A Streetcar Named Desire Flashcards
“Her white clothes, that suggests a moth”
The white clothes show innocence, purity, and virginity and hint at her deceitful character as she is far from innocence. Moth implies her fate lies in self-destruction just as a moth is attracted to light, causing their own death.
“This - can this be her home”
Shows her upper-class mentality. She is quite fancy and has grown up with money.
“Don’t you look at me, Stella, no, no, no, not till later, not till I’ve bathed and rested!”
“I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare”
Light clearly represents reality, which Blanche tries extremely hard to hide from.
“Polacks?”
Shows her prejudices and how she has quite old fashioned views on what is right and wrong
“Funerals are pretty compared to deaths”
Hints at the fragility of Blanche and is one of the reasons for her fragility at the point of going to see Stella
“It means wood’s and Blanche means white”
Symbolism: White shows innocence. However, it is later revealed that this is far from the truth. Wood suggests a hard and solid nature, which is in contrast to how she really is with her fragility and mental state.
“Yes, something - ape-like about him”
Shows his animal like instincts and links to his nature aswell as introduces the idea of the jungle. Links to the jungle noises rising up in scene 10
“Put a - paper lantern over the light”
The paper lantern is very fragile and can easily be broken just as Balnches delusions can and her mental state.
“You disgust me”
This shows more of her old-fashioned views but also her immaturity and the fact that she was hurt that her husband would be with someone else.
“The varsouviana? The polka tune that was playing when Alan…”
It appears when Blanche is faced with her past or the truth or whenever she talks about Alan. Represents death and imminent disaster.
“I’ve never had a real good look at you”
“You lied to me, Blanche”
“I’ve got to be good and keep my hands off children”
“And seizes the paper lantern, tearing it off the light bulb”
Lurid reflections appear on the wall around Blanche
Blanche is being trapped by Stanley, and the Lurid reflections are also trapping her.
“A locomotive is approaching. She claps her hands to her ears and crouches over”
“The inhuman jungle voices rise up”
Sound used in scene 10 during the rape scene. Creates an unsettled and uncomfortable atmosphere. This links to Stanley being described as an ape and an animal.
“I can’t stand a naked
light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action”
Shows Blanche would rather hide behind polite phrases than face the harsh reality of her life. Links to her paper lantern and the violation when Stanley and mitch rip it off the wall.
