Literary Criticism 2019 Play Questions: A Streetcar Named Desire

Question 1

Who does Blanche say the famous "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" line to?

Accepted Answer

The doctor who is taking her to the mental institution

Question 2

What is the name of the property Blanche was forced to sell?

Accepted Answer

Belle Reve

Question 3

Who played Stanley in the 1951 movie version?

Accepted Answer

Marlon Brando

Question 4

How is sex portrayed in the play?

Accepted Answer

As a way to dominate and control

Question 5

Where is A Street Car Named Desire set?

Accepted Answer

New Orleans

Question 6

Stella tells Eunice that the cost of believing that Stanley raped Blanche would be to

Accepted Answer

make it impossible to continue living with Stanley

Question 7

What gift does Stanley give Blanche?

Accepted Answer

A bus ticket back to her hometown, Laurel

Question 8

Why does Stanley hate Blanche so much?

Accepted Answer

He can't stand her fake and snobbish pretense

Question 9

Why does Blanche refuse to see Mitch unless it is evening or night?

Accepted Answer

She's using the dim light to hide her real age

Question 10

How does Blanche say she wants to die?

Accepted Answer

At sea from eating unwashed grapes; buried in a white sack

Question 11

Why does Blanche wear so much white?

Accepted Answer

To maintain a facade of purity

Question 12

Who is the author of A Streetcar Named Desire?

Accepted Answer

Tennessee Williams

Question 13

What is the significance of the name Belle Reve?

Accepted Answer

Means beautiful dream, like Blanche's delusions of herself, It shows Stella and Blanche's French ancestry

Question 14

What genre is the play?

Accepted Answer

Southern Gothic, Tragedy

Question 15

Where does Stella think she is going when she is taken to the mental institution?

Accepted Answer

On a cruise with Shep Huntleigh

Question 16

Who does Blanche say "a woman's charm is fifty percent illusion" to?

Accepted Answer

Stanley

Question 17

When Mitch confronts Blanche with details of her past affairs, she compares herself to a

Accepted Answer

spider

Question 18

What happened to Blanche's first husband?

Accepted Answer

He committed suicide after she found out he was homosexual

Question 19

Which other Pulitzer prize winning play did Tennessee Williams write?

Accepted Answer

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Question 20

What nationality is Stanley?

Accepted Answer

Polish

Question 21

Why was Blanche fired from teaching?

Accepted Answer

She had an affair with one of her students

Question 22

What does Blanche use to try to defend herself before Stanley rapes her?

Accepted Answer

A broken bottle

Question 23

When did A Streetcar Named Desire win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama?

Accepted Answer

1948

Question 24

Why does Blanche like Mitch?

Accepted Answer

He is less coarse and crude than the other men

Question 25

Why does Blanche suffer from a complete mental breakdown?

Accepted Answer

She is raped by Stanley

Question 26

When Stella asks Blanche if she has ever "ridden on that street car," Stella refers

Accepted Answer

obliquely to Blanche's sexual history

Literary Criticism 2019 Play Questions: A Streetcar Named Desire

Questions 26

Literary Criticism 2019 Play Questions: A Streetcar Named Desire

Questions 26