Students Learn Parents’ Perspectives With ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’

By Eliza Hallabeck

For Newtown High School students like Zach Bukuniewicz, reading A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams with his mother brought different interpretations of the classic play to life, as he said in Lee Keylock’s class on Tuesday, February 9.

Students in both Mr Keylock and Michelle Toby’s English classes shared their experience with reading the play with their parents during a program that asked parents to fill out journals and possibly join class discussions after finishing the reading. Throughout the week of February 8 to 11, parents joined students in the classroom to further the program.

Zach said he and his mother shared differing views with one another after reading one of the final scenes in the play, which examines the life of one couple when a sister comes to live with them.

The play won a Pulitzer Prize the year it was published, 1947, for drama. The story follows the dreams of Blanche Dubois, the man who ultimately destroys those dreams, her brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski, and her sister Stella.

Last year when the program first asked parents to read and journal with their students, they were not asked to also attend a classroom discussion. Mr Keylock said bringing parents into the classroom was added this year.

Mr Keylock said it is fun to see the students interact with their parents.

Parents Sarah Burns and Linda Tuccio, who attended a classroom discussion on Tuesday, February 9, both said it was fun to see inside a classroom, an opportunity parents normally get to see only in the lower grades.

“People seemed to speak their minds and be more open with their thoughts,” said Ms Burns, who completed journal entries with her son Nathaniel for the second half of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Ms Burns said she and her husband split the book to read with Nathaniel. She said she also attends a reading group with her daughter.

“I was definitely nice to see the kids talking about books,” said Ms Burns.

NHS senior Michael Tuccio said he thought his parents, and his mom especially, would be excited for the program when he first learned about it.

Michael also admitted to being nervous at the thought of having his mother attend a classroom discussion, but, “When she finally came into class, I was very glad she had taken part in it.”

Hearing his friends’ perspectives and his mother’s, he said, was enjoyable.

“Maybe you will watch a movie with your parents,” Michael said, “but reading a book with your parents may not be something you always get to do.”

While she had read the book in high school, Michael’s mother Linda Tuccio said she enjoyed it more this time around.

Ms Tuccio said she would welcome more programs like this one, and was delighted to go to school to understand part of her son’s school day. Discussing the characters in the play and their motives with her son also brought the characters to life, she said.

“I got to see through his eyes,” Ms Tuccio said, “and the things he picked up on were sometimes different from what I was seeing.”