AQA English Lang+Lit, A Streetcar Named Desire.

Hi,

I'm doing this play too but I'm doing it for AQA English Literature. We've just finished scene 2 and not yet been given work. I'm worried because the teacher that is doing this play with us is pretty awful and yet we've got to use it for our coursework. I've been given a set of questions to do but with very little guidance and no idea where to start really.

Hopefully some thorough searching online will prove useful.

What aspect of the play are you focusing on? Are you doing it for coursework or exam? We're studying it for "Minds Under Stress" and so primarly focusing on Blanche. What do you think of the play? I'm quite liking it and am already picking up on how the idea of classical unity is working (no help from teacher, of course!).

Well English LangLit is a little different, AS-level has no coursework. So I'm studying it for both literature and linguistic exam purposes =] We don't really have a subject like 'minds under stress'. In the exam we get 45minutes to do either...
1. A creative-based task on the text, like we have to come up with a conversation between blanche and a doctor
2. answer a analytical question. such as How does use language to Williams suggest Blanche is unstable and hysterical.

So we have to know the book back to front lol! Both in linguistic analysis and lierature.
Wait til you get to scene 3 and scene 4 - it turns into something that looks like it should be in Eastenders lol.

A very good website for some decent literature notes on themes/scenes/character summaries is sparknotes.com
Oh Blanche is so cool! I love her big outbursts and stupid comments.
I bought a book just yesterday from 'York Notes Advanced'. For streetcar named.. the book is very good for literature (not for language) purposes so I suggest you buy it. Its about £4.

Overalll so far the play is really good. theres only 4 people in my class. So we read each characters dialogue. It's really enjoyable because some of the lines Tennesse cracks up make us laugh quite a bit. I've noted....

Themes:
Light - Blanche continuously avoids it, she is described as a 'moth' - she is just as fragile as one, cannot stay near light too long and isnt as beautiful as a butterfly anymore. Williams also uses vivid descriptions of lighting in his stage directions
Old vs New America - Blanche represents old southern america, Stanley is new multicultural america
Social Class - Blanche comes from priviliged, well educated background, stanley comes home a 'red stained package' and works in a labor-intensive job.

Ah are you doing AS level? I'm doing A2 Lit

Thanks for your advice, will look into the York notes. I used them last year but only for reference really for things I couldn't find myself as when I read their points they seem to stick into my head and when I write them I seem to write them in a way different from my normal writing style. Still worth it thought

Your themes I noticed too and especially found Old vs. New America interesting
It's worth noting about the Napoelonic Laws. These were that everything a husband owned also belonged to his wife, and vis versa - very modern/unusual idea of equality for America at this time and came from the fact that France owned this part of America (can't remember exactly where it is ) and thus their laws, which voiced much more equality, still stood. Then comparing this to where Blanche and Bellerieve (sp?) would have been, the world that Blanche and Stanley lived in become almost polar.
This can also be said for the theme of race, contrasting the equality of New Orleans to the rest of American - Williams had to give an explaination of why Stella was sitting with a black woman, and the black woman is their landlady! - and certainly where Blanche lived.
And then though, the home Stella lives in in the description shows the theme of Southern Gothic and similarly Blanche's descrption of Bellerieve does the same. Despite differences, both lives indicate difficult times.

Sorry that I just rambled on incoherently, probably doesn't make much sense, when I have more time (ie, can be motivated enough to do so) I'll be typing up my notes for the play to put into my folder so I'll PM them to you too

oh thank you and all of it made sense
I'll PM you some notes as well, my essay is coming together so after it gets marked and stuff I'll send it you
Yeah about the Napolean code, it applies to his state - not the state of Laurell where Belle Reve is so Stanley was just trying to assert his intelligence after Blanche used all those poetic and sophisticatedd lexis ('absconding', 'yellowing with antiquity')
Also Belle Reve means 'beautiful dream' in Creole French which adds to the whole delusion Blanche has - she is living in fantasies.
Oh and her full name Blanche Dubois means white woods.
Elysian Fields in greek methology was a place of paradise - obvious irony for a rundown street. It was a dwelling for the dead..... possible tragedy in end of A Streetcar Named Desire (ASND)

Congrats on the A at AS. I did English Language at AS before and got a C in that with little effort so hopefully I will get a C in this as well. I'm focuisng on my psychology a-level though, this english as-level is just for interest and to fill up my timetable.

Ta
Why are you only aiming for a C? I'm aiming for an A and your ideas & interpriations are just as good as mine (if not better than).
If you got a C with little effort ... put effort in and get a B!

I would aim higher but I dont want ot jeopardise my grade in psychology, I NEED an A in it. If i dont then this year will be a waste for me. (my sig sort of explains my situation a tiny bit)

I wish I did literature instead of Langlit, I think i would do better in that. as im really good at coursework.
Stupid 6th form didnt offer it me because it clashed with my psychology time table =/
anyhow what other texts are you reading? I have to learn Wuthering Heights and The Lovely Bones.

The Lovely Bones is a great, albeit slightly disturbing, book. I read it and I enjoyed it, its one of those books that makes you laugh and cry sometimes at the same time. I read it for fun though, not to analyse it.

We're doing loads! "Hamlet", "A Streecar Named Desire" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" for coursework. Then our exam is a wider reading synoptic exam so the list really is endless (and I could do whatever I wanted to really), though I think we're focusing on "The Time Travellers Wife" - adore this book, so happy! - "Much Ado About Nothing" and. Hm. Another one We're doing coursework at the moment though.

Yeah Ive finished reading lovely bones (in 3 days) even though we are only ananlysing it after xmas. Loved the last few chapters and the beginning. the middle was a little slow.

well i guess since u are doing literature, you would obviosuly studying lots of literature i.e. books lol.

seems like its just us two studying ASND on TSR!

me too! have you got any interesting notes and links between texts you could share, perhaps?