Scene 5

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  • Scene 5
    • relationships
      • Stella and Stanley
      • Stanley and Blanche
        • 'before he throws me out'
          • like their relationship the coke will boil over 'it foams over and spills'
        • extended metaphor for B and S's fight over starsigns could be fighting over possession of Stella
      • Stella and Blanche
        • 'clutches her hand and presses it to her mouth with a moaning sound'
          • shows Blanche's desire to have Stella on her side
        • Stella 'rushes to the door to meet her husband' and Blanche sits back 'faintly' -shows us how Stan reasserts his dominance on ever entry
    • characters
      • Stanley
        • his accent, 'Eunuss', highlights his difference to 'refined' Blanche
        • Blanche's attempts to shut up Stanley fails due to his lack of education surrounding star signs - Stella must answer for him
          • he is amused by the irony of Blanche being 'virgo - the virgin'
            • he laughs showing he is one of the few people to see through her façade and also foreshadows him asking about Shaw
        • Blanche tries to distract Stanley with trivial matters but he cuts the fact: 'he can check on it and clear it up'
          • uses imperatives to suggest dominance
        • Stanley wont kiss Stella 'in front of her sister' - suggesting the future relationship B and Stanley may have
      • Stella
        • 'I don't listen to you when your being morbid'
          • Stella is like an ignorant child who only listens when something good is happening
      • Blanche
        • she almost insults Stella: 'my sister's friends go north for the summer'
          • suggesting Stella's life is too embarrassing to share
            • she feels the need to keep herself separate from Stella as if she admits she is the same she loses all the chance of her old life
        • Blanche asks if Steve 'killed' Eunice - points out how disintegrated Blanche is
          • she has extreme reactions which contrast to Stella's mundance attitude show behaviour is normal
            • mirrors Scene 4 reactions
        • Blanche compiles a 'book of words and phrases I've picked up here'
          • she treats it like a holiday, not reality, until she gets back to her real life - Old South
        • Blanche isn't blunt but instead use analogy of star-signs to communicate she wants Stan to be quiet
          • 'they dote on noise' - constrast Stanley who is very blunt an matter of fact
        • when Stanley mentions the flamingo Blanche 'touches the cologne dampened handkerchief to her temples'
          • it is as if she is trying to cover up the stench of her past - links to when she says 'I've sent it and smelled it'
        • Blanche tries to distract Stanley with jovial matters like her birthday - but she speaks with 'a note of fear in her voice' - this suggests Stan's power in scene
        • 'soft people have to court the favour of hard ones'
          • reflects how Stanley and Stella work but Blanche and Mitch won't as are both 'soft'
        • Blanche romanticizes her prostitution by calling it 'temporary magic' - shows how creates a façade surrounding everything in her life
          • Shep is her idealised 'protection' she imagines but will never have
        • Blanche speaks truthfully to Stella about her age - 'I'm fading now'
        • Blanche uses Stella's hanky to whip up the coke spill on a her skirt showing how Blanche's past was once white but is now stained and that Stella is helping her
        • Blanche is attracted to the boy as he is young we see through repetition of young
        • B regains confidence and superiority through Alan - before dropped palm leaf dropped superiority
          • speaks in foreign languages 'merci' 'adios' and makes mitch bow
    • themes
      • masculinity
        • Stanley arrives in his 'green and scarlet bowling shirt' asserting his masculinity and reminding us of his strength
      • fantasy and dellusion
        • Stella laughs at herself 'for being such a liar' which is a hysterical reaction
        • she creates a fantasy world through Shep saying she is 'spending summer on the wing'
          • this suggests she is trapped in her old life and wish to go back to it
          • 'toucher her throat as though actually talking to Shep' this accentuates her dellusion
        • Blanche links this boy and the others to her youth and Alan
          • 'run along', 'lamb' mirrors relationships she had with her pupils
        • Blanche stands 'dreamily' showing she has created an idea of youth and this young boy being Alan
      • feminity
        • 'I never was hard or self-sufficient enough'
          • the kind of woman you have to be in the new world to succeed
        • 'men don't even admit your existence unless your making love to them'
          • role of women was desire of children
      • sexuality
        • Eunice and Steve fight melo-dramatically
          • 'shouts in terrible wrath' 'appears with daemonic disorder'
            • use of hyperbole show primitive state of excessive emotions like Stanley and Stella's fight
          • the return 'her sobbing on his shoulder' - shows quick way to make up - trapped in cycle like Stan and Stella
        • Blanches says a 'good-night kiss' is all she has given Mitch
          • shows she controls men through her sexuality as if it is a gift to be 'given'
        • before the young boy arrives Blanche 'picks up a hand mirror' - shows she is concerned about her appearance
          • the boy calls Blanche 'ma'am' immediately asserting her dominance
            • wants to be in situation that makes her feel powerful
            • 'could you give me a light' 'its a bit tempramental' - shows his youth, innuendo
          • the time 'so late' - extended metaphor for Blanche being late in life
      • interior and exterior apperance
        • Blanche is seen 'fanning herself with a palm leaf' - she is trying appear to superior to Stella and Stan

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