Ap97 P2 A Streetcar Named Desire

snide. Stanley begins his interaction with Blanche with no courtesies, just blunt questions and statements. Since Stanley “holds the bottle to the light to observe its depletion,” he obviously knows that someone has drunk a significant amount of his whiskey. More likely than not, he knows it was not Stella. Thus, his disingenuous comment implying that the hot weather has caused some of the liquor to evaporate shows that he has already “caught on” to Blanche. Stanley does not play the gracious host and ignore the liberties his guest has taken with the whiskey. His comment is malicious, sneering, and derogatory, or snide. This is reinforced when he replies sarcastically to Blanche’s claim, “I—rarely touch it,” by commenting, “Some people rarely touch it, but it touches them often.” With brutal honesty, Stanley insists on exposing what Blanche had taken pains to hide. The fact that Blanche responds to him “faintly” shows that Stanley is succeeding in causing Blanche discomfort. That this is his purpose is reinforced when, immediately following this exchange, he removes his shirt—an overly familiar act with a person one has just met moments before.

“species.” Stella uses all these words in connection with Stanley, but “species” suggests the animal kingdom. Stella is worried that Blanche will be shocked by Stanley because he is, in fact, animalistic, not refined like the “men that we went out with at home.”

finds Blanche’s neediness tiring. Stella responds “wearily” to Blanche’s demand that she admire Blanche’s figure and applaud the fact that Blanche weighs the same as she did ten years ago. Though weary, Stella’s response reflects what Blanche wanted to hear—that she looks incredibly well. Stella understands that Blanche needs her to respond with praise and compliments, and she complies, but having to play this game tires her.

antithesis, parallelism, and repetition. The two statements “you are the one that abandoned Belle Reve” and “I stayed and fought for it” are antithetical. The phrases “fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it” are parallel, as are the repeated words “I know, I know.”

counterargument. Blanche anticipates an accusation from Stella. She says Stella is going to reproach her. We soon learn that Blanche has lost the family estate, Belle Reve. Before Stella has an opportunity to argue that this was irresponsible of Blanche, Blanche offers her rebuttal, or counterargument: she was the one who at least “stayed and struggled” to keep Belle Reve while Stella left and headed to New Orleans. Therefore, Blanche reasons, Stella has no right to reproach her. She is not rationalizing her own actions. She is arguing that Stella, as the one who left, has no right to reproach her for anything concerning Belle Reve.

describing her feelings of helplessness. Blanche probably does feel helpless, but she makes no attempt to describe or even acknowledge these feelings. In her harangue, she invokes graphic images of death (“So big with it, it couldn’t be put in a coffin!” “Sometimes their breathing is hoarse, and sometimes it rattles, and sometimes they even cry out to you”), employs rhetorical questions (“Which of them left us a fortune? Which of them left a cent of insurance even?” “Where were you!”), chastises Stella for her lack of involvement (“You just came home in time for the funerals, Stella”; “Where were you! In bed with your—Polack!”), and presumes to speak for Stella, voicing Stella’s thoughts (“now you sit there telling me with your eyes that I let the place go!” “Sit there and stare at me, thinking I let the place go!”).

evenly matched. Eunice and Steve seem well-suited to each other. They are equally brash and argumentative in their exchange. They disagree about whether Steve had informed Eunice about his plans: “I told you and phoned you we was playing”; “You never phoned me once”; “I told you at breakfast—and phoned you at lunch”; “You just get yourself home here once in a while”; “You want it in the papers?” Their “conflict” does not seem serious nor appear to be escalating. It is simply the way they relate to one another. Their exchange does not seem to be an act they are putting on, nor does it seem destructive. Their communication “styles” match.