Curriculum  /  ELA  /  10th Grade  /  Unit 10: Sanity & Madness in A Streetcar Named Desire & Ma Rainey's Black Bottom  /  Lesson 14

Sanity & Madness in A Streetcar Named Desire & Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Lesson 14
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ELA

Unit 10

10th Grade

Lesson 14 of 23

Objective

Analyze and interpret the ambiguity in Scene 10. 

Readings and Materials

  • Play: A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams  — Scene 10

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A Note for Teachers

  • Big ideas in the text: Blanche and Stanley’s interactions come to a climax in this scene. On page 152, when Blanche learns that she and Stanley will be alone because Stella is still at the hospital and going to have a baby, she does not engage with Stanley flirtatiously. Instead, she highlights the fact that she has an admirer, Shep. The conversation between the two then turns to money when she lies to Stanley and tells him that Shep is going to send her money. On page 161, the tone shifts significantly. It becomes dark and ominous. Stanley and Blanche are engaging in a dialogue about her getting past him. She is not in her usual flirty tone. At first, Stanley seems playful but then his tone becomes more menacing: "The inhuman jungle voices rise up." According to the stage directions, Stanley is in an animalistic state. Blanche is pleading with Stanley not to come any closer. She says: "Stay back! Don’t you come toward me another step or I’ll" and "I warn you, don’t, I’m in danger."
  • Important Note: This scene ambiguously suggests that Stanley sexually assaults Blanche, even though it is omitted from the scene and happens offstage. This lesson should be framed for students as well as some basic norms for talking about rape, physical abuse, or sexual violence. Importantly, make the distinction between Williams’ use of violence as a plot device and the actual crime of rape/sexual violence in reality. That is, while it may be useful to analyze Blanche’s role in Stanley’s actions as a symbolic act of power from a literary standpoint, it is never the person’s fault when this type of violence occurs in real life.
  • How to approach framing sticky content with your students: You may want to approach framing sticky content by clarifying that what happens to Blanche is not in question. Here is how you might do that: "At no point are we questioning the fact that this scene is a scene of sexual assault. It is. However, Williams makes some choices that seem to give agency to Blanche. We have to be careful of how we speak about this because this topic can be triggering. We are going to practice speaking about triggering content with grace, sensitivity, and mindfulness."

Target Task

Discourse Questions

Why does Williams leave matters uncertain or ambiguous in Scene 10?

To what extent was this scene inevitable or as Stanley says, "a date from the beginning"? 

Why is pleasure in this text always connected to violence? What is the author suggesting here?

Key Thinking

Scaffolding Questions

What actually happened and why is it significant?  Why would Williams make this choice?

Is this an act of violence or an act of desire or both?

Key Lines

  • There are several subtle uses of literary devices and language that Williams employs in this scene and that students should analyze, including:
    • the stage direction indicating that the walls of the house become transparent and show audiences the prostitute and the drunkard outside → this implies that the constructed reality that Blanche has created for herself is falling apart, as is the façade of the home on "Elysian Fields"
    • animal imagery → "The night is filled with inhuman voices like cries in a jungle," Stanley is portrayed as a snake with his tongue protruding from his lips, Stanley calls Blanche "Tiger" → these images can foreshadow the senseless violence of sexual assault, "animal" desires in both Blanche and Stanley
    • sound imagery of the music and the locomotive build suspense 
    • the symbol of the bathroom → morphs from Blanche’s place of refuge to Stanley’s domain, indicating a power shift
  • The following lines are additional places in the text that you can direct students' attention to if they do not highlight them during discourse on their own. They are key to answering today’s seminar question. 
    • "We had this date from the beginning."
    • "So I could twist the broken end in your face!"
    • "So you want some rough-house!"

Key Ideas

  • This scene is left ambiguous because Williams refuses to create closure with the relationship between Blanche and Stanley.  In reality, Stanley forces himself on Blanche and he overpowers her and forces her to have sex with him.  We know this happens because we are told that Blanche "moans" and then "sinks to her knees."  She gives in to his power and he leads her offstage.  By keeping this moment ambiguous, Williams is establishing a different relationship between the two characters than the one that Stella and Stanley has.  While it is clear that Blanche gives in to Stanley, the ambiguity gives her back some of her power.
  • From the moment that Blanche meets Stanley in Scene 1, they have tension. She despises how he treats her sister, first by chucking the piece of meat at her, then by slapping her on poker night. She refers to him as an animal or "madman." Stanley despises Blanche because she breaks up the happy home that he and Stella once had and begins to open up her sister’s eyes about Stanley’s problematic ways, even if she chooses to stay in the end. 
  • Williams is getting at the danger associated with blindly pursuing desire. Desire is important but it cannot be the only thing that drives someone; it can be very dangerous.

Homework

  • Read and annotate “First Night at the Theatre” by Brooks Atkinson (The New York Times) (Originally published December 4, 1947)  OR  “Lower Depths, Southern Style” by Wolcott Gibbs (The New Yorker) (December 13, 1947 Issue) .
    • Annotation focus: What lines reveal the author’s critique or attitude of this production of A Streetcar Named Desire? Is the author’s overall attitude positive or negative?

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Standards

  • LO 1.3B — Analyze how the writer's use of stylistic elements contributes to a work of literature's effects and meaning.
  • RL.9-10.4 — Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

Supporting Standards

LO 1.3A
LO 2.3A
LO 2.3B
LO 2.3C
LO 2.3D
LO 5.1A
LO 5.1B
RL.9-10.1
RL.9-10.2
RL.9-10.3
SL.9-10.1

Next

Analyze Williams’ key moments in the final scene including how Williams used them to create meaning in the text.

Lesson 15
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