Class, Race, and 'The Old American Dream'

I, I, I took the blows in my face and my body!

Blanche laments the decline of her aristocratic family and the loss of Belle Reve, symbolizing the death of the Old South and its values. (scene 1)

There’s even something—sub-human—something not quite to the stage of humanity yet!

Blanche, representing the dying aristocracy, insults Stanley, a working-class immigrant, showing her classism and belief in old Southern superiority. (scene 4)

In my opinion? You're married to a madman!

Blanche cannot understand Stella’s choice to live a working-class life with Stanley, reinforcing her belief that class should dictate one’s lifestyle and relationships. (scene 4)

What do you two think you are? A pair of queens? Remember what Huey Long said—'Every man is a King!'

Stanley rejects aristocratic privilege, asserting the rise of the working class and the new American Dream based on power and dominance rather than heritage. (scene 8)

The Kowalskis and the DuBois have different notions.

Stanley directly acknowledges the conflict between the old Southern aristocracy (Blanche) and the new, working-class immigrants (himself). (scene 2)

A richly feathered male bird among hens.

Blanche’s description of Stanley subtly plays into racist and xenophobic stereotypes, depicting him as primitive and animalistic. (scene 1)

I am not a Polack. People from Poland are Poles, not Polacks. But what I am is one hundred percent American, born and raised in the greatest country on earth and proud as hell of it

Stanley rejects Blanche’s xenophobic slur, asserting his American identity and challenging old racial and ethnic hierarchies. (scene 8)

You come in here and sprinkle the place with powder and spray perfume and cover the lightbulb with a paper lantern

Stanley mocks Blanche’s attempts to maintain the illusion of the Old South’s grandeur in a world where the working class now holds power. (scene 10)

Our improvident grandfathers and father and uncles and brothers exchanged the land for their epic fornications—to put it plainly!

Blanche bitterly admits that the Old South’s downfall was caused by the excess and irresponsibility of its men, showing that the aristocracy’s decline was inevitable. (scene 2)

I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it, having them coloured lights going!

Stanley reminds Stella that she willingly left behind the Old South’s illusions for the raw, physical passion of her new working-class life. (scene 8)