Category: CLOSED Hodge – Idea & Metaphor

Each of the main characters’ actions reveal ideas crucial to the play.

Stanley’s actions (playing poker, drinking, having sex with Stella, raping Blanche) are fueled by his primal desires (compete with men, dominate women). Because Williams presents us with a society created and dominated by men, Stanley’s male desires can be fully expressed without inhibition or fear of any negative consequences. Stanley is free to satisfy all of his desires by taking direct action, completely unopposed by society.

Stella is also driven by desire, and she too reveals this through her actions. She stays with Stanley despite his physical abuse because she can derive sexual and emotional pleasure only from being with him. Of course she does not like being beaten but Stella’s actions make her priorities clear: she will sacrifice her independence if it is necessary in order to satisfy her desires. The idea illustrated here is that while social rules do not completely prohibit women from pursuing pleasure, they do restrict the ways in which women can do so, essentially demanding that they submit to male control of their lives. As opposed to men, who are largely free to do as they please, women must carefully balance their actions to get what they want without stepping outside their social boundaries.

Blanche is the author’s example of a woman who refuses to accept the social limitations placed on women. Through her actions, (kissing the paperboy, drinking, flirting with Mitch) Blanche seeks to satisfy her desires in the same way that the men do. But society automatically condemns her because according to its rules, women should not have that same freedom. Throughout the play, as characters learn about Blanche’s "scandalizing" past and present, they categorize her as an outsider, someone who breaks the rules of society and is therefore inferior. Both Mitch and Stanley attempt to force themselves on her because they desire her, but also because they disapprove of her openly expressed sexual desires.

Analyzing the outcome of the play for each character: Stanley satisfies his desires at no personal cost, successfully dominating his male friends and wife and ejecting the troublemaker Blanche from his house. Stella, by staying with Stanley and ignoring Blanche’s accusation of rape, chooses desire (sex and love) at the expense of submitting to Stanley’s power and losing her sister to an asylum. Blanche, as the only character who defied society’s rules with her actions, is raped and sent to a mental institution. Her pathetic end demonstrates the futility of rebellion against acceptable social behavior.

The action and outcome of the play, then, suggest that both women and men are fundamentally driven by desire. However, in a male-dominated society men are free to seek gratification, while women must accept the constraints imposed on their desires or be crushed by unbearable consequences.

Regarding philosophical statements, gender relationship seems to be a key idea that can be seen throughout the text of "A Street Car Named Desire." These philosophical statements can be categorized as Gender Roles, Poker, Life and Death, and Animal Metaphors.

Gender Roles

1.      "Have you ever heard of the Napoleonic code?"

2.      "You men with your big clumsy fingers."

3.      "I've never met a woman that didn't know if she was good-looking or not without being told, and some of them give themselves credit for more than they've got."

4.      "Some men are took in by this Hollywood glamor stuff and some men are not."

5.      "You can't beat a woman and then call'er back!"

6.      "When men are drinking and playing poker anything can happen."

7.      "A man like that is someone to go out with – once – twice – three times when the devil is in you."

8.      "And men don't want anything they get too easy. But on the other hand men lose interest quickly. Especially when the girl is over – thirty. They think a girl over thirty ought to go – the vulgar term is – €˜put out.'"

9.      "The one (law of nature) that says the lady must entertain the gentleman €”  or no dice!"

10.  "A man with a heavy build has got to be careful of what he puts on him so he don't look too clumsy."

11.  "Hughey Long €˜Every Man is a King'"

12.  "A cultivated woman, a woman of intelligence and breeding, can enrich a man's life €” immeasureably!"

13.  "I always did say that men are callous things with no feelings, but this does beat anything. Making pigs of yourselves."

The most prevalent category of philosophical statements in "A Street Car Named Desire" is the general statements about the role of men and women. These statements all refer to specific ways that men and women are expected to act. As for men, the reference to them as kings implies that they are the primary actors in the society who determine how things should be. On the other hand, women are seen as the secondary actors in the society, and their roles are to "entertain the gentleman" (9) and "enrich a man's life." (12) However, unlike the men's role, there seems to be a contradiction in the women's role. On one hand, it is stated that the important thing about women is their "intelligence and breeding" as can be seen in quote 12, while on the other hand, it is stated that the important thing about women is their sexual appeal, as evident in the reference to being "good-looking" in quote 3 and the reference in quote 8 about how women are "put out" when they reach thirty. There is a gap between how the society tells women to act, and the reality of women. This is because the men are the primary actors, and the rules of society were created by men. This leads to the idea that "There are specific roles for both men and women, but the role of women contradicts with the reality because it is a male-dominated society."

 

Poker

1.      "When men are drinking and playing poker anything can happen."

2.      "Nothing belongs on a poker table but cards, chips and whiskey."

3.      "Poker should not be played in a house with women."

Poker is a symbolic activity that Tennessee Williams uses in "A Street Car Named Desire." In the play, poker is not only a gamble, but also a stage for the males to compete with each other and try to prove their superiority. It is a symbol for politics. Quote 1 suggests how poker is a stage for significant actions, while quote 2 and 3 describe the exclusiveness of the game. The fact that women are excluded from this game reinforces the idea that "In the society, men are the primary actors and women are the secondary actors."

 

Life and Death

1.      "And funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths – not always."

2.      "Death is expensive, Ms. Stella."

3.      "There is so much – so much confusion in the world."

4.      "People have got to tolerate each other's habits, I guess."

5.      "No matter what happens, you've got to keep on going."

6.      "To hold front position in this rat-race you've got to believe you are lucky."

7.      "But, honey, you know as well as I do that a single girl, a girl alone in the world, has got to keep a firm hold on her emotions or she'll be lost!"

Another major category of philosophical statements in "A Street Car Named Desire" is Life and Death. There are several quotes that refer to the nature of life and death in the text. Of these quotes, the recurring theme seems to be about how humans should deal with life. Quote 4, 5, and7 all refer to how one should deal with life, and the conclusion is that one has to accept whatever happens and cope with it. This submissiveness of female characters can be seen throughout the play, and in relation to the conclusion of the above categories, one can say that it is because of the fact that males are the dominant actors who determine how things should be in the society. Females do not have the power to change this structure, and any sufferings that they receive, they simply have to endure them and cope with them.

 

Animal Metaphor

1.      "That shut her up like a clam."

2.      (Old farmer, hen and rooster joke.)

3.      "Is he a wolf?"

4.      "You hens cut out that conversation in there."

5.      (Like a dancing bear)

6.      "He was as good as a lamb"

7.      "Yes, something —  ape-like about him, like one of those pictures I've seen in – anthropological studies! Thousands and thousands of years have passed him right by, and there he is – Stanley Kowalski – survivor of the stone age! Bearing the raw meant home from the kill in the jungle."

8.      "Night falls and other apes gather! There in front of the cave, all grunting like him, and swilling and gnawing and hulking! His poker night! – you call it – this party of apes! Somebody growls€”some creature snatches at something – the fight is on!"

9.      "Same canary-bird, huh!"

10.  "Parot"

11.  "He says you been lapping it up all summer like a wild-cat."

12.  "I stayed at a hotel called The Tarantula Arms!"

13.  "But he's not going to jump in a tank with a school of sharks."

In terms of metaphor, one will immediately notice how many metaphors to animals there are in the text of "A Street Car Named Desire." The comparison of animals with humans implies that humans are also fundamentally primitive. Another important idea that is evident in these metaphors is the two different kinds of metaphors for women. On one hand, women are compared with canary birds and clams, while on the other hand, they are compared to Tarantulas and sharks, those predator animals. When one focuses on the reason why there are two different kinds of metaphors for women, it becomes clear that image of women shift from weak animals to predators when they do not follow the social order of male dominance. For example, Blanche pursues happiness through her own power, instead of depending on one man. She does not play the role as a woman that the male-dominated society expects her to play, and this is when she is described as those predator animals. This is because she has become a threat to the male-dominated society by trying to be independent. The concluding idea is that "Humans are primitive animals. Men are accepted to express their primitive nature, though women who do the same are seen as dangerous."

Title- A Streetcar Named Desire

Besides the literal meaning of the title of the play it also serves as a metaphor.  Desire is the drive that behind human action.  People go where their desire takes them.  The fact that there is a streetcar (representing modernization) shows that despite the advent of society and civilization people are still driven by their basic desires.

Metaphor for the play

Modern-day cavemen

Though the play takes place in the industrialized New Orleans, the men all still have the mentality of cavemen.  They are aggressive hunters acting on their baser instincts.

• Title
• No matter how industrialized and civilized people become, primitive desire is the fundamental force of human actions.
• Philosophical Statements
• There are specific roles for both women and men, but the role of women contradicts with the reality.
• The rule of the society cannot be changed, and you just have to cope with it.
• Humans are primitive animals. Men are accepted to express their primitive nature, though women who do the same are seen as dangerous.
• Women must accept the limits that the male-dominated society imposes on their desire.
• Overall Theme: People are driven by primitive desire, but women’s desire is restricted by the male-dominated society.  This society only allows women to fulfill their desires by giving up their independence and submitting to men.

1. The males abuse females but reconcile at the end: seems to suggest that male dominance is the nature of human beings, because males are physically and socially stronger. Women do not have the power to fight against this, and all they can do is to accept it and deal with it. It is the nature of human beings.2. Female dependence on men: All the females, especially Blanche, cannot survive without depending on males. Males are much more stronger than females in the society. This goes back to the primitive state of human life, in which males were hunting and females stayed in the house.3. Blanche’s contradictions: despite all her talks about how she worships art and music, Blanche cannot resist her desire for alcohol and young men. This seems to suggest the dominance and inevitability of desire within human beings.4. Blanche is not looked as a marriageable subject because of her past: seems to suggest that sexual appeal is the only value that women have.5. Blanche’s covering the light: seems to suggest that there is something to hide about human beings. This can be the decaying of her physical beauty or her dark past. Covering the light allows her to ignore and escape from reality.

 AnimalsStanley "That shut her up like a clam." (41)Steve (Old farmer, hen and rooster joke.) (50)Blanche "Is he a wolf?" (53)Stanley "You hens cut out that conversation in there." (55)(Like a dancing bear) (62)Stella "He was as good as a lamb" (71)Blanche "Yes, something —  ape-like about him, like one of those pictures I've seen in – anthropological studies! Thousands and thousands of years have passed him right by, and there he is – Stanley Kowalski – survivor of the stone age! Bearing the raw meant home from the kill in the jungle." (80)Blanche "Night falls and other apes gather! There in front of the cave, all grunting like him, and swilling and gnawing and hulking! His poker night! – you call it – this party of apes! Somebody growls€”some creature snatches at something – the fight is on!" (80)Stanley "Same canary-bird, huh!" (113)Blanche "Parot" (123)Mitch "He says you been lapping it up all summer like a wild-cat." (133)Blanche "I stayed at a hotel called The Tarantula Arms!" (136)Stanley "but he's not going to jump in a tank with a school of sharks." (119)

I divided the quotes into different categories that I thought are core ideas in the text, in order to make some kind of sense out of them.IdeasGenderStanley "Have you ever heard of the Napoleonic code?"Blanche "You men with your big clumsy fingers."Stanley "I've never met a woman that didn't know if she was good-looking or not without being told, and some of them give themselves credit for more than they've got."Stanley "Some men are took in by this Hollywood glamor stuff and some men are not."Mitch "Poker should not be played in a house with women."Eunice "you can't beat a woman and' then call €˜er back!"Stella "When men are drinking and playing poker anything can happen."Blanche "A man like that is someone to go out with – once – twice – three times when the devil is in you."Blanche "And men don't want anything they get too easy. But on the other hand men lose interest quickly. Especially when the girl is over €” thirty. They think a girl over thirty ought to €” the vulgar term is €” "put out."” (91)Blanche "The one (law of nature) that says the lady must entertain the gentleman €”  or no dice!" (97)Mitch "A man with a heavy build has got to be careful of what he puts on him so he don't look too clumsy." (101)Stanley "Hughey Long €˜Every Man is a King'" (124)Blanche "A cultivated woman, a woman of intelligence and breeding, can enrich a man's life €” immeasureably!" (145)Eunice "I always did say that men are callous things with no feelings, but this does beat anything. Making pigs of yourselves." (153)SexBlanche "but the only way to live with such a man is to – go to bed with him!" (77)Stella "But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark — that sort of make everything else seem – unimportant." (78)PokerStella "When men are drinking and playing poker anything can happen." (71)Stanley "nothing belongs on a poker table but cards, chips and whiskey." (48)Mitch "Poker should not be played in a house with women." (63)LifeBlanche "And funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths – not always." (25)Blanche "Death is expensive, Ms. Stella." (26)Blanche "There is so much – so much confusion in the world." (68)Stella "People have got to tolerate each other's habits, I guess." (73)Eunice "No matter what happens, you've got to keep on going." (154)Stanley "To hold front position in this rat-race you've got to believe you are lucky." (152)Blanche "But, honey, you know know as well as I do that a single girl, a girl alone in the world, has got to keep afirm hold on her emotions or she'll be lost!" (98)

Pg. 85 Steve "That rutting hunk!"Pg. 86 Blanche “Aries people are forceul and dynamic. They dote on noise! They love to bang things around!” Blanche: Goat, VirgoPg. 89 Blanche: “When people are soft — soft people have got to shimmer and glow — they’ve got to put on soft colors,the colors of butterfly wings, and put a — papaer lantern over the light… It isn’t enough to be soft. You’ve got to besoft and attractive.Pg. 91 Blanche “And men don’t want anything they get too easy. But on ther other hand me lose interest quickly. Especiallywhen the girl is over — thirty. They think a girl over thirty ought to — the vulgar term is — “put out.””Pg. 95 Blanche “Prince out of the Arabian Nights” Blanche “honey lamb” Blanche “Rosen Kavalier”Pg. 96 Blanche “Even the hot tamale man has deserted the streetm and he hags on till the end.”Pg. 97 Blanche “The one (law of nature) that says the lady ust entertain the gentleman —  or no dice!” Blanche “I’m looking for the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, but these girls are not out tonight. Oh, yes they are,there they are! God bless them! All in a bunch going home from their little bridge party.”Pg. 98 Blanche “But, honey, you know know as well as I do that a single girl, a girl alone in the world, has got to keep afirm hold on her emotions or she’ll be lost!”Pg. 99 Blanche “We are going to pretend that we are sitting in a little artists’ cafe on the Left Bank in Paris.”Pg. 101 Mitch “A man with a heavy build has got to be careful of what he puts on him so he don’t look too clumsy.”Pg. 106 Blanche “THat sort of commonness is unnecessary.”Pg. 108 Blanche “It was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow, that’show it struck the world of me.”Pg. 109 Blanche “And then the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again and never for one momentsince has there been any light that;s stronger than this — kitchen — candle…”Pg. 110 Blanche “Sometimes — there’s God —  so quickly!”Pg. 112 Stanley “But now the cat’s out o the bag!”Pg. 113 Stanley “Same canary-bird, huh!” Stanley “Blanche is no lily”Pg. 114 Blanche “It’s a Barnum and Bailey wold, Just as phoney as it can be– But it wouldn’t be make-believe If you believed in me!” Blanche “Without your love, It’s a honky-tonk parade! Without your love, It’s a melody played In a penny arcade.”Pg. 115 Stanley “Out-of-bounds.”Pg. 119 Stanley “but he’s not going to jump in a tank with a school of sharks.”Pg. 123 Blanche “Parot”Pg. 124 Stanley “Hughey Long ‘Every Man is a King'”Pg. 126 Blanche “Oh, I hope candles are going to glow in his life and I hope that his eyes are going be like candles, liketwo blue candles lighted in a white cake!” Stanley “But what I am is one hudnred percent American, born and raised in the greatest country on earth and proudas hell of it, so don’t ever call me a Polack.”Pg. 133 Mitch “He says you been lapping it up all summer like a wild-cat.”Pg. 136 Blanche “I stayed at a hotel called The Tarantula Arms!”Pg. 137 Blanche “My youth was suddenly gone up the water-sput” Blanche “acleft in the rock of the world that I could hide in!” Blanche “Kiefaber, Stanley and Shaw have tied an old tin can to the tail of the kite.”Pg. 138 Blanche “Crumble and fade and — regrets — recriminations… ‘If you’d done this, it wouldn’t’ve cost me that!'” Blanche “Legacies! Huh.. And other things such as bloodstained pillow-slips — ‘Her linen needs changing’ — ‘YesMother. But couldn’t we get a colored girl to do it?’ No, we couldn’t of course. Everything gone but the –” Blanche “Death — I used to sit here and she used to sit over there and death was as close as you are… We didn’tdare eveb adnut we had ever heard of it!” Blanche “The opposite is desire.”Pg. 141 Blanche “How about taking a swim, a moonlight swim at the old rock-quarry? If anyone’s sober enough to drive a car!Ha-ha! Best way in the world to stop your head buzzing! Only you’ve got to be careful to dive where the deep pool is — ifyou hit a rock and you don’t come up till tomorrow…”Pg. 143 Blanche “It came like a bolt from the blue!”Pg. 144 Stanley “Shall we bury te hatchet and make it a loving-cup?”Pg. 145 Blanche “Having great wealth sometimes makes people lonely!” Blanche “A cultivated woman, a woman of intelligence and breeding, can enrich a man’s life — immeasureably!” Blanche “Physical beauty is passing. A transitory possession, But beauty of the mind and richness of the spirit andtendernesss of the heart — and I have all of those things — aren’t taken away!”Pg. 146 Blanche “Deliberate cruelty is not forgiveable.”Pg. 147 Stanley “Egypt and Queen of Nile.”Pg. 152 Stanley “Luck is believing you’re lucky.” Stanley “To hold front position in this rat-race you’ve got to believe you are lucky.”Pg. 153 Eunice “I always did say that men are callous things with no feelings, but this does beat anything. Making pigs ofyourselves.”Pg. 154 Eunice “No matter what happens, you’ve got to keep on going.”Pg. 158 Blanche “These cathedral bells —  they’re the only clean thing in the Quarter.” Blanche “I shall die of eating an unwashed grape on day out on the ocean.” Blanche “And I’ll be buried at sea sewn up in a clean white sack and dropped overboard —  at noon — in the blazeof summer — and into and ocean as blue as my first lovers’ eyes!”Pg. 166 Steve “This game is seven-card stud.”

That’s a great compilation of quotations, I only have a few to add for consideration:

“Is he so different?” “Yes.  A different species.”  (Blanche and Stella referring to Stanley)

“The Kowalskis and the DuBoises have different notions.”  (Stanley to Stella)

“A woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion” (Blanche to Stanley)

“Physical beauty is passing.  A transitory possession.”  (Blanche to Stanley)

“Whoever you are-I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”  (Blanche at the play’s end)

This is an unorganized list of the ideas and metaphors that I found in the text. The page numbers are according to my copy, so they may differ.Pg. 16Blanche "Stella for Star!"Pg. 25Blanche "But had to be burned like rubbish!"Blanche "And funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths – not always."Pg. 26Blanche "Death is expensive, Ms. Stella."Blanche "The Grim Reaper had put up his tent on our door step! €¦Stella. Belle Reve was his headquarters!"Pg. 29Stanley "Some people rarely touch it, but it touches them often."Pg. 34Stanley "Let's have a gander at the bill of sale."Pg. 35Stanley "Have you ever heard of the Napoleonic code?"Stanely "It looks to me like you have been swindled, baby, and when you're swindled under the Napoleonic code I'm swindled too. And I don't like to be swindled."Pg. 36Stanley "Look at these feathers and furs that she come here to preen herself in!"Pg. 37"a fist-full of costume jewelery"Stanley "And diamonds! A crown for an empress!"Pg. 39Blanche "You men with your big clumsy fingers."Pg. 40Stanley "I've never met a woman that didn't know if she was good-looking or not without being told, and some of them give themselves credit for more than they've got."Pg. 41Stanley "That shut her up like a clam."Stanley "Some men are took in by this Hollywood glamor stuff and some men are not."Stanley "Lay€¦ her cards on the table."Pg. 45Blanche "our improvident grandfathers and father and uncles and borthers exchanged the land for their epic focnications – to put it plainly!"Pg. 47Blanche "The blind are leading the blind!"Vendor "Red-hot!"Pg. 48Pablo "One-eyed Jacks are wild."Stanley "nothing belongs on a poker table but cards, chips and whiskey."Pg. 50Steve (Old farmer, hen and rooster joke.)Pg. 51Stella "You are as fresh as a daisy."Blanche "One that's been picked a few days."Pg. 53Blanche "Is he a wolf?"Pg. 54Blanche "I'm sorry but I haven't noticed the stamp of genius even on Stanley's forehead."Pg. 55Stanley "You hens cut out that conversation in there."Pg. 56Stanley "Some people get ants when they win."Pg. 57Stanley "This game is Spt in the Ocean."Blanche "The Little Boys' room is busy right now."Pg. 59Blanche "Sick people have such deep, sincere attachments."Blanche "Sorrow makes for sincerity."Blanche "The little there is belongs to people who have experienced some sorrow."Pg. 60Blanche "like an orchard in Spring."Blanche "I can't stand a naked light bulb any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action."Pg. 62Blanche "I attempt to install a bunch of bobby-soxers and drug-store Romeos with reverence for Hawthorne and Whitman and Poe."(Like a dancing bear)Pg. 63Mitch "Poker should not be played in a house with women."Pg. 66Eunice "you can't beat a woman and' then call €˜er back!"Eunice "You whelp of a Polack, you!"Pg. 68Blanche "There is so much – so much confusion in the world."Pg. 69(There is a confusion of street cries like a charcoal chant.)Pg. 71Stella "When men are drinking and playing poker anything can happen."Stella "it's always a powder-keg."Stella "He was as good as a lamb"Pg. 73Stella "People have got to tolerate each other's habits, I guess."Pg. 76Blanche "You never get anywhere with direct appeals."Pg. 77Blanche "but the only way to live with such a man is to – go to bed with him!"Pg. 78Stella "But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark — that sort of make everything else seem – unimportant."Pg. 79Blanche "The name of the rattle-trap street-car that bangs through the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another€¦"Blanche "A man like that is someone to go out with – once – twice – three times when the devil is in you."Pg. 80Blanche "Yes, something —  ape-like about him, like one of those pictures I've seen in – anthropological studies! Thousands and thousands of years have passed him right by, and there he is – Stanley Kowalski – survivor of the stone age! Bearing the raw meant home from the kill in the jungle."Blanche "Night falls and other apes gather! There in front of the cave, all grunting like him, and swilling and gnawing and hulking! His poker night! – you call it – this party of apes! Somebody growls€”some creature snatches at something – the fight is on!""Maybe we are a long way from being made in God's image, but Stela – my sister – there as been some progress since then! Such things as art – as poetry and music €” such kinds of new light have come into the world since then! In some kinds of people some tenderer feelings have had some little beginning!that we have got to make grow! And cling to, and hold as our flag! In this dark march toward hatever it is we're approaching€¦ Don't – don't hang back with the brutes. "