Nikki Dudelson--Streetcar

A Streetcar Named Desire - Journal #1

I read scenes one through three of Streetcar, and already I have so many assumptions and questions. For starters, Blanche is a diva who needs to get off her high horse. She was rude to Eunice, Stella's neighbor, and she didn't stop criticizing Stella about why she lives where she lives. First question: Blanche didn't hold anything back, but why was she there in the first place? My question is answered as I found out that Blanche lost Belle Reve, the family estate. Blanche asks for hard liquor and insists she's not a drunk, but she left her job as a schoolteacher due to her "nerves" halfway through the year. Why did she leave? Did she have some sort of a nervous breakdown?

Finally, Stanley enters. Stella and Stanley discuss Blanche and Stella asks him to just be nice, but Stanley is solely interested in Belle Reve and what happened to it. Stanley abruptly looks through all of Blanche's trunks to look for a bill of sale, just as Blanche comes out of the bath. How coincidental. Immediately when Blanche begins talking to Stanley, by the way she speaks to him, I know what's coming. I predict that later in the book, something scandalous is going to happen between Blanche and Stanley. At least, that's the vibe I'm getting from their conversation. My question is, if Blanche loves her "baby" sister so much, why is she flirting with her husband? Something's not right to me.

Scene three: the climatic poker scene. First and foremost, I feel disgusted when Stella tells Stanley it's time to wrap up the poker game, but Stanley says no and slaps her butt. I also find it interesting that Blanche flirts with Mitch who is clearly attracted to her, and when Blanche says she says Mitch is better than the others, Stella disagrees and says Stanley is, right after he was so disrespectful. Following the intense scene when Stanley throws the radio out the window and Stella runs upstairs and Stanley's friends throw him in the shower, I find it most interesting (as did Blanche, clearly) that after Stanley screamed "Stella!" to Eunice's upstairs, that Stella ACTUALLY came back downstairs. It's clear that Stella is madly in love with Stanley and vice versa, even though Stanley is terrible to Stella. Half of me foreshadows Stella leaving Stanley, while the other half of me foreshadows Stella staying and being in an unhappy marriage. Only time will tell.

A Streetcar Named Desire - Journal #2

I read scenes four through seven of Streetcar, and the book only continues to intensify. Scene four was short and simple, with Blanche continuing to criticize Stella, even suggesting they get out together. Stella, as usual, insists she loves Stanley, and while Blanche lets it all out, Stanley hears it all. I wonder why as Stella is hugging Stanley with her back turned towards Blanche, Stanley smiles at Blanche. Was it a flirtatious smile, or a smile attempting to annoy Blanche? I'm positive it's more to annoy Blanche, basically stating "Stella's mine, too bad." The fighting between Steve and Eunice in scene five is all too familiar, the couple gets into an intense fight, but they end up walking back to their apartment hand in hand. Stanley starts bringing up Blanche's past, and Blanche loses it. Why was she getting so defensive? We find out when she tells Stella that she wasn't good when she lost Belle Reve, which does make sense. But what was she doing that made her bad? I feel bad for Blanche, she's taking her insecurities out in the wrong way. She clearly went through some sort of quarter-life crisis that made her act out, even kissing the young kid who shows up at the door before Mitch does. I can only predict that Blanche will continue to act out, even though she likes Mitch and has faith in herself that she'll end up having a nice life with him. I don't think that's ever going to happen, I predict Blanche's flirtatious moves (toward every man) is going to get her in trouble, and it's going to be bad.

Throughout the majority of scene six, I felt awkward myself. I know it was supposed to be awkward between Blanche and Mitch, as it was. Their date clearly didn't go well, and back at the house things eventually lightened up. Blanche continues to act flirtatious but holds herself back to Mitch, and Mitch likes that. I think when Blanche asks Mitch what Stanley has said about her, Mitch's response isn't what Blanche wanted to hear. She told Mitch she believes Stanley hates her, I think, just to hear Mitch say "I think he wants you" or something to that effect. I think there's something in Stanley that interests Blanche, maybe it's a challenge for her. She wants to see why Stella is so attracted to him, and I think Blanche is too, but she plays it off very well like she hates him. There's too much sexual tension between the two. It's very interesting to find out about Blanche's deceased husband, who was gay and killed himself. That must be a huge part of the reason why Blanche is always so finicky and nervous, maybe she was always self conscious after the event, causing her to be "bad."

Finally, scene seven reveals all we've been waiting for. Blanche was right: Stanley was out to get her. He told Mitch the truth about Blanche, that she was fired, and she probably won't return back to Mississippi. I suddenly see right through Blanche just like everybody else does, that she's embarrassed as her past (as I can't blame her) and tries to still put on a good show for Stella and Stanley by showing she's still fancy and whatnot, when really, she's a mess. I feel worse for Stella because here Stella is, she loves her sister to death, her own flesh and blood, but Stella's jerk of a husband is the one who breaks the news to her that her sister is troubled. And the fact that Stanley bought Blanche a ticket back to Laurel makes me wonder, will she actually go back? I don't see her staying with Stanley and Stella now that Stanley knows everything, but I don't know where else she would go.


A Streetcar Named Desire - Journal #3

Finally, scenes eight through eleven. Scene eight was short and somewhat repetitive, but it did change my mind in one major way: Stanley being so rude to Blanche changed my thought that there was sexual tension between the two, because Stanley genuinely does not like Blanche, it's clear to me now. They argue and are completely rude to each other, and it's more than silly banter, it's serious hatred. Suddenly Stella has to go to the hospital, and Stanley again lightens up as he takes her. Scene nine, Mitch comes over. It's very tense, and it annoys me that Blanche is just trying to get answers as to why Mitch is being so rude. Why did he come over in the first place if he was just going to be a jerk? I'm sure the same question was going through Blanche's mind. Finally they're honest with each other, and after that Mitch should've just left. But he wasn't done, he wanted "what he waited for all summer," it's quite obvious what that means. The stories that Mitch has heard about Blanche has clearly changed his opinion, as it did for me and just about everybody else who has Blanche's number, so to speak, and now Blanche is all figured out. She is devastated, and I can't really blame her. I know she's not exactly the best person with all of her lies, but I can't help but feel bad for her.

Scene ten is bittersweet for me. I'm happy that Stanley and Blanche finally come to good terms (in the beginning, at least,) and they both have things to celebrate. It suddenly changes (surprise, surprise!) and goes back to the usual banter, except this time I knew it was worse than usual. I wasn't predicting that Stanley would rape Blanche, I would predict that with Blanche's risky advances, it would at least be consensual. Scene eleven is interesting and slightly unpredictable. I didn't think Stella would take it upon herself to send Blanche away, but I do believe that Stella would have doubted Blanche's accusations of Stanley raping her. The part with the doctors was extremely interesting, I can't tell if the doctors made it seem like Blanche was a lunatic or if she genuinely was. Regardless, Blanche was taken away, and the quote "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" truly shows who Blanche is and how vulnerable she is. Honestly, I liked the end of the book because I wasn't too sure how else it should've ended. Blanche was definitely crazy and it makes me upset that no one believes her about what happened with Stanley, but that was the point. Overall I think it was a great book and I would've loved to have seen the play to really get the feel of the book.