language in scene 4 and how the past affects the present notes

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How the past impinges tragically on the present in A Streetcar Named Desire.

? Tennessee Williams uses the past to influence the fate of characters in his play, this is especially evident with the character of Blanche Dubois. Her past haunts her throughout A Streetcar Named Desire as the audience begins to glimpse into Blanche's life of deception and death.

The Introduction of Blanche

? Blanche Dubois enters Scene One in an act of desperation. She seeks refuge at the Kowalski's which marks the start of her impending doom. Her family fortune and home are gone along with the loss of her young husband.

? She is Described as "Shocked" when she arrives at Stella's home and says, "this - can this be - her home?". It is apparent of her expected upper class living conditions she received back in Belle Reve.
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? Williams also includes moth-like imagery to portray Blanche as "delicate" and "white" which again highlights her high-class status but also her fragility and how the past may have caused her to become so delicate.

Belle Reve

? One of the tragic themes in A Streetcar Named Desire is death. Blanche blames Stella abandoning her at Belle Reve with her dying relatives.

? Blanches previous experience in all the deaths she has experience would explain her alcoholic nature and need to cover up her delusion with fantasy and deception.

? Williams implies how Blanche's ...

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