Until They Bring The Streetcars Back

Stanley Gordon West’s Until They Bring the Streetcars Back is part of a large body of media—TV shows, movies, and books—about teenagers and trauma. Western culture regularly links the two, with teens inhabiting a dangerous, precarious world as they come of age, though adults often dismiss them because of their youth. While the primary traumatic narrative revolves around Gretchen and her predatory father, West ties in other heavy issues. Steve is affected by polio and the death of his little brother. Sandy, a member of Cal’s friend group, is traumatized by her adoption. Lola copes with the divorce of her parents and her absent father.

Cal, the main character at the center of the novel, doesn’t show signs of trauma, and he often uses his energy to be there for his friends, who regularly seek solace with him. Cal occupies the same position as Clay Jensen in 13 Reasons Why. Jay Asher’s 2007 novel became a TV show in 2017, and for three seasons, Clay had to manage the traumas of his friends and acquaintances. As with Cal, Clay tries to show compassion. Like Cal, Clay needs resilience to endure the stressful world that adults can’t relieve. Sexual assaults occur throughout the series, and the stigma attached to rape and young women furthers the trauma discussed in both pieces of media.

In Rebel Without a Cause (1955), James Dean plays Jim Stark—a teen struggling to fit in at school and deal with a deadly game of chicken. In the movie, Jim famously declares, “You’re tearing me apart.” Similarly, Cal states, “In church, I prayed like crazy and I slept most of the afternoon, but by evening I was going bananas” (173). Judy, Jim’s romantic interest, wants a relationship with her dad, but he calls her “a dirty tramp.” In Until They Bring the Streetcars Back, Otto won’t let Gretchen wear certain clothes and also won’t let her talk to boys, believing sexuality to be damning.  

Natalie Wood plays Judy in Rebel Without a Cause, and she plays Deanie in Splendor in the Grass (1961). Deanie wants to have a physical relationship with her boyfriend, but her parents, perpetuating sexist norms, dissuade her. In Splendor in the Grass, Deanie’s stifled sexual desires traumatize her, leading to mental health issues, and in Until They Bring the Streetcars Back, Gretchen worries about “going crazy” and fears being hospitalized like her sister. In Jeffrey Eugenides’s novel The Virgin Suicides (1993), five teen sisters die by suicide. The parents of the Lisbon sisters don’t want their daughters to express their sexuality, and when one sister, Lux, has sex, the parents pull them from school and imprison them at home. A group of boys tries to connect with them, but, unlike Cal, sex—not compassion—motivates the boys.

The Virgin Suicides, Splendor in the Grass, Rebel Without a Cause, and 13 Reasons Why join with Until They Bring the Streetcars Back in depicting the realistic, tumultuous world teens sometimes experience. Telling these honest stories is important because these experiences are isolating during an already emotionally heightened period of one’s life. While some stories sanitize teen experiences and further alienate teenagers enduring trauma and other difficult obstacles, these stories show the harsh reality, giving teens a point of connection and alleviating feelings of isolation.