Ap97 P1 A Streetcar Named Desire

evocative diction, sensory images, and direct commentary. Although the playwright is describing a poor section of New Orleans, his diction, images, and commentary combine to create a positive impression of the neighborhood that is the play’s setting. Examples of diction that evoke a positive feeling are “raffish,” “quaintly,” “tender,” “lyricism,” “gracefully,” and “infatuated.” The sensory images are also positive in tone. The sky is a “tender blue, almost a turquoise, which invests the scene with a kind of lyricism.” Other images include “the warm breath of the brown river,” “faint redolences of bananas and coffee,” “the music of Negro entertainers,” “piano being played with the infatuated fluency of brown fingers.” Finally, the playwright directly points out the positive qualities of the area. Despite the poverty, he says, the section “has a raffish charm.” He notes that the blue sky “attenuates the atmosphere of decay” and explains that the “Blue Piano” that is constantly heard in the neighborhood “expresses the spirit of the life which goes on here.” His final comment is that “New Orleans is a cosmopolitan city where there is a relatively warm and easy intermingling of races in the old part of town.”

saucy attitude toward Steve. Presumably, Stanley and Mitch are still within earshot because Eunice is telling them to deliver a message to “Steve,” who, it is logical to assume, is her husband. As the men head toward the bowling alley, she tells them to let Steve know that he needs to fend for himself as far as food goes because “nothing’s left here.” This is a cheeky thing to say, especially given the time period in which the play is set and the “macho” character of Stanley and his friends. Eunice is making clear that she is not the “little woman,” and her sauciness amuses them all.

support for an assertion. The assertion that immediately precedes this sentence is that “Her appearance is incongruous to this setting.” This assertion is supported by the sentence that describes Blanche, who is “daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat, looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party in the garden district.” Stella and Stanley certainly do not live in the garden district of New Orleans.

provide insight into Stella’s attitude toward her husband. Stanley’s first action on stage is to “heave” a package of meat toward Stella with the one simple word, “Meat!” This certainly suggests a kind of primitive, caveman-like quality. The stage directions, though, reveal a great deal about Stella and her attitude toward the primitive Stanley: “She cries out in protest but manages to catch it; then she laughs breathlessly.” Despite her “protest,” Stella catches the meat Stanley throws at her and then “laughs breathlessly,” clearly taking some pleasure in his behavior. This provides the reader with a quick snapshot of Stella’s feelings for Stanley. He is, as Stella will say to Blanche later in this scene, a “different species” from the refined gentlemen of her youth, but Stella is intensely attracted to him. The stage directions do not provide enough information for the reader/viewer to conclude either that he is abusive toward Stella or that he values his male friends more than he values his wife.

solicitous. Blanche is far from solicitous toward Stella. She focuses on herself and on her horror at finding her sister living in such conditions. She is melodramatic: “I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!” “Oh, my baby! Stella! Stella for Star!” “Only Poe! Only Mr. Edgar Allan Poe!—could do it justice!” Her duplicity is evident to the audience when she pretends to “discover” the whiskey bottle, from which she just sipped when she was alone on stage. Blanche admits that she is nervous: “No coke, honey, not with my nerves tonight!” “she’s just all shaken up and hot and tired and dirty!” And she speaks in hyperbole almost constantly: “this horrible place!” “Never, never, never in my worst dreams could I picture”; “You’re all I’ve got in the world”; “I was on the verge of—lunacy, almost!”

literal and symbolicy. The names of the three streetcars Blanche took to reach Stella’s house are literal streetcar names. The reader/viewer can infer this because Eunice registers no surprise or confusion when Blanche tells her which streetcars she took, and Eunice confirms that she has, indeed, reached Elysian Fields. The names are also symbolic, however. Desire has taken Blanche to Cemeteries (or desire has destroyed Blanche), but she has arrived at Elysian Fields (symbolizing a possible redemption or at least rest—in Greek mythology, Elysian Fields were the final resting place of the virtuous). At this point in the play, the audience knows nothing about Blanche, but the symbolism is virtually impossible to miss. The names of the streetcars are not euphemistic; desire and cemeteries are stark realities, and Elysian Fields is not an attempt to deny an unpleasant reality but a romantic term signifying hope and rest following the harsh realities of life.

“No, one’s my limit.” She claims that one drink is her limit, but the reader/viewer knows that she has already had “a half tumbler of whiskey” before Stella’s arrival. It seems that Blanche will go to some length to keep up the appearance she wants to present. This is the first indication that Blanche may not be exactly what she seems to be.

speech patterns. Blanche is as dainty in her speech as she is in her dress. She speaks hesitantly to Eunice, feeling sure that she must have the wrong address when she sees where her sister, “Stella DuBois. I mean—Mrs. Stanley Kowalski” lives. She asks Eunice, “This—can this be—her home?” In contrast, Eunice speaks informally and colloquially, no doubt further discomfiting Blanche: “What number you lookin’ for?” “You don’t have to look no further”; “That’s the party”; “Well, that’s where she’s at, watchin’ her husband bowl”; “It’s sort of messed up right now but when it’s clean it’s real sweet”; “Por nada, as the Mexicans say”; “you’re from Mississippi, huh?” “A place like that must be awful hard to keep up”; “Aw. I’ll make myself scarce, in that case.” The rough Eunice does nothing to help Blanche gain her composure. After seeing Stella’s house, listening to Eunice, and then hearing a cat screech outside, Blanche can only take refuge in the bottle of whiskey she discovers in the closet. Eunice does tend to be intrusive, pushy, and solicitous, but these are qualities that characterize Eunice, not the French Quarter per se. Her speech patterns, though, likely typify this area. She even says, “as the Mexicans say,” indicating that she is using an expression heard in this racially mixed neighborhood.