Social class

Question 1

Plantation houses

Answer 1

• Before the civil war
• Belle Reve
• Old south wanted to elevate their lifestyle to aristocracy (highest class in some societies)
• Elite
• Plantation is an estate on which crops are grown by African Americans and are sold to plantation officers

Question 2

What two cultures are explored in the play?

Answer 2

The old south and the new world

Question 3

How does Blanche defy the values of the old world

Answer 3

• She breaks the values of the antebellum, what is expected of a southern belle
• Her assertive an promiscuous nature goes against the stereotype
• Leaving culture to forms of self-preservation in a hostile world

Question 4

What makes Blanche and Stanley individuals rather than representatives of cultures

Answer 4

• Sexual desires

Question 5

How is the American Dream presented in the play?

Answer 5

• Stanley embodies the American Dream but is heavily villainized and antagonized

Question 6

What is the significance of Belle Reve in the play

Answer 6

• It is an idea/concept in American History that is dying
• Embodies the Old world values
• Mitch is interested in the affections of the Old world, Mitch wants the softer embellishments and the fantasy of the modern world
• Stanley is attracted to the Old world and its brutality which acquires wealth and power, means greed,
• For Blanche Belle Reve defines her and this is what draws Stanley’s antagonism. Belle Reve is everything to her which brings about her destruction because she can never leave it
• Belle Reve is an object of desire
• Belle Reve facilitates sexual promiscuity and emphasizes corruption and the backbone of exploitation

Question 7

Describe 1940s America

Answer 7

• American society was affected by the past
• Trying to build up its economy
• The play shows how flawed the modern world is and therefore the future
• The play explores the problems of the Old world and the New world through a cautionary tale e.g gender roles and direction of modern America
  -The modern world is violently competitive, aggressive, stereotypically hyper-masculine, relentless forward motion and brutal

Question 8

“red stained meat from a butcher’s”

Answer 8

Highlights Stanley’s primal activity and stereotypical gender roles
- Creates a scene that is chaotic

Question 9

“blue denim work clothes”

Answer 9

Suggests working class world

Question 10

Only Mr Edgar Allan Poe!

Answer 10

• An American writer and also suggests that Blanche is educated

Question 11

Yes. A different species- Stella

Answer 11

Describes Stanley as Sub-human

Question 12

“ Try not compare him with men that we went out with at home”

Answer 12

• Highlights that Stella has accepted the modern world

Question 13

Poker game

Answer 13

• Motif
• Repeated symbol of what men can do but women can’t because it’s a territorial, competitive game
• Dealing cards represent how men control fate and destiny which causes destruction because the objective is to win at all costs

Question 14

Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes

Answer 14

• Dehumanised
• Violent movements of Stanley is representative of the modern world. Also his common last name

Question 15

With the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens

Answer 15

• Domain associated with females
• Hyper masculinity
• Sexually animalistic

Question 16

Not in my territory

Answer 16

Animalistic

Question 17

Describe postwar new Orleans

Answer 17

• Industrial
• Cosmopolitan, intermingling of races
• Rattling trains
• Street vendors
• Chaotic
• Shady and dangerous
• Opposite from where Blanche comes from, no privacy
• Lively setting of the french quarter

Question 18

Describe the Kowalski apartment

Answer 18

Claustrophobic

Question 19

Relationship between Stanley and Stella

Answer 19

Stereotypical, Stanley is dominant and Stella is subservient

Question 20

“But honey, you know as well as I do that a single girl, a girl alone in the world, has got to keep a firm hold on her emotions or she’ll be lost

Answer 20

Blanche is painting her picture of innocence and caution. Her façade is important to her because of the ‘old-fashioned’ ideals she was raised with

Question 21

'’Voulez-vous couchez avec moi ce soir?”- speaks in french

Answer 21

• Shows Mitch how educated she is and mocks him by interrupting him
• Do you want to sleep with me tonight?
• Emphasises their distinct backgrounds
• She reveals her true nature when he does not understand

Question 22

“That girl calls me common”- Stanley

Answer 22

Stanley’s hate for Blanche is based on this attitude she has towards him

Question 23

Significance of this scene scene 10

Answer 23

Leads up to the final confrontation between the protagonist and the antagonist

Question 24

Quotations that explains how Williams inspires our admiration for Blanche as scene 10 draws to a close

Answer 24

• “A cultivated woman, a woman of intelligence and breeding can enrich a mans life”
• “I think of myself as a very, very rich woman”
• “He returned with a box of roses to beg my forgiveness”
• Blanche recovers her past glory before the catastrophe

Question 25

The rape

Answer 25

• Final triumph of the New south and American dream over the Old South and its traditional ideals. Stanley, with his new son coming home, will continue his legacy versus Blanche, who is drowning in her misery

Question 26

Tragic

Answer 26

• The Old south has lost, and is almost immediately forgotten as life resumes
• Life goes on