Scene and quotes Flashcards
They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemetaries and ride six blocks to get off at- Elysian Fields!
Blanche - Scene 1
Elysian Fields - Greek mythological land of dead
She showed me a picture of your home-place, the plantation. A great big place with white columns.
Eunice - Scene 1
mention Dubois’ wealth on slavery
What are you doing in a place like this?
Blanche - Scene 1
You are the one that abandoned Belle Reve, not I! I stayed and fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it!
Blanche - Scene 1
desperation to cling to past
Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes
stage direction - Scene 1
When she comes in be sure to say something nice about her appearance… and admire her dress and tell her she’s looking wonderful. That’s important to Blance. Her little weakness!
Scene 2 - Stella
I don’t understand what happened to Belle Reve but you don’t know how ridiculous you are being when you suggest that my sister or I or anyone of our family could have perpetrated a swindle on anyone else
Scene 2 -Stella
Some men are took in by all this Hollywood glamour stuff and some are not
Scene 2 - Stanley
Poems a dead boy wrote. I hurt him the way you wuold like to hurt me, but you can’t! I’m not young and vulnerable anymore. But my young husband was and I- never mind about that! Just give them back to me!
Scene 2 - Blanche
feels guilt about husbands death
“You look fresh as a daisy”
“One that’s been picked a few days”
Scene 3 - Stella, Blanche
Blanche and ageing
Stanley gives a loud what of his hand on her thigh
Scene 3 - stage direction.
non-consensual physical aggression - shows he’s drunk
I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more that I can a rude remark or vulgar action
Scene 3 - Blanche
paralel between motif of discomfort and stanley’s brutishness.
They come together with low, animal moans
Scene 3 - stage direction
animalistic sex imagery
There’s so much- so much confusion in the world… Thank you for being so kind! I need kindness now.
Scene 3 -Blanche
Mitch is hope?
reliance on strangers to escape reality
I was sort of- thrilled by it
Scene 4 - stella
sexuality and animalistic masculinity
danger of desire
What you are talking about is brutal desire-just- Desire!- the name of that rattle-trap streetcar that bands through the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another…..
Scene 4 - Blanche
Streetcar allegory - universality of danger
In this dark march towards whatever it is we’re approaching… don’t- don’t hang back with the brutes
Scene 4 - Blanche
progression painted by Blanche is ironic - she’s old south
it isn’t enough to be soft. You’ve got to be soft and attractive. And I- I’m fading now! I don’t know how much longer I can turn the trick
Scene 5 - Blanche
abstract, poetic speech - alluding to gender and sensitivity
motif of light
I want to kiss you - just once - softly and sweetly - on your mouth
[without waiting for him to accept, she crosses quickly to him and presses her lips to his.] Run along now! It would be nice to keep to keep you, but I’ve got to be good and keep my hands off children! Adios!
Scene 5 - Blanche
obsession with desire
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
Scene 6 - Blanche
inoncence and caution
I guess it is just that I have - old-fashioned ideals! [she rolls her eyes, knowing he cannot see her face]
Scene 6 - Blanche
He hates me. Or why would he insult me? Of course there is such a thing as hostility of - perhaps in some perverse kind of way he - No! To think of it makes me…
[She makes a gesture of revulsion. Then finishes her drink. A pause follows.]
Scene 6 - Blanche
insists that stanley feels emotion towards her
When I was sixteen, I made the discovery - love. All at once and much, much too completely. It was like you suddenly turned on a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow, that’s how it struck the world for me
Scene 6 - Blanche
Allan - “blinding light “
metaphor to light and lantern
I think Blanche didn’t just love him but worshipped the ground he walked on! Adored him and though him almost too fine to be human! But then she found out… this beautiful and talented young man was a degenrate
Scene 7 - Stella
“Degenerate” - outlook of 1940s America on homosexuality
Yes, I do, so refreshed. A hot bath and a long cold drink always give me a new outlook on life!
Scene 7 - Blanche
cleansing
That girl calls me common!
Scene 7 - Stanley
Ticket! Back to Laural! On the Greyhound! Tuesday!
[The ‘Varsouviana’ music steals in softly and continues playing]
Scene 8 - Stanley
You’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother
Scene 9 - Mitch
