A Streetcar Named Desire

Question 1

Stella emits light, she is family to Blanche and Blanche relies on her, however, also suggests she stays in one place and is constant (potentially the only constant in Blanche’s life), so Blanche learnt to rely on her –> Stella as like a motherly figure.

Answer 1

“Stella for star!”

Question 2

Stella relies on Stanley, and can’t handle when he is away

Answer 2

“When he comes back I cry on his lap like a baby…”

Question 3

A type of music that represents multiculturalism, claustrophobia, the neighbourhood and modernity

Answer 3

“Blues piano”

Question 4

Blanche uses xenophobic language to describe Stanley

Answer 4

“Where were you. In bed with your - Polak!”

Question 5

Animalistic language to Stanleys motions

Answer 5

“animalistic joy”

Question 6

Stanley as a colourful bird

Answer 6

“Power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens”

Question 7

Blanche being on edge and wary around Stanley

Answer 7

“Blanche springs up”

Question 8

A type of music that is crazy, old fashioned, sounds like a carousel, cheerful but in the scene it is dark and mellow –> unhinged, always played when references are made to Blanche’s past and only she can hear it, Alan Grey, fantasy, Old America

Answer 8

“polka” / varsouvianna

Question 9

Stanley being suspicious about Blanche’s past from the moment she arrives in elysian fields and asks to see evidence using a certain motif, Stanley wants to intrude on Blanche’s past

Answer 9

“She didn’t show you no papers”

Question 10

Foreshadows the sexual assault at the end of the play, metaphorical for Stanley not being able to keep in his own space, but also the action of metaphorically digging out Blanche’s past.

Answer 10

“He pulls open the waredrobe trunk … and jerks out an armful of dresses”

Question 11

Stanley as dominant in the marriage, doesn’t like being told what to do, alpha male, likes to be in charge –> hegemonic masculinity

Answer 11

“Since when do you give me orders?”

Question 12

Blanche wearing this colour presents her as a danger and a threat to stanley

Answer 12

“comes out of the bathroom wearing a red satin robe”

Question 13

Stanley touching something of Blanches has contaminated them, she is dramatic about it –>conflict between class and gender –> Class is one of the ways Stanley is inferior to Blanche

Answer 13

“starts to examine them”
“Now that you’ve touched them I’ll burn them”

Question 14

Plastic theatre in the lighting in the Poker scene

Answer 14

“lurid nocturnal brilliance”

Question 15

Mens clothing for their masculinity, mens clothes as bright

Answer 15

“wear coloured shirts”

Question 16

Blanche sizing up Mitch as a marriage prospect, she is looking for practical benefits of marriage like financial security, not love.

Answer 16

“What does he do?

Question 17

Use of paper to cover the light, hide her secrets, but paper is easily destroyed as it is flimsy and fragile –> foreshadows her secrets being revealled.

Answer 17

“paper lantern”
“put it over the light bulb”

Question 18

ridiculous, awkward animalistic imagery to describe mitch

Answer 18

“moves in awkward imitation like a dancing bear”

Question 19

the blame not being put on stanley but instead the game, as poker is a masculine game and not emotional, but women are emotional so there is a clash

Answer 19

“poker shouldn’t be played in a house with women”

Question 20

stella is blind to stanley, love is blind, cant see him negatively as he relies on her like she relies on him

Answer 20

“Her eyes go blind with tenderness”

Question 21

stella as addicted and almost like drugged to stanley, calm and serene after being with him

Answer 21

“narcotized tranquility”

Question 22

women as emotional, stanley did this but he wasn’t called this, as it is associated with femininity and the menstrual cycle (hyst is a greek word meaning womb, and they believed that their womb detached and travelled around the body), often used to describe women and was a medical conditiuon until the 20th century

Answer 22

“hysterical tenderness”

Question 23

stella can only see what happens between her and stanley, sexual desire takes over their relationship, creating tunnel vision for her

Answer 23

“there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark, that sort of make everything else seem unimportant”

Question 24

the streetcar has taken blanche to elysian fields where she feels embarrassed to be - a representation of her upper class standard, but also a reference to sexual desires

Answer 24

“havent ypu ever ridden on that streetcar? it brought me here”, “where i’m ashamed to be”

Question 25

blanche goes on a rant and describes stanley using animalistic terms, saying he doesnt trreat women with respect, lacks culture and sophistication, shows she sees modern america as chaotic and sees it like a jungle, multiculturalism of the new south which she doesnt agree with

Answer 25

"sub-human" "something ape-like about him" "the kill in the jungle" "this party of apes"

Question 26

major key = happy sound --> contradicts the scene as blanche is opening up about her trauma with Allan grey to mitch

Answer 26

"the polka resumes in a major key"

Question 27

blanche singing a song representing her fantasy, and that her fantasy is fragile, as long as everyone believes in the fantasy it can be real, ironically it is in scene seven where her secrets are being told

Answer 27

"paper moon" "it wouldn't be make-believe if you believed in me"

Question 28

blanche being childlike in the bath, shows that she experienced harsh trauma from a young age, causing her to feel trapped in that trauma and in that age group, she cant move on from it.

Answer 28

"as if a child were frolicking in the tub"

Question 29

masculine characters support eachother, feminine should do the same but husbands come first --> reflected when stella stays with stanley sexual double standards, stanley told mitch what he heard about blanche representing the fact women cant be free in their sexuality - madonna whore complex

Answer 29

"you're goddam right i told him"

Question 30

foreshadows blanches breakdown is coming

Answer 30

"the distant piano goes into a hectic breakdown"

Question 31

blanches secrets being shown, demonstrated through the motif previously

Answer 31

"tears the paper lantern off the light-bulb"

Question 32

illusion vs reality

Answer 32

"i dont want realism... ill tell you what i want. magic!"

Question 33

plastic theatre, menacing and vivid colours on the wall, similar to the poker night, masculine and dangerous, blanche is hallucinating, losing herself and getting the idea of stanley being a threat

Answer 33

"lurid reflections appear on the walls"

Question 34

plastic theatre and expressionism animalistic sounds and bright images, multiculturalism but also animalistic sounds to represent stanley, a danger, approaching

Answer 34

"the night is filled with inhumane voices like cries in a jungle"

Question 35

stella either doesnt believe blanche or doesnt want to believe blanche, single mothers are looked down upon and stanley is her one form of income and protection, she relies on him and cant leave him, women not usually believed for stories of being sexually assaulted in the 40s, women with sexual desires seen as mentally ill

Answer 35

"i couldn't believe her story and go on living with stanley"

Question 36

blanche was scapegoated --> freud: society always makes a scapegoat, instead of addressing the problem (power of hegemonic masculinity and dominance, misrepresentations of females and mentally ill), they scapegoat as society and the house can live on without blanche, but stella cant live without powerful masculine dominance

Answer 36

"there wasn't no other place for her to go"

Question 37

blanche creates false representations of people --> her fantasy, like with mitch and then the doctor

Answer 37

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers"