The one thing that stuck out to me the most in A Streetcar Named Desire was the contrast of Blanche and Stanley, especially Blanche’s influence on Stella. We can see many different occasions in the play where Blanche’s personality clashes with Stanley and how she influences the way that Stella acts. I think we can most see this in scene eight when they are having Blanche’s birthday party dinner. In this scene we see a couple of times where both Blanche and Stella talk about Stanley in a way that he did not like. Blanche says while telling a story, “She had a parrot that cursed a blue streak and knew more vulgar expressions than Mr. Kowalski!”. Then Stella also makes some comments towards Stanley, saying, “Mr. Kowalski is too busy making a pig of himself to think of anything else!” and “Your face and your fingers are disgustingly greasy. Go and wash up and then help me clear the table.” Stanley proceeds to throw the plate to the floor and yells, “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 couple of queens?” Stanley’s quote makes me think that Stella does not normally challenge or tell Stan what to do, especially when he included Blanche in his quote. It seems like when he says this, he thinks that Stella is only talking to him that way because Blanche has been influencing her to do so, because that is the way Blanche talks to/about him. When Stella does finally challenge him and tries to tell him what to do Stanley gets defensive and violent, assuming that she is talking to him like this because Blanche is there. I do think that Blanche did have some influence on what Stella says and how she acted. In the play there are many other times when Blanche called Stanley an “animal” and “common” to Stella. I feel like the repetitive bashing of Stanley made Stella think that it was okay for her to talk to him like that. Stanley obviously did not think it was okay for Stella to talk to him like that telling them that they are not queens, but he is “the king around here”. He feels threatened by Blanche and her ability to influence Stella because he thinks of Stella as his and know one else is allowed to touch her.
1 Comment
Jaimey Bly
9/27/2019 07:44:02 pm
This is actually funny because I did the same exact topic. I like how you brought up the scene at the dinner table because I think that was one of the pivotal scene to show that Blanche had an impact on Stella. This is one reason why I believe that Stanley wanted to get rid of Blanche so badly.
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