A Streetcar Named Desire

Throughout the play, Blanche is haunted by death of her beloved Belle Reve and her past in the Old south. In scene 1, she tells Stella about what happened to Belle Reve, "I, I, I, took the blows in my face and my body! All of those deaths! The long parade to the graveyard!...Sit there and stare at me, thinking I let the place go! I let the place go? Where were you? In bed with your - Polack!" (Page 27). The Old South represents death. In scene 4, Blanche tells Stella that desire is no basis for a marriage. She tells that the "streetcar named Desire" that "bangs through the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another." (Page 70) She uses the streetcar as a metaphor for what she believes Stella feels. Stella asks her if she has ever ridden on the streetcar, and Blanche replies, "It brought me here, where I'm not wanted and where I'm ashamed to be..." (Page 70). Stella, Stanley, and Mitch learn that Blanche's desire for a new life is what led her to leave her Old South life in Mississippi.

Blanche travels to the New South in hopes of escaping her awful past that haunts her. In scene 4, Blanche declares, "I'm going to do something. Get hold of myself and make myself a new life!" (Page 65). In the New South, Blanche must learn to tolerate everyone as advised by Stella, "people have got to tolerate each other's habits, I guess." (Page 65). Blanche responds, "I don't understand you. I don't understand your indifference. Is this a Chinese philosophy you've - cultivated?" (Page 65). Here, Blanche is not used to this mixture of cultures in the New South. She must realize that learning to adapt and tolerate everyone is part of her new life.

In the play, the contrasting settings of Old South and New South represent Blanche is two different ways. Old South represents death, whereas New South represents life. After Blanche has to face many hardships - losing her family, husband and estate, she moves to the New South in hope of a new life. The two different settings are important to the play because they represent who Blanche was and who she wants to become. Her journey from the Old South to the New South embodies her optimistic transformation from death to life.