E6R A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Lesson 6 (Act I, Scene 5) 


Aim: Why does Blanche want to impress Mitch so badly?
Do Now: Journal #6
Comment on the following speech by Blanche. What is your interpretation of the paragraph?
"I never was hard or self-sufficent enough. When people are soft-soft people have got to shimmer and glow-they've got to put on soft colors, the colors of butterfly wings, and put a paper lantern over the light...It isn't enough to be soft."
Procedures:
1. Read aloud the scene.
2.Discuss the following questions:
a. Why is Blanche so indifferent to  the fight happened between Eunice and Steve ?
b. Is Blanche sincere when she said:"I'm compiling a notebook of quaint little words and phrases I've picked up here"?
c. Why does Stanley show so much contempt when Blanche said:"Virgo is a Virgin"?
d. What has Stanley been doing behind  Blanche's back?
e. Compare  Stella with Blanche.
f. Why is Blanche trying so hard to deceive Mitch? Does she love him? Explain your answer.
g. What does Blanche mean by saying "...when an hour isn't just an hour, but a little piece of eternity dropped onto your hands..."?
h. Why does Blanche keep the newspaper boy from leaving? Why did she kiss him? Does this tell you something about Blanche's past? Has she got over her dead lover?
i. Why does Blanche call the boy "a young prince out of the Arabian Nights"?

Homework Assignment:
Write a diary entry pretending you are Blanche. In the diary, explain why "you" didn't want to let the newspaper  boy go; whom he reminded you of; and why you kissed him .