Exam (elaborations)
A Streetcar Named Desire: Example Answer
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An example answer to a practice question for the English Language and Literature A-Level.
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Refer to scene 4Beginning, “May I speak plainly” and
Ending the end of the scene.
This interaction occurs near the end of scene 4. Stanley overhears Blanche dismissing him as a
common person.
Referring to these lines and other parts of the play, examine how and why Williams creates
conflict over social status.
Within scene 4 and the wider play, Williams presents conflict over social status to depict the rise of
the New Southern culture and the fall of the Old Southern culture which he presents through the
heritage and contrasting values of characters within the play.
An example in which Williams presents the conflict between the social status of characters within
this scene can be seen through Blanche’s description of Stanley. ‘He acts like an animal, has an
animal’s habits! Eats like on, moves like one, talks like one!’ The use of the zoomorphic simile ‘He
acts like an animal’ depicts how Blanche’s Old southern aristocratical heritage influences her
perception of Stanley as he does not withhold the gentlemanly values of the old south and rather
encompasses the new southern values of physical labour and the working class. In addition to this,
the zoomorphic simile is also representative of Blanche’s Southern Heritage as Stanley is a second-
generation Polish immigrant which makes him part of a lower social class than Blanche. As a result of
this Blanche compares him to an animal to present how he is of a different background to Stella and
herself and is ‘sub-human’.
A similar scene can be seen in scene 8 where Stella says ‘Mr. Kowalski is too busy making a pig of
himself to think of anything else!’, ‘Go and wash up and then help me clear the table.’ This presents
Stella as holding the same gentlemanly values as Blanche due to her old southern aristocratical
heritage. The zoomorphic metaphor ‘making a pig of himself’ suggests that Stella views Stanley as
being unable to eat decently and thus compares him to a pig. This shows how Stanley lacks the
gentlemanly manners that Stella expects and therefore Stella calls him a pig to highlight their
difference in social status. Furthermore, the imperative ‘Go and wash up and then help me clear the
table’ presents Stella as having more power than Stanley as she is ordering him to do something.
This is also reflective of Stella’s social status as she comes from a social class higher than Stanley’s. In
contrast to this however, we see that Stanley asserts power over Stella in this scene ‘Don’t ever talk
that way to me!’ the use of the imperative here depicts Stanley as overpowering Stella, displaying
how the new south is overtaking the old southern values that the two women hold.
Another scene in which we see Williams present conflict through different social statuses can be
seen in scene 2. ‘Blanche is bathing. Stella is completing her toilette.’ The stereotypically upper-class
actions such as the verb and noun ‘bathing’ and ‘toilette’, show how Blanche and Stella are upper
class old southern ladies who value old southern activities for women such as ‘bathing’. In contrast
to this, Stanley interrupts the women’s activities with the interrogative ‘What’s all this monkey
doings?’ which presents him as a new southern working-class man who does not appreciate or
understand the value of vanity of the old south. This also depicts the rise of the new south and the
fall of the old south as Stanley is asserting power over the women in this scene.
In conclusion, William’s presents conflict over social status to depict the rise and fall of the two
contrasting southern cultures.
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