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A Streetcar Named Desire: Study Guide by Tennessee Williams ? ? Tennessee Williams is one of the foremost playwrights of the twentieth century. He won numerous awards and has created some of the most memorable characters in American theater. In an interview, Williams said, “I have always been more interested in creating a character that contains something crippled. I think nearly all of us have some kind of defect, anyway, and I suppose I have found it easier to identify with the characters who verge upon hysteria, who were frightened of life, who were desperate to reach out to another person.” Written in 1947, A Streetcar Named Desire explores the themes of “desire, loneliness, and human fragility” (Andrews 628). The story is set in New Orleans, Louisiana in the month of May, sometime after WW II. ? ? Scenes 1-3 ? Notes Elysian Fields – The mention of this is an allusion to the underworld of Greek mythology. Paradise. ? ?? When we first meet Blanche DuBois, she has traveled to see her sister Stella. She took streetcars named Desire and Cemeteries to arrive at her sister’s apartment. What might these names represent? ? ? Blanche goes into Stella’s apartment to wait for her to come home. What does she do while she is waiting? ? ? ? What does Belle Reve mean? What does it refer to in the play? ? ? Why does Blanche say that she has left her teaching job to visit Stella? ? ? Why does Blanche say that she lost Belle Reve? ? ? ? At the end of Scene One, what music “rises up, faint in the distance”? ? ? Near the end of Scene One, what do we learn about Blanche’s husband? ? ? In Scene Two, Stanley finds out about the loss of Belle Reve. What is his reaction? ? ? What does Stanley think that Blanche has done with the money he believes she made from selling Belle Reve? ? ? 10. What does Stanley tell Blanche about Stella as they are going through her business papers? ? 11. Where are Stella and Blanche going while the men play poker? ? 12. When Blanche and S