Themes Quotes Streetcar named desire

"You need somebody. And I need somebody too. Could it be--you and me Blanche?"

Loneliness

"Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light."

Illusion vs Reality

"And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won't be looked at in this merciless glare!"

Illusion vs Reality

"I guess you're hoping I'll say I'll put up at a hotel, but I'm not going to put up at a hotel. I want to be near you, got to be with somebody, I can't be alone!"

Loneliness

"You need somebody. And I need somebody too. Could it be--you and me, Blanche?"

Loneliness

"Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light."

Illusion vs Reality

"And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won't be looked at in this merciless glare!"

Illusion vs Reality

"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 truth, I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it!--Don't turn the light on!"

Light

"They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at--Elysian Fields!"

Desire

"But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark--that sort of make everything else seem--unimportant"

Desire

"Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the center of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependency, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens."

Desire

"Don't ever talk that way to me! 'Pig--Polack--disgusting--vulgar--greasy!'--them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister's too much around here! What do you two think you are? A pair of queens? Remember what Huey Long said--'Every Man is a King!' And I am the king around here, so don't forget it!"

Power/Dominance

"In the state of Louisiana we have the Napoleonic code according to which what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband and vice versa."

Power/Dominance

"I'm fading now! I don't know how much longer I can turn the trick."

Fading beauty with age

"Daylight never exposed so total a ruin!"

Fading beauty with age

"I was so exhausted by all I'd been through my--nerves broke. ... I was on the verge of--lunacy, almost!"

Mental illness

"As the drinking and packing went on, a mood of hysterical exhilaration came into her and she has decked herself out in a somewhat soiled and crumpled white satin evening gown and a pair of scuffed silver slippers with brilliants set in their heels. Now she is placing the rhinestone tiara on her head before the mirror of the dressing-table and murmuring excitedly as if to a group of spectral admirers."

Mental illness

"She springs up and crosses to it, and removes a whiskey bottle. She pours a half tumbler of whiskey and tosses it down. She carefully replaces the bottle and washes out the tumbler at the sink."

Addiction

"I'm not accustomed to having more than one drink. Two is the limit--and three! ... Tonight I had three."

Addiction

"The loss--the loss... Belle Reve? Lost, is it? No!"

Loss/Grief

"All of those deaths! The long parade to the graveyard! Father, mother! Margaret, that dreadful way! So big with it, it couldn't be put in a coffin! But had to be burned like rubbish!"

Loss/Grief

"He'd stuck the revolver into his mouth, and fired--so that the back of his head had been--blown away!"

Loss/Grief

"You're goddam right I told him! I'd have that on my conscience the rest of my life if I knew all that stuff and let my best friend get caught!"

Cruelty

"Ticket! Back to Laurel! On the Greyhound! Tuesday!"

Cruelty

"You're not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother."

Cruelty

"She's soaking in a hot tub to quiet her nerves. She's terribly upset."

Bathing

"I think I will bathe. ... My nerves are in knots. Is the bathroom occupied?"

Bathing

"Put it over the light bulb! Will you, please? ... I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action."

Light

"He tears the paper lantern off the light bulb. She utters a frightened gasp. ... So I can take a look at you good and plain!"

Light