Stella Kowalski - Character Analysis

Stella with Blanche:

Stella and Blanche grew up together at Belle Reve. Though Stella has since abandoned Belle Reve, the way she has grown up still influences her behaviour. We can see this in the way that she objects to being hollered at in the first scene, before Blanche has even arrived. And even though we're told that the intermixing of races if fairly easy in Elysian Fields, when Stella approaches the two other women - she only addresses Eunice and she ignores the negro woman. Much, much later in the book, Blanche's babbling to herself includes a line regarding 'getting a coloured girl to do (the work)' Stella grew up thinking she was better than other races and that is still present in her interaction here. Though, she seems to have tried to bury her upbringing in order to live with Stanley. This is reversed with the arrival of Blanche. When Blanche turns up, she suddenly becomes embarrassed of the size of her home as if only just looking at it from an outsiders perspective, she begins to call Stanley out for eating like a pig, and she becomes slightly less docile and domesticated. 

This was done to show how someone with an upbringing like the DuBois sister's could learn to change and learn to adapt to situations like Elysian Fields. This shows us that Stella is willing to accommodate but, more importantly, it highlights that Blanche is not. One of Blanche's key flaws is that she cannot cope with change. This is why she cannot cope with the loss of Belle Reve, the change in her social status, and retreats to a fantasy where everything is the same. Even though it puts such a strain on her mental health, she'd rather have that than learn to accept her new social status an her new surroundings. Tennessee Williams made Stella adaptive purely to contrast against Blanche. If she didn't exist within this novel, then it may appear that he was saying "the upper-class cannot adapt and change," however he wasn't trying to assign this flaw to the upper class as a whole, just to Blanche as a character.  

It's very clear that Stella loves Blanche very much. She's so excited to see her older sister again and, when the two embrace, it is a clear display of how much they've missed each other. She puts up with Blanche's problems, even when they cause problems for her, without complaint because she loves her sister. She's happy to let Blanche stay with them because she wants Blanche to have a roof over her head, she waits on her because she wants her to feel at home. She gets angrier with Stanley than we've ever seen her get before when he ruins her chances with Mitch - because Stella wanted Blanche to be happy. Williams did this to show that Stella is a loving and kind woman. This ensures that we all feel pity for her across the course of the play and evoking pathos is something that all tragedies should aim to do. On top of this, at the end of the play, when Blanche is raped, Stella decides not to believe her and sends her away. This makes us ask, what happened to the kind woman who loved her sister above all else? Why does she allow this to happen? Because, as much as she loves her sister, she loves Stanley as well and, more than that, she is dependant on him. 

Stella with Stanley:

Stella loves Stanley. We can tell from their very first interactions - when she wants to go watch him bowl. Though she'd be having no fun as she wouldn't be bowling, she's happy from just being around him. When she talks to Blanche about him, her adoration for him is evident in the way she speaks. Although, at the same time, it reeks of dependency. She cannot stand to be away from him. She cries when he's away for a night and she nearly goes mad when he's gone for a week. Stella doesn't know who she is without Stanley. I, alongside the majority of modern readers, saw this as a sign of a toxic relationship. However, the reason that a modern audience would interpret this in such a way is because we have pamphlets in doctors offices, lessons in schools, and constant exposure to the warning signs. The original audience may have seen this and thought nothing of it at the very first, only realising how it was a problem after the abuse had already become undeniable - after the poker scene - and would then compound it all together. This would make the realisation even more shocking in that scene, increasing drama and tension. 

It's impossible to deny Stella's role as an abuse victim. She's beaten by Stanley in the poker scene and Eunice tells us that she hopes they call the police 'like last time' which lets us know that this has happened before. Not only that, but he's aggressive constantly. He breaks the radio, he smashes plates, he bangs around. He regards Stella telling him to 'be nice to Blanche' as her bossing him around and overstepping her boundaries, he gets upset when she goes to a show because she won't be there to make his food. Again, some of these would be dismissed by the original audience as gender roles were still strictly enforced and a man would expect his wife to be waiting in the kitchen with a hot meal on the stove. However, both audiences would recognise physical abuse in this scene as it is so blatant. Stella's abuse further the characterisation of both Stanley and Blanche clearly. Stanley exists within this play as a critique of toxic masculinity - a feminist concept that suggests that the manner is which men are expected to behave and the gender roles imposed on men in our society is dangerous and detrimental. Toxic masculinity tells us that men aren't emotional in the way that women are, they're naturally angry, they're naturally violent, all they care about is sex, they don't respect women ect. Stanley plays into most of the masculine stereotypes, right down to his job - manual labour - and his love for cars. It furthers Blanche's characterisation as seeing her sister so badly hurt worsens her mental state. It's also so that Stella would definitely take Stanley's side - as she is his victim and therefore she cannot go against him out of a mix of fear and love - and this would leave Blanche without a single person in the world to support her. This is a part of her destruction. However, on face value, Stella's abuse barely furthers any narrative for her. It's not a critique. It doesn't spark any change in her. It doesn't change her story at all. But, what her abuse does do for her own narrative is that it makes the conclusion more tragic as she is left to raise a child with her abuser. 

Stella as a passive, flat victim:

It's easy to see Stella as a flat and boring character who is in the story only to serve the plot and has no real personality outside of being both a victim and a housewife. She plays into both of these roles incredibly well. She has no life outside of the what the plot demands. Her only interest seems to be Stanley and being around Stanley. She has no friends and interacts with no one other than Stanley, Stanley's friends, Blanche and Eunice - her neighbour. She only enjoys watching her husband bowl and spending time with him. She cleans up after him, even when it's him who made the mess, she cooks the meals, and she appears to have no job. It could be that she's away on maternity leave, of course, but if she has a job then she's not at all invested in it as she never mentions it. Why would Williams want to write a flat character? Pre-defined character archetypes are already set in place and a character can be assigned a role without time being spent developing them. This gives us more time to spend developing the main characters, in this case, Stanley and Blanche.

However, I do not believe that Stella perfectly conforms. When Blanche is angry with her, she says that the best she could do would be to leave Belle Reve and make her own way - this shows her as someone with ambition and drive, though that may have gone away once she met Stanley and settled down with him. With the arrival of Blanche, she becomes more confident and she begins to grow. She yells at Stanley, calls him a pig, asks him to clean his own plate. She begins to grow away from this role and become more of her own person. With Blanche's fall, Stella retreats back into her role because of the safety that it awards her. When we see her growth as an individual, it fills us with hope that she may be able to get away from Stanley and grow as a person. Williams did this so that he could crush that hope at the end to evoke pathos to its full potential. 

 

Stella as a trophy:

Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski are from two parallel words that should've never intersected. Stella is the reason that they are brought together as she is Stanley's wife and Blanche's sister. She is essential to the play she is the reason that these two character interact at all, therefore there would be no conflict without her presence. She is the bridge between these two worlds, the connector.  Both Stanley and Blanche fight for Stella's attention and affection. Stanley wants Stella to remain the way that she is and stay with him whilst Blanche wants Stella to realise the weight of the situation she's in and leave. Though Blanche's goal is well-intentioned and you cannot fault her for trying to get her sister to leave an abusive relationship, it must be said that part of Blanche's reasoning is steeped in selfishness as she wanted to get away from Stanley herself and it would be easier with her sister by her side. 

Stella serves Williams plot by bringing these two character together and keeping them together by acting as a trophy to win and to fight over. 

Stella as a Madonna:

There are two stereotypes of women that show up frequently within literature. This distinction can be referred to as the 'Madonna V. Eve.' The Eve figure is the seductress; she's dangerous; she enjoys sex; she doesn't conform to her gender stereotypes. Then, there's the Eve. She's an angelic figure and a woman of the house. She's maternal and is either already a mother or she dreams of having children. However, despite this, she doesn't enjoy sex. She's not a sexual figure in the slightest. She's an innocent housewife. She confirms to her gender roles. She's a good woman. 

Stella plays into being a Madonna. She's presented as a good woman who's loyal to her husband, who is naturally maternal and has a baby on the way. She's a housewife figure. She's the angel of the house. It's very easy to pin Stella into that box and it wouldn't be wrong to do so. However, there are some way in which Williams subverts this. The biggest would be that Stella openly enjoys sex. There are a lot of references to Stella having sex. Blanche talks about Stella being in bed with her Polak, Stanley talks about making noise in the night. Stella and Stanley are very sexually active and Stella does not pretend to be virginal and pure. Williams was very clever in the way he did this. He made Blanche fit closely to the Eve figure, though she also subverts it somewhat, and Stella into a Madonna. This was done to show the two sisters as polar opposites - which shows us that it wasn't Blanche's upbringing that made her into who she was and that she could've just as easily turned out like Stella. However, by subverting one or two aspects of the Madonna figure, this shows that Williams does not condemn women for having sex. With Blanche being 'punished' through rape and having promiscuity as a hamartia, it could easily be interpreted this way- that Williams held distaste for sexual women. But by having Stella also enjoy sex, this interpretation is harder to argue. 

Stella as an individual, a conclusion:

Stella is, on the surface, a flat and uninteresting character. It takes a further look into her character to reveal that she's quite a bit more than that. She's not only intrinsic to the plot of the story and to both Stanley and Blanche's character arcs but she's also a character with a lot of untapped potential who subverts many common tropes and has a complex, grey morality. 

Eat Me - Literal Meaning

In Eat Me, a woman is fed up by her male partner until she is obese. At some points, it seems she enjoys food and at others, it seems she is being force-fed. At one point, she becomes so fat that when she rolls on top of him to engage in intercourse, she suffocates him and he dies. The ending is rather ambiguous as she tells us that there was "nothing left in the house to eat" implying that she either starved or ate her partner

Eat Me - Title

The title gave several initial impressions

1. Food - The most obvious link is to food and fatness
2. Wonderland/Fairytale - This is a phrase seen on food in Alice in Wonderland and gives us the impression of a fantasy world. This tells us that this may not have really happened and it may be an extended metaphor.
3. Temptation - There is a sexual element to this phrase that links to the sexual themes present in this poem
4. Control - This is imperative and is a command

 

Eat Me

Eat Me was written by Patience Agbabi. She is a British, bisexual, feminist woman and so her experiences will likely translate into her poetry, making them full of issues relating to sexuality and the life of a woman. We can see the themes of misogyny, gender roles and body shaming present in Eat Me

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: All of the burden descended on my shoulders

Blanche felt that she had too much to take care of and that is was too much for her. This was a contributing factor in Blanche's mental decline and becomes an explanation for why she needs people to take care of her now.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: You left

Blanche holds a grudge against Stella for leaving

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE:
Well, Stella--you're going to reproach me, I know that you're bound to reproach me

This shows Blanche's guilt. She expects Blanche to blame her because she blames herself. This is a contributing factor in Blanche's mental decline.

Quotes from Scene 1

[STELLA looks up with a radiant smile]

Stella adores Stanley - her love for him is unquestionable. She is at her happiest talking about him. Again, to an audience of the past, this wouldn't be necessarily worrying - it would simply serve to portray her as a doting housewife, the 'ideal woman.' A modern audience can recognize this attitude as worrying.

Quotes from Scene 1

STELLA [half to herself]:
I can hardly stand it when he is away for a night...
BLANCHE:
Why, Stella!
STELLA:
When he's away for a week I nearly go wild!
BLANCHE:
Gracious!
STELLA:
And when he comes back I cry on his lap like a baby...

Stella is 100% dependent on Stanley and she cannot function as a regular person without him. This is an explanation for why, at the end, she chooses not to believe her sister - as she cannot live a life without Stanley. To an audience in the 1940's, this may not have been as extreme and wives were almost expected to be reliant on their husbands (though attitudes were changing so responses would have been mixed) but, to a modern audience, this would be recognized as incredibly toxic and a warning sign of abuse. 

Quotes from Scene 1

STELLA: A master sergeant in the engineers corp.

Stanley was ex military. This could suggest a reason for his aggressive behavior and be considered a virtue for him - as most people who've served their country are given respect.

Quotes from Scene 1

STELLA: ... try not to - well - compare him with the boys that we went out with at home.

Stanley is not one of the sort of boys that Stella's parents would have allowed her to date due to his crass nature and poor background. He's different from the other men she's had in her life and that suggests what she might like about him. It's human nature to want what you're told you can't have and he excites her in a way that the boys at home never did.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: I brought some nice clothes to meet all your lovely friends in.

This shows that Blanche wanted to be liked by Stella's friends and cared about what they thought of her. From what we know about Blanche already, we can assume she see's herself as better than these people but she still cares a great deal about what they think of her. Blanche wants approval from everyone. It also shows that Blanche thinks that if she looks nice that Stella's friends will like her more - even though the inhabitants of Elysian fields are not as likely to be swayed by expensive clothes and staples of wealth - and this shows us, again, how much importance Blanche places on her attractiveness.

Quotes from Scene 1

STELLA: Stanley is polish, you know.

Stanley erupts at a later point when Blanche refers to him as Polish, telling her that he is not and that he is American. This suggests that Stella doesn't know her husband as well as she thinks she does as she also thinks of him as Polish rather than American. It can also be indicative of her background - suggesting that she has the same xenophobia as Blanche and refuses to accept Stanley as a 'real' American.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE [dubiously]: Wonderful, honey. I don't like a bed that gives too much

At this point, Blanche knows that she's complained too much and feigns satisfaction with the bed. Though it is somewhat obviously fake, it shows that Blanche is willing to make some effort to accept the place and tone herself down - though she finds it hard due to her background and due to the stress that is placed on her later. It asks the question: If Stanley had not been present and the only problem had been the change and loss of status, would Blanche has learned to accept change? 

Essay Question

I do not believe that Williams aligns himself with Stanley’s way of life or Blanche’s. Both represent two heavy extremes – neither of which is presented positively or as something to aspire to.

Blanche is a tragic hero and, therefore, it is expected that she will be someone that we pity. Indeed, Williams makes certain that an audience would feel pity to some degree or other for Blanche when he subjects his character to horrific events such as loss of her family, rape, and forcibly being sent to a mental institution. These events alone, with a less skilled writer, may not fully evoke pathos. However, Williams subverts Unity of time so he can make these events occur over a long period of time. The effect of this on an audience would be that we get to slowly watch Blanche’s downfall and her descent to madness. Not only does it feel more realistic, but this slow process does cause pity as we get to see her go from the woman in the beginning of the book to who she is at the end. “I was flirting with your husband,” is a line she says to Stella. Blanche is a flirty, cheerful person. In the first scene, where the stage directions say “Blanche springs up and runs to her with a wild cry” it shows her as happy, cheerful. Indeed, she’s quite hopeful that she could settle down with Mitch, a realistic dream, and she’s excited to see her sister have a baby, if not a little envious. This is, whilst not ideal, a new start for her. She is also quick to defend herself, “What in the name of heaven are you thinking of! What's in the back of that little boy's mind of yours?” and quick to defend her sister, “My sister is going to have a baby!” This is all gone and ruined for her by the end.  She has become a shell of herself and cannot separate her reality from her fantasy. Whilst she is jumpy in the beginning, she becomes unable to control herself in the end. Hearing Stanley’s voice from the other room causes her to “finally (speak) but with sudden hysteria.” When she is led away at the end, it is in complete surrender; she can no longer find enough strength to fight and defend herself.

Blanches destruction is also deeply personal to her. When her husband killed herself and her family died and left her with nothing in the world other than her guilt – she turned to sex. She says “Men don't even acknowledge your existence unless they're making love to you.” Sex made her feel safe and made her still feel attractive. The way in which Stanley breaks Blanche is, first, through revealing her sexual exploits, not allowing her to keep this a private method of coping. The shame that Blanche feels for having sex is evident in the way she lies about it. She distances herself from girls who have sex when she says to Mitch that he must be used to “the kind (of girls) that get lost immediately, on the first date!” Stanley tells us that Mitch “thought she had never been more than kissed by a fellow!” Blanche is not proud of her sexual life – it lead to her being asked to leave Laurel. Stanley makes sure she cannot escape it. Then, the ultimate destruction for Blanche, there is the rape scene. Blanche is sexually violated and this removes the safety from sex for her. She cannot find comfort in it as it has become a punishment for her, an act meant to destroy her.  This personal destruction creates pity for Blanche, showing the Williams did pity her.

Yet, whilst I believe that Williams has pity for his tragic heroine, I’m not sure that it’s right to say his sympathies lie with her. At some points preceding the rape, we, as an audience, feel no pity for Blanche. When she kisses the young man, we see that Blanche is not starting afresh in New Orleans and she is not bettering herself. We cannot feel pity for her when we learn that she had sexual relations with her student – an act of statutory rape. By 1920 almost all states had raised their age of consent to 16 or 18. The boy’s age is never mentioned but it’s possible that, because of the level Blanche taught he could possibly have been around 17, making it legal in some states. As well as this the novel is set in 1947, meaning that this is technically illegal. It must be taken into account that, as the victim was male, the rape would’ve been seen as less severe due to toxic masculinity and stereotyping that men ‘always want sex’ and would be lucky to have it with an attractive teacher. This is still a problem today and would’ve been even more of a serious issue today. This will strike a modern audience more than the original audience as we have more sympathy for male rape victims in modern times. However, it would still strike the original audience as wrong. Not only was age a factor but also that Blanche was an authority figure in the boy’s life misusing her positron. Blanche is incredibly flawed and sometimes this takes away sympathy from her.

As well as this, Blanche loses the power struggle between her and Stanley. Her fantasy ideals are presented as a flaw – something that prevents her from living her life. It stops her from being able to adapt. It shows that someone with Blanche’s outlook on life – ignoring reality – cannot survive in the world. Blanche is punished for her hamartia – her refusal to accept reality (which encompasses all of her flaws as it is a direct cause of them – her refusal to living in the real world leads to her needing protection and validation, leading to promiscuity ect.) This shows that, whilst Blanche may have Williams sympathies in some ways, he does not think that Blanche’s way of living is right, nor is it something to aspire to. She does not have his sympathies in this sense.

Stanley is the antithesis of Blanche. For starters, he wins the power struggle. He survives. He gets what he wants – his wife, his son, Blanche gone. This shows Stanley as a strong person. We know that Stanley is strong physically, he is described as “strongly and compactly built” and he works in manual labour. He’s also a war veteran, a sign of not only strength buy a position that makes him more sympathetic as most people admire the ex-military. He is also emotionally stronger than Blanche and does not collapse. Whilst he is an angry man, this is done to show dominance rather than just because he can’t control himself. His anger isis a shown when he hits his wife, throws a radio out of the window, throws a plate on the floor or gets otherwise violent. However, when he hears Blanche talking about him whilst he is outside, he remains calm and doesn’t let her know. This is because he knows it will benefit him to keep himself under control.

Stanley also adapts easier than Blanche can. He lives in the new world. He can deal with the intermingling of races, which is a huge positive and is something that has made the age we live in now possible. He can also accept the violence that goes on around him – Steve and Eunice – and he and Stella can move past their own violence. This is, arguably, is negative as abuse is normalised in Elysian Fields but it still shows that Stanley is accepting the real world rather than retreating into a Fantasy.  He remains grounded in reality all through the play, even when it’s not easy for him. He never pretends to be anything that he’s not – being open about it, saying “How right you was,” in relation to Stella thinking he was common.

However, Stanley is not a positive character. He is the antagonist. It’s more than unlikely that Williams wanted his audience to sympathise with an abuser considering that he suffered emotional and physical abuse at the hands of his father Cornelius Williams, who it is speculated that Stanley is based off of.  His anger and his need for dominance turn everyone against him in the end. Stella is beginning to doubt him, evident in the line “I don’t know if I’ve done the right thing.” Mitch threatens to kill him. Steve and Pablo are disgusted with him. The manner in which he sends Blanche away leaves everyone shook and they know he is to blame. Mitch even says “this is your fault.

Moreover, rapists are not intended to be sympathised with as rape is considered amongst the most heinous crimes. It is unarguable that what Stanley did was not in any way just or right. Modern audiences and audiences of the time would both be expected with the same level of disgust at someone threatening to “interfere” with another, especially another in the mental state that Blanche was in. He physically intimidates her, threatens her and then forces himself upon her with plans to ‘interfere’ with her despite her threatening to stick a broken bottle in his face – not an act that most would consider appropriate foreplay or consent.

In conclusion, Stanley and Blanche are both characters that Williams has put time and thought into with flaws and virtues, like real people. However, they both represent two toxic mentalities that are presented negatively. Blanche has Williams pity but he does not align himself with her way of life. Stanley is presented as an antagonist; though he is an antagonist with some virtues, they are not enough to redeem him or earn him Williams sympathy. 

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: I don't see where you're going to put me!

Blanche knows that there's no place for her in Stanley and Stella's home. She knows that she doesn't belong.

BLANCHE: Wonderful, honey.

She knows that she's already complained far too much  and she tones it down. The bed situation is far from wonderful or ideal but Blanche pretends that everything is fine for Stella's sake.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: Stella, there's - only two rooms?

The apartment is quite claustrophobic and is too small for three people to live together. It tells us that our characters cannot get away from each other. There is no privacy. This becomes a problem later on in the play.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: You see I still have that awful vanity about my looks even now that my looks are slipping.

This line suggests that Blanche's vanity and narcissism is really just a facade and she doesn't think very highly of herself. It would explain why she is so desperate for compliments and for other people to tell her that she is beautiful.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: I want you to look at my figure! You know I haven't put on one ounce in ten years, Stella?

This is another quote that makes Blanche seem vain and suggests that she puts a heavy amount of importance on her body. It evokes pity when we see how desperate she is for validation.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: ... like a cherub in choir ...

This is an example of religious imagery. Blanche calls Stella's self control "beautiful" showing that she thinks Stella's purity is admirable - suggesting that she may be jealous of the way Stella appears like a cherub in choir, suggesting that she wants her 'purity' back.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: You hear me? I said stand up!

This is very demanding and Stella only complies reluctantly. This shows Blanche as controlling and Stella as submissive and weak.

BLANCHE: You messy child... you've spilled something ... you ought to have it (her hair) cut."

Blanche acts almost motherly to Stella but still vet controlling. This hints that Blanche has been trying to take control of her life. We know that she struggled with trying to be in control of Belle Reve but she hasn't been able to. She can only get Stella to do what she wants because Stella is a very weak-willed person, especially at the start of the novel.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: You haven't said a word about my appearance.

Again, this shows Blanche's need for validation and compliments. It shows that her body and her appearance is all she feels that she has left. This explains why she finds her safety in sex - she feels her body is all she has to offer. 

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: You're just as plump as a little partridge!

Firstly, Stella will be putting on weight as we know she's pregnant. This makes Blanche out to be quite observant for noticing this. This shows a side to Blanche that doesn't quite match what we've seen so far. Up to this point, she's been self-absorbed and too panicked to think things through. She's been saying things without thinking and been unable to consider consequence. This is not someone who we'd expect to immediately notice the telltale signs of pregnancy. This shows us, for starters, that the stress is affecting Blanche and she wouldn't usually be as bad as she is now if not for her current situation. It also shows Blanche as a nuanced character.
Secondly, this shows that Blanche does not only pay attention to her own body but the bodies of others. She's very vain, likely due to her upbringing.
Finally, this shows Blanche's lack of boundaries. She openly comments on her sister putting on weight, which most would consider quite insulting. It contrasts against the first point. She notices enough to realize there is a baby bump but she doesn't notice that these comments are rude.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: No, one's my limit.

Blanche is a very confident liar, which shows how used to it she has become. It's somewhat disrespectful to move in with people, drink their liquor and then lie about it considering that Blanche wants to make a good impression on her new living mates. 

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: So Mr Graves - Mr Graves is the high school superintendent...

Graves has obvious links to death. Mr Graves was the one who sent her away from Laurel by kicking her out of her job and asking her to 'take a leave of absence.' This could link to how the death of her family, her families graves, are what made her leave Laurel in a broader sense - she'd have been in a better mental state and not have been so reliant on sex if her family hadn't died in her arms.  It could also suggest that Mr Graves was the one pushing her towards her metaphorical grave.

BLANCHE: Oh, this buzzes right through me and feels so good!

After this, she changes the subject quickly again - back to the drink.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: I was on the verge of--lunacy, almost!

Blanche admits that she was already at breaking point before she arrived. She must know that Stella can plainly see how bad she's become.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE:
You haven't asked me how I happened to get away from the school before the spring term ended.
STELLA:
Well, I thought you'd volunteer that information--if you wanted to tell me.
BLANCHE:
You thought I'd been fired?

Blanche doesn't avoid this subject at all. She doesn't want to avoid lying about anything, she wants to let Stella do know she's doing fine. She brings it up because she doesn't want Stella to think she'd been fired - because she cares a great deal about what Stella thinks of her.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: The subject is closed!

This shows that Blanche can read some social clues and that she's not totally socially unaware. Also, this shows that she doesn't really want to upset her sister. The use of the exclamation mark shows how dramatically Blanche says it and how much emphasis her actress must put on certain lines. It adds emotion to her line and, as Blanche has a lot of exclamation points at the end of her lines, shows that Blanche has a lot of emotional outbursts.

Quotes from Scene1

BLANCHE: Never, never, never in my worst dreams could I picture--Only Poe! Only Mr. Edgar Allan Poe!--could do it justice! Out there I suppose is the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir!

This shows us how prone to exaggeration and hyperbole Blanche is but also tells us how disgusted Blanche is. She feels so strongly because of the background that the girls come from such a high class background. Blanche also repeats the word 'never' three times for dramatic effect.  Never is a negative word and therefore represents Blanche's negative feelings towards the area that she's in and tells an audience how strong those feelings are.

STELLA:
No, honey, those are the L & N tracks.
BLANCHE:
No, now seriously, putting joking aside. Why didn't you tell me, why didn't you write me, honey,
why didn't you let me know?

No is the first word in both of these lines. The three together go 'Never, no, no.' This is very negative. The atmosphere previous to this was positive and showed two sisters seeing each other again however it dies down very quickly due to Blanche's insults at Stella's home.

Quotes from Scene 1

STELLA: Stanley? Bowling! He loves it. They're having a--found some soda!--tournament...

The conversation between these characters flows naturally as if the audience were listening in to a regular conversation. This makes it feel as if we're getting to see behind closed doors and looking into private lives that we usually wouldn't get to see.

Quotes from Scene 1

[She rushes to the closet and removes the bottle; she is shaking all over and panting for breath as she tries to laugh. The bottle nearly slips from her grasp.]

She tries to laugh which shows us that she is pretending to be okay and trying to act normal, however she is clearly distressed from her shaking and panting and cannot contain herself. It also shows us that Blanche needs alcohol as she is becoming dependent. Again, this creates wonder about her past and tells us that she's been through before she got here.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: Where could it be, I wonder?

Blanche pretends not to know where the liquor is, therefore she is pretending that she hasn't drank any of it. This is a telltale sign of alcoholism and also shows us that Blanche is accustomed to lying.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: I thought you would never come back to this horrible place! What am I saying? I didn't mean to say that. I meant to be nice about it and say--Oh, what a convenient location and such--Haa-ha! Precious lamb! You haven't said a word to me.

This shows that Blanche speaks without thinking. Like with being rude to Eunice, she doesn't seem to be able to think of the effect of her words until after she's said them and she cannot think consequences through.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: Now, then, let me look at you. But don't you look at me, Stella, no, no, no, not till later, not till I've bathed and rested! And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won't be looked at in this merciless glare!

This tells us that Blanche cares a lot about what Stella thinks of her and what Stella thinks of her appearance. When she cares about Stanley and Mitch thinking of her as being good looking we can assume that she wants them to be attracted to her or that she has experienced some attraction towards them. We know this is not the case with Stella as they are related. So this comes from  a place of insecurity and a need for validation from everyone around her regardless of who it is. This tells us that Blanche's self esteem is ruined.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: Stella, oh, Stella, Stella! Stella for Star!

Firstly, there's a great deal of repetition here of Stella's name.

"Repetition is a major rhetorical strategy for producing emphasis, clarity, amplification, or emotional effect."

In this, the repetition has been done for emotional effect. It shows Blanche's excitement to see her sister. The way she speaks is described as "with feverish vivacity." This makes us think that Blanche has not seen her sister in a long time and also paints a very positive relationship between these two sisters. It also shows instability in Blanche as she cannot at all control her emotional outbursts - hers is much more extreme than her sisters - and that she repeats herself a lot through the course of the play. Blanche shows a deal of minor symptoms early on suggesting that she may not be in a good place mentally and this acts as foreshadowing for later on when her symptoms grow worse. It also makes her mental decline more realistic. 

Blanche calls her Stella for Star because Stella means Star in Latin. This is quite simple but the meaning of her name has been mentioned and highlighted by Williams for a reason. Stars are considered to be very beautiful and positive. They also have a lot of connotations with predicting the future in astrology - whether positive or negative. This could be ironic as, at this point, neither Blanche or Stella can predict what is about to happen later on. Stars also have heavy connotations with dreams and wishes - wishing upon a star. This links to Blanches fantasy's and Stella living her dream life. A 'star' may also be a successful person or a famous person or someone who is excellent at a certain thing (eg. a star football player), this is, again, ironic as Stella seems to have no ambition beyond living with her husband and being a housewife. The further into the past you go, the more 'successful' this would seem for women. Most people within a modern audiences would not be inclined to see this as totally successful. Streetcar was written in 1947 when women could work and had the right to vote yet attitudes would have varied on this and sexism was still prevalent. Regardless of audience interpretation. Stella sees herself a successful and living her dream life, having all she's ever wanted.

Quotes from Scene 1

STELLA [calling out joyfully]: Blanche!
 [For a moment they stare at each other. Then Blanche springs up and runs to her with a wild cry.]

The first interaction between the two sisters in very positive and shows that the sisters love each other very much. This raises certain questions. Why was Blanche so nervous before? What's she so afraid of?  They don't seem to have seen each other in a while, why is that? This makes an audience curious and want to watch on - sustained interest.

Quotes from Scene 1

"Blanche sits in a chair very stiffly with her shoulders slightly hunched and her legs pressed close together and her hands tightly clutching her purse as if she were quite cold. After a while the blind look goes out of her eyes and she begins to look slowly around."

"She pours a half tumbler of whiskey and tosses it down. She carefully replaces the bottle and washes out the tumbler at the sink. Then she resumes her seat in front of the table."

Blanche's body language tells us that she's very scared and very out of place and uncomfortable. An audience may wonder what she has to be afraid of in her own sisters home. Her response here is to seek comfort in alcohol and have a drink. This shows dependency straight off the bat. She takes the whiskey back with no problem, it seems, so she must be accustomed to drinking liquor and accustomed to taking it straight. Not only this, but she knows to hide the evidence that she's drank by carefully replacing the bottle and washing the tumbler she drank from. These are telltale signs of alcoholism which makes us, again, curious about her backstory and situation and what made her the way that she is.

Quotes from Scene 1

EUNICE: I think she said you taught school.
BLANCHE: Yes.
...

B:ANCHE: What I meant was that I'd like to be left alone.

Blanche gives short snappy answers in this scene which are quite rude. When analyzing this scene, we can wonder what Williams intentions were. Did he want us to like Blanche when she is portrayed as rude in the first scene? Was she made this way to make her seem more like a real person with real flaws? She tells Stella that she's brought nice clothes to meet her friends in - suggesting she wants to make a good impression - however, she doesn't try here with Eunice. This seems as if Blanche is not aware of the consequences of what she says - not realizing the impression this will make on Eunice.

Quotes from Scene 1

EUNICE: Por nada, as the Mexicans say.

Firstly, Blanche associated the 'Mexican Woman' with death so this is not a welcoming statement and would not stir positive emotions with Blanche.

Quotes from Scene 1

EUNICE: She wasn't expecting you?
BLANCHE: No, not tonight.

Blanche showed up early out of desperation. We can tell that Blanche had no choice but to come early and we wonder what forced her to do this. This creates interest about her backstory and her situation.

Quotes from Scene 1

EUNICE: .. You want to leave your suitcase here an' go find her?
BLANCHE: No.

Blanche wants to go in and sit down initially  because she is tired and she wants to be alone. It also probably has something to do with vanity and not wanting anyone to see her when she's not powdered. Conversely, Blanche is scared of being alone and wants Stella. This shows that Blanche doesn't seem to know what's best for her and that her needs are conflicting. She says later that she needs to be around someone and that's why she won't put up in a hotel but she'd rather be alone in this scene than go join a group of people in the bowling alley.

Quotes from Scene 1

EUNICE: You noticed that bowling alley around the corner?
BLANCHE: I'm - not sure I did.

Blanche dismissed the area straight away. She did not give Elysian fields a chance because she viewed it as being beneath her and too different from what she was used to. Blanche's upbringing taught her that she was better than the people in Elysian fields and she doesn't know how to come down from her pedestal or how to change at all. She's very much stuck in her way of seeing things.

Quotes from Scene 1

BLANCHE: [with faintly hysterical humor] They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks...

Firstly, this is Blanche's first speaking line and she is already hysterical. This sets a first impression of Blanche as someone who is emotional and also hints that she may be struggling with her mental health. She also tells us that Desire leads to Cemeteries. The most obvious interpretation is that this refers to Blanche's own sexual desire and the relationships that she had. Blanche did use sex to find safety and it was her promiscuity that lead her to ruining her reputation in Laurel. Leaving Laurel was what lead her to come to Elysian Fields and meet Stanley, which lead to her metaphorical death. Thus - her desire lead her to her grave. The other interpretation was that this refers to Stanley's desire, which is highlighted in his introduction that tells us that he views women sexually and imagines them in crude situations in the very first time he meets them. It can be interpreted that Stanley sexually desires Blanche. Or, it could be Stanley's desire for power that leads to Blanche's death. Stanley's desire for power and desire for control over Blanche is what leads him to rape her. The sexual element of his violence may have come from his sexual desire for her but rape is primarily an act of violence rather than an act of passion or lust. Rape has a history of being a punishment and a way of controlling women and this is how Stanley uses it. His desire to control her leads him to rape her, which leads to her metaphorical death. Desire leads to cemeteries.

Quotes from Scene 1

[They all laugh; the COLORED WOMAN does not stop. STELLA goes out.]

The play starts out with laughter among the women and everyone is very happy. This all changes when Blanche arrives. The laughter at the beginning contrasts against the tears at the end.

Quotes from Scene 1

STANLEY: Meat!

In terms of gender roles, there are a lot of sayings regarding men and meat. "Putting the meat on the table," "bringing home the bacon," Stanley does this literally. He hurls a package of meat at Stella. This scene paints them in their typical gender roles with her waiting for him to come home from work (we know this because he's in work clothes and she's in the house but comes running when he calls.)

Quotes from Scene 1

NEGRO WOMAN [to EUNICE]: .... she says St Barnabas would set out his dog to lick her and when he did she'd feel an icy cold wave all up an' down her.

This is the first speaking line in the play. The first effect of this line is that it adds nothing plot-wise. It's simply us as the audience overhearing  a conversation between two minor characters. This was done so it would feel more as if we were just looking into everyday life in an average area. This creates an intimate and personal feel - as if were are just overhearing this accidentally. It's also worth noting that St Barnabas was a saint who spent his entire life defending his way of life against Judaizers and died as a martyr. This is how Stanley sees himself and how Stanley would describe his actions so it is an interesting choice and a way of subtle foreshadowing. The negro woman is also never named - showing that even though races intermingle, there is still some racism as the negro woman is not seen as anything OTHER than her race and gender.

Setting in Scene 1

"The exterior of a two-story corner building on a street in New Orleans which is named Elysian Fields and runs between the L & N tracks and the river. The section is poor but, unlike corresponding sections in other American cities, it has a raffish charm. The houses are mostly white frame, weathered gray, with rickety outside stairs and galleries and quaintly ornamented gables. This building contains two flats, upstairs and down. Faded white stairs ascend to the entrances of both. It is first dark of an evening early in May. The sky that shows around the dim white building is a peculiarly tender blue, almost a turquoise, which invests the scene with a kind of lyricism and gracefully attenuates the atmosphere of decay. You can almost feel the warm breath of the brown river beyond the river warehouses with their faint redolences of bananas and coffee. A corresponding air is evoked by the music of Negro entertainers at a barroom around the corner. In this part of New Orleans you are practically always just around the corner, or a few doors down the street, from a tinny piano being played with the infatuated fluency of brown fingers. This "Blue Piano" expresses the spirit of the life which goes on here. Two women, one white and one colored, are taking the air on the steps of the building. The white woman is Eunice, who occupies the upstairs flat; the colored woman a neighbor, for New Orleans is a cosmopolitan city where there is a relatively warm and easy intermingling of races in the old part of town. Above the music of the "Blue Piano" the voices of people on the street can be heard overlapping."

Comments:

• From what we know about this era, race relations weren't considered very easy in most places. People are quite accepting and aren't prejudiced around this area. This sets Elysian Fields apart from  the rest of the world.  
• Williams tells us it is May, summer, but that the lighting is blue and cold and that it is dark. This is not a very summery atmosphere. This is to show us how out of touch Elysian Fields is with the rest of the world. Just like the race relations, it does not seem to follow the rules of the outside world. 
• The stage set-up allows us to see the exterior of the upstairs flat and the interior and exterior of the downstairs flat. This is a very flexible layout. This lets us see scenes like the one where Stanley is listening to Stella + Blanche and it allows us to see Mitch + Blanche flirt during the poker scene. The audience can see everything going on which clues us in on things that the characters do not know. This is how dramatic irony is created. 
• The "lyricism" that "gracefully" reflects the decay is a representation of Blanche's mental state at the same time as being a factor contributing to her mental decline - (Blanche tries to stay beautiful and put up an air of grace despite the fact she is succumbing to mental illness/her mental state is worsened by being in such poor conditions and by the change in her social status)
• Elysian fields provides contrast to the dream world of Blanche Dubois. It is dirty and poor and made for the working class - which makes her feel out of place. This dissonance creates a feeling that she is "the other" in this setting. The setting plays a part in this narrative.
• The stairs being "rickety" means that they could easily break - you can't run down them. This makes the apartment feel trapped off. 
• Elysian fields is a paradise for fallen heroes after they've died. This is ironic because none of the main characters are typical "heroes." Stanley is an abusive rapist, Blanche has slept with her students, Stella doesn't believe her sister about the rape, Steve and Eunice are both violent - no character is 100% good. 
• The blues piano playing in the background. It's lively and shows Elysian fields as an exciting and vibrant place, "express(ing) the spirit of the life." It plays several times. During Stan and Stella's reunion, Blanche's rape and at the beginning and the end. In three of those scenes Blanche is not there and, in the rape scene, this could show that Blanche is not there anymore in regards to her mental state. It could show that she's lost a part of herself. 

"She gets up and opens the downstairs door. A light goes on behind the blind, turning it light blue. Blanche slowly follows her into the downstairs flat. The surrounding areas dim out as the interior is lighted.] [Two rooms can be seen, not too clearly defined. The one first entered is primarily a kitchen but contains a folding bed to be used by Blanche. The room beyond this is a bedroom. Off this room is a narrow door to a bathroom."

• Blue is a cold and unfriendly color. It makes the apartment seem unpleasant and not very much like a place that Blanche could call home.
• The room is not clearly defined. This links to how Stella has not defined, and given detail, about what her living situations were like and how Blanche would be living when she got there. The dimming of the lights also links to how light was not shed on the subject within Stella's letters.
• Blanche isn't given a proper bed - she has no place within this apartment as she has no place in Elysian fields. This shows us that she doesn't belong.