Streetcar critics

Question 1

What does Jacob Adler argue?

Answer 1

‘The rise to economic power presages Stanley Kowalski’s ascension in the New South; and in Blanche, the aristocratic but bourgeois Old South has fallen victim to the natural evolution (some say revolution) of the rise of the proletariat.’

Question 2

What does Elia Kazane focus on?

Answer 2

Making Stanley the victim of Blanche’s onslaughts against his name, his heritage, his masculinity, and ultimately his family. (Some audiences, it was reported, actually cheered during the rape scene of Kazan’s production.)

Question 3

What does Nicholas Pagan argue?

Answer 3

Blanche could be phonologically associated with the verb “blanch”. Consequently, Blanche might be “blanching”, which means she is trying to make her world pure and innocent. Pagan’s understanding of Blanche’s name suggests that Blanche is not pure.

Question 4

What does Harold Bloom argue about Blanche’s purity?

Answer 4

Additional proof of Blanche trying to become “pure” are her numerous baths throughout the play. He states - “She [Blanche] disappears in the bathroom to be made pure again”.