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A Streetcar Named Desire: Discussion Questions

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I. Vocabulary

Effeminate- Adjective -(of a man) Having or showing characteristics regarded as typical of a woman; unmanly. (Pg 114)

Repertoire- Noun - A stock of plays, dances, or pieces that a company or a performer knows or is prepared to perform. (Pg 130)

Malarkey- Noun- Meaningless talk; nonsense. (Pg 145)

II. Discussion Questions

1. Why do you think Stanley was out to get Blanche throughout the whole novel? Do you think he found satisfaction in revealing her true identity?

2. When Stella had called the matron and the doctor to come and get Blanche, do you think it was because she was concerned about the well being of her sister or because she could not live with her in the house any longer?

3. If Stanley kept complaining about Blanche throughout the course of the whole novel, why do you think he had intercourse with her? Was it because he had a spark of desire or was it because he was always interested in her?

III. Literary Device- Foreshadowing

On page 111, Blanche was talking to Mitch about her current living conditions and she described to him the behavior of Stanley. Blanche said "It 's really a pretty frightful situation. You see, there 's no privacy here. There 's just these portioned between the …show more content…

In Scene 10, Blanche is begging Stanley to let her get by and he is not moving to let her through. Stanley says that he thinks Blanche would not be too bad to interfere with in a sexual way going back to Scene 6, when he would walk through the rooms in his underwear at night near Blanche. Blanche complained about the little bit of privacy she had in the house and that was exemplified when Stanley later picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. Blanche had thought in the beginning that her situation was frightful, but never to the degree in which she experienced towards the end of the

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Stanley is a blunt, practical, and animalistic man who has no patience for subtleties and refinement. His animalistic character shows the moment he meets Blanche, when he, moving with “animalistic joy” (24), “sizes” Blanche up with “sexual classifications” and “crude image” in his mind (25). Under his stare, Blanche draws “involuntarily back” (25), a movement that foreshadows their later conflict and her subsequent demise. His practical and straightforward side shows when he interrogates Blanche about the sale of Belle Reve to make sure that his wife is not swindled. His straightforward, practical nature makes him “boom” out of impatience (46) and demands Blanche to cut straight to the point when she tries to talk in an indirect, subtle manner as befit a Southern gentlewoman.

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Blanche’s final, deluded happiness suggests that, to some extent, fantasy is a vital force in every individual’s experience, despite reality’s inevitable triumph. This refers to her reality of how Mitch had came over to apologize to her, and she tells Stanley that she turned him down. This lie backfired, since Stanley knew exactly where Mitch was at this time. As well as Stanley saw through Blanches delusion of how she has received a wire, from Shep Huntleigh, inviting her to go with him down to the Caribbean cruise, in which Stanley later shuts down as

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