Good Afternoon!

1. Good Afternoon! • For Today: • Respond to classmates’ notes • Collect 567 characterization • Check 67 mini-analysis • Discussion on Scenes 8 & 9 • Sex and Death • Film • Irony in Streetcar

2. Scenes 8 & 9 • The Party • The Gift • Mitch • Blanche’s history • Themes: • Past vs. Present • Fantasy vs. Reality • Dependence on Men • Sex & Death

3. Sex and Death • Remember the allegorical journey of the streetcars? • Desire, Cemeteries, Eleysian Fields • Blanche has already played out her journey • Remember the innuendo of the first scene? • Stanley throws Stella the meat… • Stanley, from his first action, represents a primal desire

4. Sex and Death • Blanche’s fear of death manifest in her fear of aging and losing her beauty • Her sexual assertion is a means to avoid death and return to her youth • Therefore, the opposite of death is desire

5. Sex and Death • Ironically, it is promiscuity that hastens death throughout the text. • “Epic fornications” cause loss of Belle Reve • She is expelled from Laurel after her inappropriate relationships with students and other men • She’s losing her grasp of reality while lying to Mitch • This only gets worse as she is incapable of manage her desire for youth and fear of death.

6. Sex and Death • This theme follows and affects everyone around Blanche. • Her husband Allan, the young poet, follows his desire, Blanche fears the implications of marrying a homosexual, he commits suicide. • Blanche lies to Mitch, the older man. She withholds desire from him and has a shot at a stable relationship. However, he discovers the truth and the relationship is over.

7. Irony in Streetcar • Irony comes from a Greek word meaning “someone who hides under a false appearance.” • When irony is used, things appear different, often the opposite, of what they really are; unexpected events happen; what people say is not what they mean. • The use of irony creates interest, surprise, or a shared understanding with the author or characters. • There are many types of irony, but three to focus on: • Verbal Irony • Dramatic Irony • Situational Irony

8. Verbal Irony • Verbal Irony is irony in the use of language. • What is said can be understood as the opposite of what is meant • Names and titles in Streetcar are often ironic • Belle Reve, translated to beautiful dream, has become something else: a reminder of death and loss.

9. Dramatic Irony • In Dramatic Irony there is knowledge that the author/narrator makes available to the readers, but not the characters. • There is some foreshadowing that we, the clever readers, are aware of. Characters, especially Blanche, are not aware of impending disaster. • Blanche’s carefree actions are often juxtaposed with Stanley’s harsh revelations.

10. Situational Irony • Situational Irony can occur either from the POV of a character or the reader. • This occurs when something that is expected with a great deal of certainty doesn’t happen. • Either we get psyched out or the characters do, or both. (“Gift of the Magi”) • Details of the situation point to the opposite of what is really going on