"Streetcar Named Desire"

Light

Blanche is afraid to reveal her age, and the light will reveal the truth.

She covers up the light bulbs in the house with chinese paper and refuses to go on dates with Mitch during the day time.

Bathing

Blanche is a hysterical woman, and with the baths, it calms her down. Bathing symbolizes her in erasing the past.

Drunkenness

Stanley and Blanche drink a lot throughout the novel. Stanley drinks to be social during the poker game, with friends at a bar and to celebrate his child's birth.

Blanche drinks anti-social, as she is drifted off to her world of imagination when she drinks.

Both characters lead to bad behavior, as violence builds up.

Meat

Stanley throws the meat at the beginning of the play, and Stella catches it. Control is seen over Stella.

It's only a paper moon

Blanche this songs every time she goes and bathes. The lyrics sum up Blanche's approach to life.

Varsouviana polka

Blanche and her last husband Allen were last dancing on this song, before Allen's death. The polka is played various times throughout the play as it drives Blanche to distraction.

Naked light bulb

stanley's rough and bitter world

Blanche's bathing

Blanche does not feel clean inside.

A streetcar named desire

Life

Paper Latern

Blanche's distorted view of the world

Lurid reflections on the walls haunting her

Blanche is declining mentally and experiencing emotional turmoil as her past traumas manifest visually.

Shep Huntleigh, Mitch

escape

Sign of Capricorn (goat)

Stanley's sex-centered life

Colored Lights

an uninhibited sexual world

evoke

bring to mind

improvident

careless; irresponsible; lacking foresight

incongruous

out of place; incompatible

lunacy

insanity; madness

perpetual

continual; everlasting

peruse

read through

preen

to clean; to groom

primitive

crude; simple

treachery

deceit; betrayal

vivacity

liveliness

bestial

beastly; brutal

contemptible

despicable

coquettish

flirtatious

deluded

mentally deceived

dote

to show excessive love or fondness

emphatic

to show emphasis

incredulous

skeptical

peal

a loud burst of noise

serene

calm; undisturbed

callous

emotionally hardened; unfeeling

dismal

dreary

enrich

to make more meaningful or rewarding

implore

to beg for urgently

partial

having a particular liking or fondness for something

repertoire

the range of skills or accomplishments of a person of group

uncouth

crude; unrefined

transitory

short lived; temporary

sullen

gloomy

slander

the utterance of a false and malicious statement about someone

protrude

to push or thrust outward

Naked light bulb

stanley's world of harsh reality

Blanche's frequent bathing

a need for cleansing

Lurid reflections on the wall

deterioration of Blanche's mind

Shep Huntleigh, Mitch

escape

The slow, ugly deaths at Belle Reve

the ugliness and brutality of life

Stanley wins the final poker game

Stanley is once again master of his own home

Sign of Capricorn (goat)

Stanley's sex-centered life

Colored Lights

an uninhibited sexual world

appraise

to assess; to evaluate

cosmopolitan

sophisticated; worldly

evoke

bring to mind

improvident

careless; irresponsible; lacking foresight

incongruous

out of place; incompatible

lunacy

insanity; madness

perpetual

continual; everlasting

peruse

read through

preen

to clean; to groom

primitive

crude; simple

treachery

deceit; betrayal

valise

suitcase

row

an uproar, a brawl

serene

calm; undisturbed

vicinity

a nearby area

callous

emotionally hardened; unfeeling

dismal

dreary

enrich

to make more meaningful or rewarding

implore

to beg for urgently

partial

having a particular liking or fondness for something

repertoire

the range of skills or accomplishments of a person of group

uncouth

crude; unrefined

transitory

short lived; temporary

sullen

gloomy

slander

the utterance of a false and malicious statement about someone

protrude

to push or thrust outward

Belle Reve

a vanished life of tradition

Naked light bulb

stanley's world of harsh reality

Blanche's frequent bathing

a need for cleansing

Stanley brings home raw meat

1. male virility/ vitality

2. ultimately, it's a man's world

A streetcar named desire

life

Paper Latern

blanche's world of illusion

Lurid reflections on the wall

deterioration of Blanche's mind

Shep Huntleigh, Mitch

escape

The slow, ugly deaths at Belle Reve

the ugliness and brutality of life

The game "seven card stud"

1. male virility/ vitality

2. ultimately, it's a man's world

Sign of Capricorn (goat) right

Stanley's sex-centered life

Colored Lights

an uninhibited sexual world

Rape of Blanche

the final victory over Blanche