train/streetcar

“desire”

her passion for a fantasy life and relationship

“cemeteries”

death, her husband and belle Reve and her inevitable outcome without human understanding

“Elysian Fields”

place of the dead in greek mythology - spiritual and social death

“They told me to take a streetcar named desire, and then transfer to the one called cemeteries”

foreshadows her outcome

“Elysian Fields” to the house

setting, the setting becomes more constrained (the house) through the play, suggesting that blanche is the focus and is trapped/doomed where she is

[A locomotive is heard approaching outside, she clasps her hands to her ears and crouches over]

a warning, blanche covering her ears is symbolic because she is trying to avoid her inevitable outcome by blocking the sound - like she blocks the light with a paper lantern

[under cover of the train’s noise Stanley enters from outside]

stanley and the train are the same

[the headlight of the locomotive glares into the room as it thunders past]

metaphor of thunder, associating it with something natural, suggesting that blanche must move on and naturally accept the truth/ her demise is natural

[another train passes outside.]

signaling impending doom