A Streetcar Named Desire

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Streetcar: Presentation of women quotes
"You're as fresh as a daisy" [Stella] -> "One that's been picked a few days" [Blanche, Scene 3]
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Streetcar: Presentation of women quotes
"You've got to be soft and attractive" [Blanche, Scene 5]
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Streetcar: Presentation of women quotes
"casting my pearls before swine" [Blanche, Scene 10]
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Streetcar: Appearance vs reality quotes
"a great big place with white columns" [Eunice, Scene 1] -> "I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it" [Stanley, Scene 8]
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Streetcar: Appearance vs reality quotes
motif of the "paper lantern"
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Streetcar: Appearance vs reality quotes
"I don't want realism [...] I'll tell you what I want. Magic!" [Blanche, Scene 9]
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Streetcar: Appearance vs reality quotes
"I don't tell the truth. I tell what ought to be truth" [Blanche, Scene 9]
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Streetcar: Presentation of America quotes
"There's so much - so much confusion in the world" [Blanche, Scene 3]
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Streetcar: Presentation of America quotes
"Remember what Huey Long said - 'Every man is a king'" [Stanley, Scene 8]
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Streetcar: Class and power quotes
"Don't get up" [Blanche] -> "Nobody's going to get up" [Stanley, Scene 3]
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Streetcar: Class and power quotes
(Mitch seems) "superior to the others" [Blanche, Scene 3]
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Streetcar: Class and power quotes
"I guess... I have old fashioned ideals" [Blanche, Scene 6]
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Streetcar: Violence and death quotes
"[with heaven splitting violence] STELL-AHHH!" [Stanley, Scene 3]
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Streetcar: Violence and death quotes
"...sound of a blow. Stella cries out" [stage direction, Scene 3]
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Streetcar: Violence and death quotes
"buried at sea sewn up in a clean white sack" [Blanche, Scene 11]
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Streetcar: Loneliness and friendship quotes
"I need kindness now" [Blanche, Scene 3] -> "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" [Blanche, Scene 11]
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Streetcar: Loneliness and friendship quotes
"intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with" [Blanche, Scene 9]
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Streetcar: Masculinity quotes
"Napoleonic code" [Stanley, Scene 2]
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Streetcar: Masculinity quotes
"Stanley carries his bowling jacket and a red-stained package from a butcher's" [stage direction, Scene 1]
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Streetcar: Masculinity quotes
"animal force [...] ape-like" [Blanche, Scene 4]
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Streetcar: Desire quotes
"the only way to live with such a man is to - go to bed with him" [Blanche, Scene 4]
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Streetcar: Desire quotes
"I want to kiss you - just once - softly and sweetly on your mouth" [Blanche, Scene 5]
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Streetcar: History and context
Written in 1947; Williams as a gay writer; European influences (especially French); New Orleans as the birth place of jazz and blues; Williams' sister's mental health issues
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Streetcar: Dramatic style
Williams inspired by European realist theatre (e.g. Ibsen); often considered to be a Southern Gothic (developed in the wake of the civil war, imagery of decaying grandeur and the grotesque)
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Streetcar: The importance of sound and music
Recurrence of the "blue piano" and the "polka music", repeated sound of a "locomotive" as a symbol of fate in literature
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Streetcar: Symbolism of the Varsouviana
The Varsouviana is the polka tune heard throughout the play, and is named by Blanche in Scene 9. It may symbolise Blanche's inability to escape her husband's death.
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Streetcar: 'It's Only a Paper Moon' by Ella Fitzgerald
"It's a Barnum and Bailey world, just as phoney as it can be" [Blanche, Scene 7] - "it wouldn't be make believe if you believed in me" [Blanche, Scene 7]
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Streetcar: Structure
Chronological narrative except for Blanche's memories (not played out so doesn't affect structure), Blanche's first word is "they" and her last word is "strangers" which gives her loneliness an interminable or cyclical nature
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Streetcar: Kazan's 1951 interpretation
Starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando, sometimes considered to give a sympathetic view of Stanley, changes the ending so that Stella does not return to Stanley
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Streetcar: Critical views and interpretations
Feminist (no powerful women but sympathy lies with their situation); Queer (indirect criticism of US's stance on homophobia); Freudian (id, ego and superego); Nietzsche (resistance vs passion/Blanche vs Stanley); Darwinism (Blanche unable to adapt)
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Streetcar: Scene 1
Stanley throws meat at Stella, Blanche arrives, the loss of Belle Reve and the deaths of the family explianed
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Streetcar: Scene 2
Stanley goes through Blanche's things, Napoleonic code, lack of papers for Belle Reve's sale
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Streetcar: Scene 3
Poker party, Blanche meets Mitch, paper lantern placed over the light bulb, Stanley hits Stella but she returns to him
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Streetcar: Scene 4
Blanche rants about Stanley, Stanley overhears
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Streetcar: Scene 5
Steve and Eunice fight but also get back together, Blanche kisses the paper boy before going on a date with Mitch
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Streetcar: Scene 6
Blanche and Mitch return from the date, Blanche explains about Allen's death, Blanche and Mitch become closer (through necessity or mutual appreciation of loss and grief?)
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Streetcar: Scene 7
Blanche sings 'It's only a paper moon', Stanley begins to tell Stella about Blanche's time in Laurel
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Streetcar: Scene 8
Blanche's birthday party, Stanley confronts her about the Hotel Flamingo, Stanley aggressive throws his plate and makes his Huey Long speech, Stella goes into labour (deus ex machina)
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Streetcar: Scene 9
Blanche tells Mitch about sleeping with soldiers, she asks Mitch to marry her, he uses his mother as an excuse then attempts to **** her
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Streetcar: Scene 10
Blanche pretends she is going on a cruise, Stanley stops her leaving the house and rapes her
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Streetcar: Scene 11
Second poker game, Blanche is leaving, doctor and nurse arrive, Blanche is taken away presumably to an asylum, Stella stays with Stanley and the baby
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Streetcar: Presentation of women quotes

Back

"You've got to be soft and attractive" [Blanche, Scene 5]

Card 3

Front

Streetcar: Presentation of women quotes

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Streetcar: Appearance vs reality quotes

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Streetcar: Appearance vs reality quotes

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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