Month: October 2010

 Here are a few more things I thought of/the points that Shana made in her comment…now I guess we just kind of need to tie all of this together and make a statement about the play in general, somehow? I’m not really sure how to begin with that, but maybe we could start by considering that pretty much the entire environment of the play (characters, settings, time frame, etc.) is relatively self-contained, with the notable exception of Blanche, who is an ‘outsider.’ I don’t know, just a thought.

Scene 2 Date: 6:00 the evening after Scene 1.

 Scene 4 Date: Early the morning after Scene 3.

Scene 6 Date: 2 AM the same evening as Scene 5. 

Scene 8 Date: 45 minutes after Scene 7. 

Scene 9 Date: “A while later that evening.”

Scene 10 Date: “A few hours later that night.”

Scene 11 Date: Weeks later after Scene 10.

– Stanley’s adherence to the Napoleonic Code and the ideals of Huey Long. Political

– Coming off the heels of WWII, Great Depression, etc. Political/Economic

– Technical Revolution and the rise of the working class are in full swing.  Political

– Blanche seems to put some sort of stock in astrology. Religious

– Blanche believes in the power of self-deception to shape subjective reality. Religious

– Blanche claims that “deliberate cruelty is not forgivable.” Religious

Ok, I tried to combine everything we have come up with so far.  I altered the polar attitudes according to what you were saying Jason, but if I didn't say it the way you meant, you can just either edit this, or add a comment and I'll add/replace things.  I think we should try and find some political stuff maybe? It's possible that there isn't any, I don't remember finding it.  We can also incorporate "professional politics" (the way people get along, so it kind of crosses over with social).  And also, religious can include moral ideas, like strength of family and the values of the people.  I'll add stuff too in a bit.

Environmental Facts:

1. Geographical

·       Set in New Orleans

·       Exterior of a corner building on a street called "Elysian Fields"
*Elysian Fields-ancient Greek version of the afterlife; heaven.
between the river and the train tracks in a poor section of New Orleans with "raffish [crude] charm

·       House #632

·       Steve and Eunice live upstairs
Stanley and Stella live downstairs

·       There are two rooms (kitchen and bedroom) and a bathroom.

·       There is a bar within earshot

·       bowling alley down the street

2. Date

·       Sc. I: Early May evening

·       Sc. III: Early morning: 2:30 AM

·       Sc. VII: Late afternoon in mid-September

3. Economic

·       Shabby, faded, everything is falling apart
Blanche DuBois: dressed in a white suit appropriate for an upper-crust social event

·       Stanley and Mitch are in denim "work clothes"

·       Blanche is shocked that Stella has no maid

·       Stanley controls the household finances (Stella does not receive a "regular allowance"; possible that this is the norm?).

 

4. Political

5. Social

·       Stanley treats Stella badly: yells at her

·       Blanche DuBois: dressed in a white suit appropriate for an upper-crust social event

·       Blanche and Stella are originally from Laurel, Mississippi

·       Blanche is a school teacher

·       Stella is pregnant

·       Stanley and Mitch are 28-30 years old, and in denim "work clothes"

·       Stella looks 25 and has "a background obviously quite different from her husband's" (4)

·       Stella, Eunice and Blanche are white

·       Blanche is around 5 years older than Stella. They are sisters.

·       Stanley is Polish, and a Master Sergeant in the Engineers Corps

·       Blanche has an acquaintance named Shep Huntleigh, who she dated in college. Shep has become fairly wealthy through the oil business. Social

·       Stanley controls the household finances (Stella does not receive a "regular allowance"; possible that this is the norm?).

·       Stanley is a Capricorn.

·       Blanche (claims she) is a Virgo.

·       Blanche can speak at least a few phrases of French; Mitch cannot

·       Blanche has "old-fashioned ideals."

·       Mitch's mother worries that he will not marry before she dies

·       Stanley and Mitch work at the same plant and play on the same bowling team

6. Religious

·       Blanche references God and being made in His image; implies that she is a Christian.

Previous Action:

·       Blanche lost Belle Reve estate after the deaths of her and Stella's remaing relatives.  It was lost on a foreclosed mortgage.

·       She has taken a leave of absence from teaching "for her nerves" but later it is discovered it was because she slept with a 17 year old student.

·       Stella is pregnant.

·       Blanche was married before to a man named Allan, but after she discovered he was homosexual, he committed suicide.

·       Steve has been engaging in behavior giving Eunice cause to suspect him of infidelity

·       Mitch and Stanley served together in the "Two-forty-first."

·       Blanche was kicked out of The Flamingo Hotel for her promiscuous behavior, and ruined her reputation in Laurel.

Polar attitudes of main characters:

·       Blanche: Starts the play with a superior ability to ignore the aspects of her reality she does not like, by masking herself in a web of lies. By the end of the play, the web has untangled, and she falls into insanity to avoid acknowledging the stress of her past behavior.

·       Stella: Stella begins the play hoping to help her sister, and ends the play having given up on her.  She also has fluctuations with her relationship with Stanley: She seems relatively content at the beginning of the play, attempts to leave him in the middle for a brief period, returns to him, and ends the play purposefully ignoring his rotten behavior so that she can attempt to be happy with him.

·       Stanley: Stanley does not change much throughout the play.  He is violent and head strong at the beginning, and violent and headstrong at the end.

·       Mitch:  At the start of the play, Mitch is very polite and respectful to Blanche, believing her to be a pure woman.  By the end of the play, he has become disrespectful after learning of her past, but also depressed at her mental state

For given circumstances, I’ll just continue in Alyssa’s format and go scene by scene, putting down whatever information was revealed in the dialogue.

Scene 4

-Blanche has an acquaintance named Shep Huntleigh, who she dated in college. Shep has become fairly wealthy through the oil business. Social

– Stanley controls the household finances (Stella does not receive a “regular allowance”; possible that this is the norm?). Social/Economic

– Blanche references God and being made in His image; implies that she is a Christian. Religious

Scene 5

– Steve has been engaging in behavior giving Eunice cause to suspect him of infidelity. Previous Action

–  Stanley is a Capricorn. Social

– Blanche (claims she) is a Virgo. Social

Scene 6

– Blanche can speak at least a few phrases of French; Mitch cannot. Social

– Blanche has “old-fashioned ideals.” Social

– Mitch and Stanley served together in the “Two-forty-first.” Previous Action

– Mitch’s mother worries that he will not marry before she dies. Social

Scene Seven

– “Late afternoon in mid-September.” Date/year/season/time

– Blanche was kicked out of The Flamingo Hotel for her promiscuous behavior, and ruined her reputation in Laurel. Previous Action

– Stanley and Mitch work at the same plant and play on the same bowling team. Social

Couple thoughts on polar attitudes as well. I’m not sure if the qualification is strictly how a character changes from the beginning to the end, but if we were to examine changes in the middle of the show it might be interesting to look at Stella’s relationship with Stanley, and the tides of violence, love, trust, and mistrust that seem to ebb and flow between them when Blanche is around. Also, I might rephrase the polar attitude provided for Blanche. She doesn’t necessarily have a grip on reality, as she is constantly lying to herself and people around her in order to conceal the shameful truth. As long as these lies are unchallenged in any major way, she is able to function and maintain her sanity. However, when Stanley (and subsequently Stella and Mitch) begin to press her for the truth, she shows that her fragile psyche cannot deal with the stress of acknowledging her past behavior. So I would argue that Blanche never really has a grip on reality; rather, she is able to brush reality aside, underneath the rug she has made of lies.

Ok, I worked on this, but I think they can be better… If you guys can think of things to add or take away that would be great. 🙂

Polar attitudes of main characters:

Blanche: Starts the play with somewhat of a grip on reality. The events of the play drive her to desperation and she ends giving into her imaginations, almost completely crazy.

Stella: Stella begins the play hoping to help her sister, and ends the play having given up on her.

Stanley: Stanley does not change much throughout the play.  He is violent and head strong at the beginning, and violent and headstrong at the end.

Mitch:  At the start of the play, Mitch is very polite and respectful to Blanche, believing her to be a pure woman.  By the end of the play, he has become disrespectful after learning of her past, but also depressed at her mental state