Scene Eight Flashcards
1
Q
Plot summary for scene 8
A
- BD’s birthday – 45 mins later – no sign of Mitch
- SK is told off by Stella for being a pig and smashes his plate on the floor
- BD tries to call Mitch – no answer
- SK presents BD with her bus ticket to Laurel
- SK reminds Stella of how he rescued her – ref to the “coloured lights”
- Stella goes into labour
2
Q
Key quotes for scene 8
A
- “It’s the first time in my entire experience with men, and I’ve had a good deal of all sorts, that I’ve actually been stood up by anybody!”
- “I hope you’re pleased with your doings. I never had so much trouble swallowing food in my life, looking at that girl’s face and the empty chair!”
- “Of course you don’t know what anxiety feels like!”
- “The parrot…knew more vulgar expressions than Mr. Kowalski!”
- “Pig-Polack-disgusting-vulgar-greasy!”
- “What do you two think you are? A pair of queens?”
- “Every man is a King! And I am the king around here!”
- “You remember the way it was?…The coloured lights”
- “I was common as dirt. I pulled you down from them columns and how you loved it.”
- “People like you abused her and forced her to change”
3
Q
What argument does John McCrae have about scene 8?
A
- Nobody ever rescues BD from the columns, unlike Stella
- TW introduces comedy amidst tragedy which perhaps leads to the question – will BD die? Evokes conflicting emotions – pity and amusement – links to end of tragedy when we should feel catharsis
- The Magnolia – touching for Williams (more research needed!)
- SK changing his shirt is his way of asserting his masculinity and dominance – his bowling shirt is a costume indicating power and masculinity.
- As Stella’s water breaks, SK supports her showing an image of togetherness
- BD can’t wash the insults off from SK despite constantly being in the bathroom and she sings while the music of her dead gay lover plays
- The bread symbolises life which brings the play to a climax – she can’t offer life whilst Stella, in opposition, gives birth.
4
Q
Contextual notes on scene 8
A
- Industrial edge of NO is emphasised as we’re immediately introduced to the big windows and big water tanks in the stage directions
- The 1940’s patriarchal soc and patriarchal dominance is referenced through Huey Long “every man is a King”
- SK’s violence is perhaps associated with PTSD (then called Battle Neurosis). Whilst never explicitly talking about the war, it reiterates the chaos and brutality that many men witnessed and underscores a deeply rooted sense of masculine toughness that many men felt.
- The lack of privacy within the French Quarter and debaucherous nature is seen as Eunice and Steve are heard laughing
- The cultural identity plays a huge role in the society – many people migrated over to America to find the American Dream: this is completely contrasted with (BD’s) xenophobic attitudes of the Old South – SK being Stella’s saviour from the disgraced Old South is only allowed because of the 1865 abolition of slavery which revealed the dark truths.
5
Q
Notes on structure and stagecraft in scene 8
A
- Empty chair – strong visual image of rejection
- SK’s violence at the dinner table –structurally reliving the Poker Night
- Steve and Eunice being heard – reminds Stella of life before Blanche – what life was and what it will be again.
- Candles – the bright future – for Stella it’s a symbol of celebration – for BD her melodramatic response shows that for her, the candles represent her own aging and her uncertain future.
- Varsouviana “steals in” - lyrical stage dirs represent BD trying to escape her haunting past – see her incredibly physical reaction.
- SK ripping off shirt asserts his dominance.
- SK’s diction as well – acts as Stella’s liberator -
- The baby represents the future
- Sinister rapidity – tension and tragedy increasing
- Look at lyrics – bread with no salt (McRae – impotence?)
6
Q
Links across literature in scene 8
A
- Moments of melodrama link to the trope of the hysterical woman and features of the Southern Gothic genre
- Image of columns reflects the romanticisation in Southern Gothic genre of a past built on exploitation yet culturally rich
- The image of the ‘pulling down’ could be linked to Marxist reading – victory of New America and newly assertive working classes over their oppressors. In this sense, SK becomes the hero and Stella a damsel in distress.
