Talk:A Streetcar Named Desire (play)

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[edit] Removed from the main page (as unsupported speculation)

Removed from the main page (as unsupported speculation):

Stanley Kowalski is part of a long tradition of the American stage brute -- a working class oaf whose failure to grasp culture, and whose desire to cut through the pretension of the elite makes him something of a working class hero. (Think Ralph Kramden, Fred Flintstone, Al Bundy, and Homer Simpson.)

Perhaps the above is true. It seems to me (and I may be wrong) that it should be attributed to someone, as it's not easily proven on its own. Seems to fit better in a paper on the film and/or play, not an article. My $.02. --KQ


I don't think Stanley can be seen as a "working class hero": he is ridiculed at numerous points in the play for his ignorance (viz. the "Napoleonic code") and shown to be more brutal than most people would accept in a hero. I think you were right to remove the reference. Oliver

i think the change in ending in the movie should be noted though i dont have the energy to do so now. --tom 01:02, 3 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Me neither :) But talk about change in rape scene as well...

Regarding links, Wikipedia: WikiProject Streetcars will be working on improving WP content regarding the streetcar and related articles. Vaoverland 21:29, Dec 26, 2004 (UTC)

Um, really, the streetcar isn't that relevant. You might as well decorate a star wars page with links to famous wars. It's a title, and there is some symbolism (is that streetcar named desire still grinding along those tracks?) but it doesn't really need discussing. Inebriatedonkey 19:54, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I generally agree. The streetcar has definite symbolic relevance in the context of the play - but the sub-section for it here contains no such context, so it's just a digression. I think it could be worth mentioning if the section was made into an observation of the play's generally accepted themes, i.e., a few such symbols could be included as illustration of these themes. This section could incorporate the existing brief comparison with Chekov, you know? Maybe I'll give it a shot at some point, unless there is general disapproval of the idea. JustDerek 20:57, 20 Oct 2005 (UTC)

[edit] From Blanche Dubois

The following was in the article Blanche Dubois; I changed it to a redirect to the play. Anybody want to merge it in properly? --Christopherlin 06:56, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Blanche DuBois is a character in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche is obsessed by her appearance, using it as protection against her age and looks. She is also a nymphomaniac and an alcoholic, again using it to hide behind. She is the sister of Stella, who is married to Stanley Kowalski. Stanley decides to delve into her past, discovering that she has lied. She used to be a prostitute at the Flamingo Hotel, out of which she was eventually thrown out. In addition to this, she was also sacked as a teacher of English for having an affair with a seventeen year old student of hers. She was married very young, but later discovered that her husband was a homosexual. On confronting him, he committed suicide. Blanche is haunted by the music she heard previous to his death (the polka) and a gunshot. She is later raped by her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski, which leads to her eventual downfall in Scene 11, when she is taken away to a mental asylum. It is thought that Williams used many attributes of his sister, Rose,when writing ASND. Rose had a pre-frontal lobotomy performed on her. Williams was haunted by the fact he could not prevent this operation.

If that has citations, sure. Could use a rewrite to eliminate excess verbiage and fix some awkward spots though. -nightfyre —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.32.253.89 (talk) 03:05, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Online version of the play?

Does anyone know if SND is available as a free ebook somewhere? The author is dead so there is no copyright, right?

No, the novel is copyrighted and the United States copyright law states, "Copyrights currently last for seventy years after the death of an author, or seventy-five to ninety-five years in the case of works of corporate authorship and works first published before 1 January 1978." I couldn't find an ebook with the novel, either. Sorry. Sciurinæ 14:42, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stamp not qualifying as fair use

After reading over {{USPSstamp}} I felt inclined to remove the stamp from the article, as it is being used to illustrate the play appearing in the stamp, as opposed to illustrating the stamp itself. Feel free to discuss if you disagree. ~ PseudoSudo 22:39, 17 June 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Comparisons with Other Works

coarse (but vital) hustlers and ethnics like Stanley-- who, despite the torn T shirt, is a successful engineer, not a laborer

Stanley Kowalski is an engineer? I really don't remember that and the wikipedia entry on Stanley says he is a laborer.

Too lazy to find it right now, but there are several references to Stanley and Mitch having been in an engineering division/unit. Whether or not that is his current occupation is another matter. On another note, how do we know Allan is bi and not just gay? There is no reference to them having sex; in fact there is a reference against it to the effect that Mitch thought the most she had ever gotten from a man was a kiss. I believe it's during Stanley's revelations to Stella. I think he was hiding his sexual preferences by doing the socially acceptable thing and marrying a rich attractive woman. -nightfyre —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.32.253.89 (talk) 03:02, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Myth?

This sounds exactly like the myth of Tereus & Prokne and the rape of Philomela, minus the canibalism. Intentional? Mention it? - Psyno 07:37, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Setting

Elysian Fields and Desire Street are not in the French Quarter, but in the Faubourg Marigny and the Upper 9th Ward/Bywater neighborhoods. Perhaps the setting should be changed to read "Downtown New Orleans", Downtown being any part of the city east of Canal Street, that is "down river", which also includes the Quarter. -- Leodmacleod 10:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] AFI ranking

The lines "Stella! Hey, Stella!" and "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" are respectively ranked #45 and #75 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. This should be mentioned somewhere in the article, I think. bd2412 T 17:52, 26 April 2008 (UTC)


Naw, you'd put that on the A Streetcar Named Desire (film) article. This one's only about the play. -Leodmacleod 8:53, 26 April 2008 (UTC)