A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams is a play about a woman named Blanche Dubois who finds herself in inappropriate circumstances. Her life is lived through fantasies, the memory of her lost husband and the resentment she feels towards her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Various moral and ethical lessons emerge from this piece, such as: lying ultimately gets you nowhere, abuse is never good, treating people the way you want to be treated, staying true to yourself, and not judging a book by its cover. The moral lesson I learned from A Streetcar Named Desire is to always tell the truth. Telling lies ultimately got Blanche Dubois nowhere. She was more alone than ever at the end of the play. She begins by intentionally lying. For example, she tells Stella early on that the school principal “suggested I take some time off” from her teaching job (Williams 14). In reality, the principal fired her for having an affair with a student. We suspect she is lying and our suspicions are later confirmed. Although no reason is mentioned as to why she is lying, it is likely to escape her sister's grief or possibly to maintain her appearance. Toward the end, Blanche says she received a telegram from an “old admirer… An old friend” who invited her to “a cruise to the Caribbean on a yacht” (Williams 152, 153). At this point, she even begins to believe her own lies. She lied to others and even herself for so long that she finally believed them. When Tennessee Williams shows us, through the sound of the polka and the shadows on the wall, what is going on in Blanche's head, we wonder if something is seriously wrong. She even told Mitch that she didn't lie in her... middle of paper... way. A Streetcar Named Desire shows us the perfect lesson not to judge a book by its cover, because in reality it can be a mess. No one has any idea what's going on inside a person unless you get to know them. Don't judge someone by their outward appearance, Lying ultimately gets you nowhere, Abusing people is never good, Treating people the way you would like to be treated. , and Staying True to Yourself are just some of the moral and ethical lessons I learned from A Streetcar Named Desire. Published in 1946, this play highlights the middle and lower classes during the era of the Great Depression. Some of these lessons stem from the nation's readiness to embrace the "old-fashioned values" of home and family after World War II. Works Cited in Williams, Tennessee. A tram named Désir. New York: New Directions, 1980. Print.