Creative Writing: A Streetcar Named Desire

This scene finally comes to a close with a striking final image specified in the stage directions, where Stella 'embraces' Stanley 'fiercely and full in the view of Blanche' who himself 'grins through the curtains at Blanche’. From this, one may infer that even in this early stage of the play, Stella has actively chosen Stanley, exemplified by how she hugs him 'fiercely', as if she is doing this solely to defy Blanche's wishes, and Stanley's 'grin' then implies he is aware of this and is triumphant.

It is clear from the beginning that Blanche is not a very honest character. She lives in a fantasy world of her own design. One of the very first things she does when she enters Stella’s

1. Blanche who is homeless, comes to her sister’s house at the beginning. Blanche had been a schoolteacher, married Allan, a man she later discovered to be gay. Her reactions to his sexual orientation caused him to commit suicide. Lonely, she becomes a prostitute, who loses her teaching career when her sexual relationship with a teenager is found out. After the family plantation Belle Reve is lost, she turns to her little sister Stella, who lives in with her husband Stanley in a poor area of New Orleans. She is a very deluded character; She hides her past and fragility behind her Southern aristocrat clothes and manners and is very harsh and mean to Stanley, calling him

Blanche's devistating past is just one of the reasons I felt sympathy for her. Troubled from her past, Blanche has a sence of falseness, which increasingly becomes apparent to Stanley. Her secrets are revealed, and this unveals a haunting past, and insecurities which were unknown to Stella. It would appear that the lies and desperate clutches to hold onto

As the play begins it tells how blanche arrives at New Orleans with one goal, to find her sister named Stella. After many years of not seeing her sister Blanche had found her in a place called “Elysian Fields”. Blanche’s first thought about that area was unpleasant, but as she was alone her sister appeared and tears of joy came roaring down both their eyes. It had

Stanley first name is “stone-clearing” while his last name in Polish means “blacksmith”. He appears to be a gentleman in front of Stella until Blanche arrives “I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it, having them coloured lights going! And wasn’t we happy together, wasn’t it all okay till she showed here!” (137). This belief maybe related to the meaning he has the power to consume others. Stella was mistakenly fallen for his charm and manner.

However, as we get to know Blanches character and situation, we begin to feel much sorrier for her and even begin to pity the situation she is stuck in. Having lost the family’s luxurious plantation house in Belle Reve, although we do not know whether this reclamation of the house is solely down to Blanche or just generally a family-wide debt issue that has forced Blanche from her home so cannot blame anyone specifically for this, Blanche has essentially ended up wandering around the area, looking for somewhere to stay before she ends up, literally on her sister’s doorstep at a last minute request. Her manic and slightly frenetic behaviour when she does arrive suggest that she is desperately nervous or getting increasingly desperate for support and some friendship, someone to rely on. She is however, a woman who is quite dramatic and emotional, as she is not someone who understands empathy. This is apparent when she has just arrived at Stella’s and is talking to her sister about where she lives. Now most people, when arriving in someone’s house at the last minute to stay there for an unspecified amount of time, would never dream of doing or saying something to insult the host. Yet Blanche, when asking Stella how many rooms there are in the apartment says ‘What? Two rooms did you say?’ in a quite demeaning and slightly insulting tone and to follow this comment up she laughs sharply, in an almost

Stella goes into labor pains and Stanley takes her to a hospital that same night. Much later, Blanche is drunkly packing her belongings and looks crazy as she is wearing a white evening gown, a pair of silver slippers, and a rhinestone tiara. Stanley (drunk) gets back home from the hospital and asks Blanche why she is dressed as she is. Blanche says that she has received a telegram from Shep Huntleigh, and he has invited her on a cruise.

The death of her family members and the loss of her home force Blanche to flee Laurel, trying to forget the past. She travels to New Orleans to seek shelter with her sister Stella Kowalski, but she is incongruous. Her alienation makes her adjust her surroundings in order to compensate for her detachment with reality.

During the last scene of the play (pg. 142) Blanche is being taken away by a doctor. This is an extremely emotional time for Stella. She really needs someone to comfort her. Stanley being insensitive toward her kneels down beside her and reaches under her blouse. He makes no effort to hug or hold her close to him. This demonstrates his lack of sensitivity. The idea of him reaching under blouse cries out I am the one who needs you now focus your intentions on me she is gone. Even in Stella’s time of need Stanley is there only for himself and doesn’t extend himself to his wife.

Blanche heads to visit Stella and Stanley in an effort to start a new, and cleanse herself of the past; when in fact what she finds is much worse than the ghosts of her past. In the first scenes, Blanche is very unlikable and is portrayed as a jealous sister, who can’t be happy for anyone. It is hard to feel sympathetic to Blanche; yet easy to feel sympathetic for everyone but her, due to her treatment

From the moment she entered, it was clear that Blanche was a greatly misunderstood character. Even Stella, Blanche’s sister, realizes that Blanche “never did g[a]ve [her] a chance

The darkness all begins when Blanche arrives at Stella’s apartment after her family home was lost. Stanley initially doesn’t trust Blanche and thinks she swindled Stella out of her share of the family home to pay off her own debts. The two are sisters and immediately Blanche begins to criticize their apartment because of coming from a high-class place. This immediately bothers Stanley and he becomes agitated with Blanche since they have taken her in and let her stay in their home. This adds issue between the characters right away because of both of their backgrounds. Blanche come from money and Tennessee Williams quotes “Her appearance is incongruous to the setting. She 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.” This is all build the plot showing contrast in difference in the two characters right away, the darkness begins to come upon Blanche.

Stella, Stanley's wife, isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. She is fairly ignorant to her situation, and to the situations of those around her. In the story Stella doesn’t create her own thoughts, she simply follows and obeys others. At the end of A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche is sexually assaulted by Stanley while Stella is waiting to deliver her baby at the hospital. Blanche, being the protective and caring sister that she is, tells Stella the truth, but doesn’t get the reaction she expects. Instead Stella says, “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley,” (Williams 165), and kicks Blanche to the curb, sending her to a mental hospital. Stella embodies the judgement Tennessee received in the past, as she represents the ignorant and unaccepting society that he lived

Before one can understand Blanche's character, one must understand the reason why she moved to New Orleans and joined her sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley. By analyzing the symbolism in the first scene, one