Streetcar+-+Scene+8

Scene 8 -Blanche’s birthday -//[The view through the big windows is fading gradually into a still-golden dusk. A torch of sunlight blazes on the side of a big water-tank or oil-drum....pierced by the pin-points of lighted windows or windows refecting the sunset.]// Unveiling of the truth which is once again symbolized by light. - Opens with __//[//__//The three people are completing a dismal birthday supper. Stanley looks sullen. Stella is embarrassed and sad.]// - Tension! -She tells a story about a vulgar parrot in an attempt to cheer everyone (mostly herself) up as she has been stood up by Mitch and feels very anxious and nervous //[Blanche has a tight, artificial smile on her drawn face.]//

-Stanley has been associated with locomotives, a symbol of the modernization of the world. He is the future. At the same time there is the primal, physical aspect of Stanley that associates with cavemen lifestyle. -Stanley “clears the table” to show his dominance over the female characters //[He hurls his plate to the floor.] Stanley: That’s how I’ll clear the table [He seizes her arm] Don’t ever talk that way to me! “Pig- Polack- disgusting- vulgar- greasy!”- them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister’s too much around here! What do you two think you are? A pair of Queens? Remember what Huey Long said-”Every man is a King!”// -Huey Long=a popular American politician, very populist, he will say what ever it takes to make people like him. Stanley is the majority whereas Blanche looks to the past, what he is saying is Stanley IS America “But what I am is one hundred percent American, born and raised in the greatest country on earth and proud as hell of it, so don’t ever call me a Polack” -Stanley knows the truth about Blanche’s false pretenses and this is his confrontation to her own fake image of herself.

-Stanley gives Blanche a ticket back to Laurel //[The Varsouviana music steals in softly....She clutches her throat and then runs into the bathroom. Coughing, gagging sounds are heard]//

-Stella stands up for Blanche //"Nobody, nobody was as tender and trusting as she was, But people like you abused her, forced her to change."// She is soft and hard people have abused her

-Stella has the baby to get rid of her, adds to the dramatic tension and shows that Stanley is the future.

OVERALL Stanley thinks everything is sorted. He misses all the subtlety, he sees it as take out the problem and the world is fixed, so at the end of the scene he goes bowling. What he doesn’t notice is that Stella stands up for Blanche and Blanche has been stood up by Mitch.

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