still called Burma, and the sense of unrestricted freedom he enjoyed in that Far Eastern tropical milieu:

“Ship me somewhere East of Suez,

Where the best is like the worst,

Where there aren’t no

Ten Commandments,

And a man can raise a thirst.”

So, having disposed of Sex, Money, and Drink – what else is there to put at the top of our “Wanted” charts? I would suggest just two more big items: Entertainment and Religion – and I’m not sure which matters more. Entertainment helps us get through life, but has only recently been recognized as playing a major role. Religion has always been important, because it takes care of any future life, and meanwhile provides a sense of meaning and purpose.

The trouble with Entertainment is that tastes vary, and in no situation does one size fit all (with the possible exception of slapstick humor, which seems to appeal to almost everybody everywhere). If earnings indicate desirability, popular entertainers are very high up there.

That leaves us with only Religion as the universal expression and satisfaction of Desire.

If you don’t like my analysis, now is the time to get off the Streetcar.