Looking deeper into the allusions in _A Streetcar Named Desire_

The many allusions Tennessee Williams uses in (Streetcar) are incredibly meaningful. In particular, I want to explore the following three in more detail: "My Rosenkavalier!", "la Dame aux Camellias!" and "Wien, nur du allein."

The character Stanley in _A Streetcar Named Desire_. Not so inhuman?

Just a little follow-up to my previous post about the _Streetcar_ characters. (http://literatureeh.blogspot.com/2012/01/thoughts-on-characters-of-tennessee.html)

At the end of scene 11, right after Blanche has been taken away, this happens:

Stella: Blanche! Blanche! Blanche!

…
[… Eunice descends to Stella and places the child in her arms. … Stella accepts the child, sobbingly. … Stanley has gone out on the porch and stands at the foot of the steps looking at Stella.]

How far has setting served to carry or underscore thematic concerns in fiction you have studied?

Practice IB English A1 Paper 2 essay.
Date: July 2011

In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1899 semi-autobiographical short story, The Yellow Wallpaper (henceforth YW), the narrator, a woman who has recently given birth to her first child, is tormented by isolation enforced by her husband. Similarly, Ernest Hemingway’s 1933 semi-autobiographical short story A Way You’ll Never Be (henceforth Way) describes the tormented mind of Nick Adams, an American volunteer in the Italian army in World War One, as he tries to complete a propaganda mission. In both stories, setting is all-important in carrying and underscoring the themes presented, using the protagonists’ placements within their settings as well as their interactions with the physical setting. The identification of the microcosm settings with the larger world serves as warnings in both YW and Way, of the misguided nature of Victorian ideals and the danger of glorifying war, respectively.

Thoughts on the characters of Tennessee Williams' _A Streetcar Named Desire_

Author's note: Wow. Haven't been here in a long time... I should pick it up again...

Blanche has a dream. She wants a new life. She wants to escape from her past. She want to succeed in this last bid for happiness. But Stanley and Stella have their own lives! Their own dreams! They just want to live happily together, raise their baby, indulge in the normal passions of a young couple and have fun with friends like Steve and Eunice! Everything was fine!

Why does Blanche have to intrude? -That's what she is! An intruder! She's not the only one who's struggling. In case she failed to notice (which she did), the Kowalski's aren't rich. Sure, you should be able to rely on the kindness of family, and Stanley was in no way right in his disposal of her, but I definitely don't begrudge him his hostility toward Blanche.