A Streetcar Named Desire: Scene 8

Summary
—Stanley, Stella and Blanche are having a birthday supper, however there is a vacant space at the table as Mitch has not turned up.

—There is a very tense atmosphere as they eat, with Stanley eventually getting angry and smashing the crockery.

—Blanche discovers that Stanley and Stella know why Mitch hasn’t arrived and desperately tries to call him. He doesn’t answer which leaves Blanche very upset.

—Stanley then presents Blanche with a one-way ticket back to Laurel which tips her over the edge and we see her decline even deeper into insanity.

Key Quotations

—“And the only way to hush the parrot…but that was a short day!”

—Blanche’s parrot story is told to create humour but it could also be an allusion that some secrets should be kept hidden from others. Just like the parrot, Blanche has a darker side that she tries desperately to keep hidden under her façade, but also just like the parrot, this different side to her is revealed.

—“Mr Kowalski is too busy making a pig of himself to think of anything else!”

—Here we see Stella siding with Blanche again as she calls Stanley ‘Mr Kowalski’ which is very impersonal. She creates a divide between the two families when she tries to protect and care for Blanche, siding with the DuBois to prove that she still loves her sister. However, we know that at the end of the play, Stella decides to side with Stanley which is a complete antithesis with her earlier implications. 

—“What do you two think you are? A pair of queens? Remember what Huey Long said- “Every Man is a  King!” And I am the king around here, so don’t forget it!”

Stanley’s appreciation of Huey Long shows his lower-class background as Huey Long decreased unemployment rates in the United States. However, he was also a tyrant and abused his position of power which is similar to Stanley as he definitely controls others using intimidation and aggression. His rhetorical question at the beginning implies that Stanley believes he is superior to Stella and Blanche as he is a male so therefore, women cannot be in high positions of power.  

—“His Auntie knows candles aren’t safe, that candles burn out in little boys’ and girls’ eyes, or wind blows them out and after that happens, electric light bulbs go on and you see too plainly…”

—Here Blanche is not only talking about her nephew but also about her own life. She is describing Allan’s death and that when he died, the light went out of her life and now she can’t face the ‘electric light bulbs’ or reality. Blanche says that candles ‘aren’t safe’ as she believes that, like desire, ‘candles’ are ruinous as they create illusions that never last. 

—“El pan de mais, el pan de mais, el pan de mais, sin sal. El pan de mais, el pan de mais, el pan de mais sin sal…”

At the very end of the scene, Blanche emerges from the bathroom singing a Mexican folk song about maize bread without salt. This song has no real meaning and it is strange that Blanche is singing a Spanish song when they live in the French quarter of New Orleans. Nevertheless, this nonsense chant shows the extent to which Blanche’s mental state has declined and the effects that Stanley’s ‘gift’ to her have had. If we over-read into this song, a loaf of bread without salt will not rise and it is tasteless, similarly a woman without beauty will not be able to find a husband and will be cast aside for being too ‘bland’ (according to Blanche).