It is around 2:30 a.m. Steve, Pablo, Mitch, and Stanley are playing poker in the Kowalskis kitchen, which is bathed in a sinister green light. Tennessee Williams and A Streetcar Named Desire Background. A Streetcar Named Desire Summary and Analysis of Scene 1. It was so sudden that she wasn't able to let Stella know about it. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. When he's away for a week I nearly go wild! Both metaphorically and literally, bright light threatens to undo Blanches many deceptions. MOTIFS: BATHS 1. A Streetcar Named Desire: Scene 5 Summary & Analysis You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. He told her that he went in the drug store and had a cherry soda. Blanche is lost; her life is falling apart and she has nowhere to go. He is antagonistic toward Blanche. Ethnically diverse, working class, quiet. Stanley appears and calls for Stella, his wife, to catch a package of meat. Soon after Stella leaves, her sister, Blanche, arrives, carrying a suitcase and looking with disbelief at a slip of paper in her hand and then at the building. You'll also receive an email with the link. The name of the plantation home was Belle Reve or beautiful dream thus the loss of Belle Reve is correlated with the loss of a beautiful dream that Blanche once possessed. Around 2 a.m., Blanche and Mitch return to the Kowalski flat after their date. The play offers a romanticized vision of slum life that nevertheless reflects the atypical characteristics of New Orleans. Discount, Discount Code The other men enjoy the music, but Stanley springs up and shuts off the radio. She has just finished composing a letter to Shep Huntleigh pretending that she has been on a round of teas and cocktail parties. on 50-99 accounts. ], [They stare at each other across the yellow-checked linoleum of the table. and any corresponding bookmarks? Stella arrives and they embrace happily, Blanche babbling excitedly about Stella's appearance and not giving her sister a chance to get a word in edge-wise. A tale of hypocrisy, betrayal and utter madness, Williams captivates our attention through his vibrant characters, vivid descriptions, and a narrative hook that is bound to grip you. Dont have an account? Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc. March 3, 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 Finally, a disheveled Stella slips out of the apartment and down to where Stanley is. After the drink is poured, Blanche asks how Stella has allowed herself to stoop to such poor living conditions. Her fear of light will be seen to be connected with the death of her first husband and her fear of being too closely examined in the cold, hard world of reality. on 50-99 accounts. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. A Streetcar Named Desire: Scene 1 Summary & Analysis Next Scene 2 Themes and Colors Key Summary Analysis The play is set in a two-story, white-frame, faded corner building on a street called Elysian Fields, which runs between the train tracks and the river in New Orleans. She cries out as if the lantern was herself. She recounts how she suffered through the agonizingly slow deaths of their parents and relatives, and points the finger at Stella for running off to New Orleans and leaving all familial woes behind. Want 100 or more? Blanche redirects the conversation by asking if Stella has any liquor in the flat. After Eunice lets Blanche into the apartment, she runs around the corner to fetch Stella. But in the first scene, of course, Blanche is still putting on a happy face. Setting the Scene She tells Stella that she wants to rest and that she does want Mitch. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. to start your free trial of SparkNotes Plus. Wed love to have you back! Then she asks him about the rain and what he did when it rained. Blanche makes it clear from the start that her actions are involuntary "they," some unknown entity, told her to take a street-car named Desire. The Question and Answer section for A Streetcar Named Desire is a great Scene 1 Quotes They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get off atElysian Fields! To hold front position in this rat-race you've got to believe you are lucky. But for now, in the first scene, we only get tantalizing hints as Williams references all the major issues: the loss of Belle Reve; Blanche's drinking; the fear and adoration Stella feels for her husband; Blanche's fear of the light and preoccupation with appearances; the death of Blanche's husband. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. Stanleys return interrupts Blanches apology. To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum. Blanche has been drinking steadily since Mitch left. SparkNotes PLUS Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. Like the woman in the song, Blanche is now a captive maid, as she has nowhere else to go except Stella and Stanleys, It allows Stanley and Stella to have a conversation about Blanche without her knowing, It symbolizes Blanches desire to cleanse herself, literally and figuratively, The rhinestone tiara could represent Blanche in many ways. Blanche is appalled. The idea expressed is that desire can lead to ones literal or figurative death. $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% Once he has left the room, Blanche remarks that there is something superior to the others in Mitch. (For example, aside from Blanche, Chance Wayne in Sweet Bird of Youth and Sebastian in Suddenly, Last Summer are always dressed in white.) When Stella insults Stanley, he goes into a rage and hits her. Blanche kisses the Young Collector. Nevertheless, in this introduction, the audience is likely to sympathize with Stanley rather than Blanche, for Blanche behaves superficially and haughtily, while Stanley comes across as unpretentious, a social being with a zest for life. 2023 Course Hero, Inc. All rights reserved. Blanche meets Mitch. Setting The Scene Before Reading . (Williams notes that the music from this piano is to set the mood throughout the play.) The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Summary. Spying a bottle of whiskey in the closet, she suddenly breaks out of her dejected stupor. Bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the jungle; and you you here waiting for him." Blanche fibs that she is actually younger than Stella, and that she has come to New Orleans because Stella is ailing and needs her assistance. Blanche is sitting in her red satin robe in the bedroom. The name of the Kowalskis street underscores the extreme, opposing archetypes that Stanley and Blanche represent. A Streetcar Named Desire: Scene 10 Summary & Analysis Next Scene 11 Themes and Colors Key Summary Analysis It is still later that night. A Streetcar Named Desire has only one setting: a two-story flat in New Orleans. BLANCHE [with faintly hysterical vivacity]: At the sound of Blanche's voice Mitch's arm supporting his cards has sagged and his gaze is, And I'll be buried at sea sewn up in a clean white sack and dropped overboard--at noon--in the. Where were you! Though Stella has changed and moved into a new life, Blanche clings to her version of the past. I couldn't believe her story and go on living with Stanley. Her concealed drinking shows her desire to escape reality as well as the fact that she is quite adept at hiding facts about herself. He is collecting for the paper. Outside, the men return from bowling and discuss their plans for poker the following evening. Subscribe now. He then goes bowling and Stella follows. When Blanche declines to go to the bowling alley, the Black woman goes instead to tell Stella of her sisters arrival. Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. Stella is quite in love with her husband, however. Analysis. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. Notice that Blanche is described as wearing white and having a mothlike appearance. Blanche promises to say no more about it. For example, discordant sounds play as the violent drama heightens. Therefore, her sexual promiscuity returns to her guilt feelings over her failure to help her young husband. But then she meets Stanley. For instance, he dictates that Blanche should enter in "a white suit with a fluffy bodice," and further describes her outfit as something appropriate for a cocktail party. A Streetcar Named Desire has been labelled as one of the greatest American plays ever, and Tennessee Williams produces what could be regarded as a poignant and troubled tale about the hostility of conflicting the old world with the new world. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. What is the symbol of the searchlight in A Streetcar Named Desire . By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. Character List. You'll also receive an email with the link. You're a fine one to sit there accusing me of it! Want 100 or more? Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. A Streetcar Named Desire | Discussion Questions 1 - 10 - Course Hero tennessee-williams-a-streetcar-named-desire.pdf - Google Docs . Rather than face the consequences of her actions, Blanche blames Stella for choosing the lower-class, Polish Stanley over the DuBois family. This leads Blanche to tell Stella that Belle Reve, the ancestral home, has been lost. Tennessee Williams and A Streetcar Named Desire Background, Read more about the unnamed Black womans role. Music also allows the audience to enter Blanches head. Underscored is the cramped claustrophobia that enters the apartment with Blanche, and the heightened emotions of the bunker as Blanche's hide-out extends longer and longer. $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% Waiting for Stella to finish in the bathroom, he and Blanche talk. She has absolutely no place to go and no one to turn to or else she would not be here in these surroundings.