Figurative Language In A Streetcar Named Desire

This extract is taken out from scene two of the play, directly after Stanley is very suspicious of Blanche and her actions. Stanley believes that Blanche is lying about her loss of Belle Reve and thinks that she sold it and doesn’t want Stella to have any part of the heritance. However, Blanche is horrified by this conclusion and decides to challenge Stanley by presenting him with her box of papers. In this excerpt from A Street Car Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, the author uses diction, symbolism, and figurative language to reveal the themes of male dominance and develop friction between the Blanche and Stanley for the rest of the play.
In scene two, the play portrays the disputes between Stanley and Blanche in order to show the gender battle society. Blanche attributes her family’s downfall to the “fornifications” that the preceding generations committed and gave up all the land leaving Blanche to pay off the debt and taxes. Blanche is blaming Stella for her situation because Stella removed herself from the “high class” to which her family belonged and abandoned all its behavior requirements and problems, while leaving Blanche alone to deal with all the issues. Blanche is jealous of Stella because Stella is married and living a happy life while she still …show more content…
The book was written in 1946 which was a time where males were more dominant and females were trying to gain more power in society. Also, it was the time where men were returing from the war effort. As men came back home they wanted to assert their manhood back upon the house. This would represent Stanley and justify his actions towards women. Also, we see a contrast of the Old World and the New World. During the mid-1900’s, the views of class and heritage wer slowly abolishing and the view of all equal was coming in. Therefore we see how Blaches upper class is pretty much useless against the views of the New