ASCND Analysis

• Theme - Sexual Desire

  Blanche flirts with many men in order to feel validated. Blanche dresses provocatively in red satin and silk and thus attracts attention due to her appearance. Stella is attracted to Stanley's animalistic sexuality whilst Stanley is attracted to Stella's submissive feminine sexuality. Stella stays with Stanley due to the sexual gratification she receives. As Stella is pregnant, her sexuality is tied to femininity and motherhood. Stanley rapes Blanche. Sexual desire is linked to destruction as Stanley rapes Blanche + Blanche's pursuit of sexual desire results in the loss of Belle Reve, her expulsion from Laurel and her eventual removal from society; Blanche's husband's homosexual desire results in his suicide.
• Theme - Dependence


  Alcoholism; Stella is dependent on her husband as she's in a domestically abusive relationship. Blanche is dependent on men in order to feel attractive and this stems from her husband being gay; As homosexuality wasn't fully understood or accepted in the 40s, Blanche felt as if her unattractiveness is what caused her husband to be homosexual, thus she relies on men to be validated. Blanche dresses provocatively in red satin and silk and thus attracts attention due to her appearance
• Theme - Mortality


  Blanche's fear of death is from fears from aging and loss of beauty. She refuses to tell people her real age or be seen in harsh light which will make her appear 'faded'. She believes that asserting her sexuality upon men younger than herself will in turn make her feel younger and thus escape death as she continues to retreat into her teenage fantasy world in order to escape her guilt resulting from her teenage husband's death
• Theme - Appearance


  Blanche dresses provocatively in red satin and silk and thus attracts attention due to her appearance; She's consumed by the need to look young and innocent
• Theme - Femininity


  Stella is pregnant, Blanche dresses provocatively
• Theme - Masculinity and Physicality


  Stanley asserts his dominance through his physical aggression and animalistic, predatory nature. Stella is lustful for him due to this and he rapes Blanche. Though Mitch doesn't physically assert his masculinity like Stanley, he's still a masculine figure as he brags to Blanche about his size (6'1 207lbs)
• Theme - Fantasy and Delusion

  Blanche escapes reality through sexual promiscuity and alcoholism. Throughout the play, Blanche avoids harsh lights and prefers to stay in the dark yet this also indicates that she doesn't want to face the harsh truth as she'd prefer to stay in the dark, or fantasy world. She portrays herself as innocent, as if living in denial + lies about things shes done, such as being fired and her many affairs (Hotel Flamingo). The songs she sings in the bath indicate this as the lyrics often include a make-believe word (Paper Moons)
• Theme - Marriage


  Stella and Stanley's marriage is built upon violence and sex; Their relationship is primitive and animalistic in both their fighting and love-making, making their relationship difficult for others' to understand, such as Blache. In this relationship, traditional gender roles are adopted as Stanley is the dominant 'bread-maker', and Stella is the doting wife who takes care of domestic work
• Theme - Society and Class

  Blanche doesn't fit into the working class of New Orleans as she's from the upper echelon of society, leaving her feeling unhappy and incongruous, as if she doesn't belong, whilst Stella, also originally from the upper class has abandoned her status and accepted being part of the working class in order to be with Stanley. Stanley doesn't care about his status or class which is why Blanche irritates him so much, as she thinks she's better than everyone else, constantly criticising Stanley and Stella. Blanche is desperate to claim her status as an upper class women yet its revealed in the play that she's in fact of a lower class as she's unemployed, homeless and its inferred she's a criminal (prostitution)
• Theme - Madness


  Features gradual descent into madness caused by financial ruin, devastation (husband's death, losing Belle Reve, losing her job), depression and Stanley's cruelty. Blanche's madness is first shown through an escape from reality - altered self image + polished persona which doesn't reflect her actual character. By the end of the play, Blanche can no longer distinguish fantasy from reality
• Symbol - Alcohol


  represents escape from reality; Blanche tries to distract herself from real life by retreating to her fantasy world in drinking; She also drinks to forget her past and bad memories
• Symbol - Bath


  Blanche uses baths to cleanse her of her guilt + forget reality. Links w/ when Lady Macbeth saw blood on her hands and tried to clean it but couldn't - the blood represented guilt
• Symbol - Polka music

  represents death + disaster as this music was playing when her husband killed himself
• Symbol - The Streetcar

  represents desire - Stella + Stanley's desire for eachother, Stella's desire to please Stanley + Blanche; Can also symbolise Blanche's desire to escape loneliness
• Symbol - Paper lanterns + Paper Moon

  symbolises Blanche's insecurities; she's like the naked light bulb that covers herself with a facade / represents fantasy
• Symbol - Light


  naked light bulb symbolises realism which is why Blanche covers it with a paper lantern
• Symbol - Flowers


  build up of desire and damage in the play - Mitch brings Blanche flowers, showing desire -> Mexican woman tries to sell flowers for the dead -> Stella tells Blanche she looks like a daisy
• Symbol - Meat


  represents sexual desire between Stanley and Stella, along with their large sexual appetites
• Symbol - Clothing


  Blanche wears white, which represents purity, contrasting with her character; Stanley wears blue denim which is rigid and symbolises the working man during the 40s - this demonstrates his masculinity and class. Stanley wears bright colours = vitality + strength of emerging working class
• Symbol - Blue piano

  The colour of the piano represents the vibrancy of the area, and epitomises the people who live there
• Elysian Fields


  final resting place of the souls of heroes and virtuous men; ironic as this is Blanche's final resting place but she didn't live a virtuous life
• Symbol - the baby

  symbolises weakness of man as it's the only thing that made Stanley feel guilty for hitting Stella, not the fact he was hitting someone
• Symbol - Poker + Bowling


  symbolises dominance of men as women are excluded from these games and they're competitive games; Stanley felt like his authority was being questioned when he was losing
• Symbol - the locomotive


  symbol of the past and oppression
• Theme - mendacity


  lies
• Blanche DuBois name


  Blanche = white - purity

  DuBois = made of wood - solid

  Du = aristocracy
• Stella DuBois name


  Stella = Star - light that breaks the dark - hope, stability; For Stanley and Stella, she is their hope
• Belle Reve


  Beautiful dream - links to theme of fantasy and delusion, suggests something beautiful which once existed has faded away - relates to Blanche's appearance also
• How did the South grow wealthy?

  selling rice, indigo, cotton, and tobacco
• 1850


  The Compromise of 1850 ends the slave trade of the United States, but allowed slavery to continue
• John Brown - 1859

  attacks the military arsenal of Harper's Ferry to start a slave revolt and end slavery
• Abraham Lincoln 1860


  elected 16th President of the US, and begins to work to keep the country together
• Southern States break away from the United States

  1860-61, angered northerners, causing Civil War
• The Emancipation Proclamation 1863


  frees slaves in Southern States to punish the South for trying to break away from the country
• 1861-65 Civil War


  The North battles the South
• The Thirteenth Amendment


  ends slavery in the US
• 1865


  President Lincoln is shot
• Racial values of Old South

  blacks + whites lived separate lives in terms of economic opportunities, legal and civil rights, political power and status
• Social status + self-worth in the South

  Came from family
• Old South view on family

  relied on them for survival, often large families (12 or 13 children but rare for all of them to survive infancy)