A Streetcar Named Desire, Act 1, Scenes 1-2 (Emily B.)

I first noticed how the stage directions started of with describing a building called Elysian Fields. This place is an allusion to Greek mythology. The Elysian Fields is a part of the Underworld where Greek heroes and virtuous citizens go after they die. In this way, it is known to be the best place to live your afterlife in the Underworld; however, it is still described as a bleak and depressing place. The stage directions for “A Streetcar Named Desire” describe it in a similar way: “poor,” “weather grey,” “rickety,” and “faded white” (13). Because of this imagery, I believe the setting will represent a place that is supposed to be enjoyable but is really depressing instead.

Also in the stage directions, I immediately recognized the use of color (some of which I already noted above). Whether it be the “turquoise” sky, the “brown river,” the “Blue Piano,” or people’s skin color, the idea of color is already important in defining things, places, and people. Throughout scenes 1 and 2, color continued to appear in both stage notes and dialogue.

As for the characters, Eunice and Stella share a house, with Eunice living in the top apartment and Stella in the bottom. Stella is married to Stanley and has a sister named Blanche, who comes to visit New Orleans. When Blanche arrives, she is immediately described as nervous, proper, and out of place. Dressed in white (as it is a translation of her name), Blanche is horrified to see her little sister living in a tiny apartment. As we later learn, Blanche and Stella are from a wealthy, plantation family but, as Blanche tells Stella, Belle Reve, the property, was recently lost.

Overall, I think Blanche is an obstacle in what seems to be Stella and Stanley’s perfect life. Arriving out of nowhere, Blanche is already keeping secrets and has a constantly changing mood that causes tension for everyone in the apartment. Now that she’s learned about Stella’s pregnancy, she seems even more interested in intervening in her sister’s life. Because of this, I believe that like the ending of scene 2, the next sections will be “red-hot!”