Character: Who Said It? and When?
Symbol
Plot
Theme
Streetcar Notes
100
"STELL-AHHHHH!"
Who is Stanley after the poker game during which he hits Stella?
100
This is the symbol for the South, lost after the Civil War to an industrialized new nation.
What is Belle Reve?
100
This is the name of the plantation that Blanche has lost because she cannot pay the mortgage.
What is Belle Reve?
100
This character wrestles most with the theme of fantasy vs. reality.
Who is Blanche DuBois?
100
This author wrote A Streetcar Named Desire in 1945.
Who is Tennessee Williams?
200
"We danced the Varsouviana! Suddenly in the middle of the dance the boy I had married broke away from me and ran out of the casino. A few moments later-- a shot!"
Who is Blanche to Mitch in scene 6?
200
This is what Blanche uses to cover the light bulb in scene 3 and which could symbolize her aversion (dislike) for realism or hard truth.
What is a Chinese paper lantern?
200
This character digs through Blanche's trunk when she first gets to the flat; s/he finds furs, love letters, and cheap jewelry.
Who is Stanley?
200
This character has come to terms with her dependence on men to the extent that she has moved on from her past and settled for life in New Orleans.
Who is Stella Kowalski?
200
The play focuses on a clash between two characters, Blanche who represents romantic, traditionalist, and elitist views, and this character who represents the American dream and what you can achieve if you work hard.
Who is Stanley Kowalski?
300
"I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don't tell the truth, I tell what ought to be truth."
Who is Blanche to Mitch after he confronts her with what Stanley told him?
300
This name suggests purity but contrasts with this character's actions. The last name also suggests something strong like wood, but also the ability to be lost easily in the "forest" of the past.
What is Blanche (="white") DuBois(="wood" or "forest")?
300
This is how Blanche's original husband died.
What is that he shot himself after Blanche says that he "disgusts" her?
300
This character's inability to tolerate light symbolizes his/her inability to tolerate truth.
Who is Blanche?
300
The "model of virtue," the "guardian of youth," the "restraint on man's natural vice," and "educated but stuck in the past" are all attributes of this:
What is the Classic Southern Woman?
400
"In the state of Louisiana we have the Napoleonic code according to which what belongs to the wife belongs the husband and vice versa."
Who is Stanley to Stella in scene 2 right after Blanche arrives in New Orleans?
400
This is the type of music heard throughout the play that stands for depression, loneliness and Blanche's longing for love.
What is the "blue piano"?
400
This is what Stanley purchases for Blanche in scene 7 to be used by "next Tuesday."
What is a bus ticket back to Laurel?
400
When this type of music is playing in the play, it expresses the theme of Blanche's loss of innocence and eventual loss of grip on reality.
What is the Varsouviana polka?
400
Backed by French law even past 1803, this code states that a spouse has the right to own property that was previously held by the other.
What is the Napoleonic Code?
500
"I -- just told her that --we'd make arrangements for her to rest in the country. She's got it mixed in her mind with Shep Huntleigh."
Who is Stella to Eunice in scene 11 (final scene)?
500
This is the precise path of streetcars that Blanche takes to get to Stanley and Stella's. Symbolizes her path in the play.
What is Desire, to Cemeteries, to Elysian Fields?
500
This is the action Stella and Stanley take in response to "the story" and accusation Blanche has against Stanley.
What is that they have her committed to an insane asylum?
500
Oddly shaped shadows and jungle cries are heard by the audience and only this character in scene 10, which seems to symbolize the loss of his/her sanity.
Who is Blanche?
500
This name, Blanche's last streetcar stop in New Orleans, is the land of the dead in Greek mythology.
What is Elysian Fields?