Scene Eleven

In the last scene of A Streetcar Named Desire, Stella is packing Blanche’s things while the men are playing poker and Blanche is in the bathroom. While Stella packs her sister’s trunk, she is crying. She is very sad because she has planned to send Blanche away. She is not sure if she’s made the right choice in the matter.
Blanche is at the point where is really crazy. Stella is actually planning to send her away with a doctor to some kind of mentally ill hospital. Stella talks to Eunice about her second thoughts. She’s not sure if calling the doctor was the right choice. Eunice tries to reassure her that it was the right idea. Stella tells Eunice that she couldn’t believe Blanche’s story about Stanley raping her, and continue to live with him. Blanche thinks that she is going to leave with Shep Huntleigh. Even though Blanche and Shep have never talked since she saw him again, Blanche thinks that he wants her to travel with him.
Stella isn’t really sure of her decision. She is second guessing herself, and she can’t believe that she did such a thing to her sister. I personally think that it’s necessary, but it is a very hard choice for someone to make. I think some of the reason why Stella is so upset about her decision is because maybe a tiny part of her believes Blanche when she told her about the rape. Especially since Stella has seen how Stanley gets, and how he treats his own wife sometimes. Eunice even said that Stella had no choice but to doubt the rape and pretend like nothing has happened.

Secrets

There is a lot revealed about Blanche in these couple scenes. First, we learned straight from Blanche what had happened to her husband. One day she came home and found him in bed with another man who was his friend. Even though it was really awkward, they pretended like nothing happened and went out that night. They were all drunk, and Blanche made a comment to her husband about how he disgusts her. He ran out and committed suicide by shooting himself. We figured out why Blanche feels guilty for her husband’s death.
But, we also learned a lot about Blanche’s personal past. Stanley Kowalski figures out Blanche from his friend Shaw, who makes frequent trips to Laurel. Stanley finds out that Blanche was known for staying at a hotel names Flamingo Hotel. It was a pretty shady establishment, and even that hotel asked her to leave because of her immoral behavior. Everyone in the town thought Blanche was crazy. The most crucial thing he figured out was about her job. She wasn’t given a leave of absence after all. She was fired because she was dating a 17-year-old student, and the school found out about it.
I was pretty surprised by most of these discoveries, especially what happened to her late husband. But, some of these revelations came as a shock because Blanche always tries to play a really innocent and fragile character when in reality she got kicked out of the Flamingo Hotel because she was too inappropriate. The one thing that didn’t surprise me, but equally grossed me out was how she was caught for having a relationship with a student. I already knew that she was creepy with kids after she kissed that newspaper boy.

Disapproval

Blanche disapproves of Stanley mainly because of his aggression. She got very upset about the whole radio situation. When Stella stuck up for Blanche for turning on the radio, Stanley got angry. He was already drunk by the time the girls got home. When Stella made him mad, he charged at her and causes a huge ruckus in the other room. After the assault, Stella and Blanche go to Eunice’s room. Later that night, Stella goes back to Stanley. Blanche was confused and angered by this. She even stayed up all night worrying. She couldn’t understand how anyone would want to be in a relationship like this and how Stella was acting like it wasn’t a big deal and that it was normal.
During the play so far, Blanche has made many comments about how Stanley is primitive. She doesn’t want her sister to be married to such a man. Blanche tells Stella how she is going to work to get her out of this situation too. We know that Blanche is supposedly “high-society.” She is very out of place in this area of New Orleans. Many times it is referenced that Blanche is too good for the place that Stella and Stanley live.
Blanche doesn’t like Stella to be married to a madman, as she puts it. Blanche says that even though she has no money, no job, has lost her estate, and is staying with her sister in her tiny house, Stella’s situation is worse just because of who she is married to.

Stanley

In the first scene, Stanley Kowalski is described as a womanizer. “Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the center of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens.” (page 29) Not only is Stanley rugged and rough, it is said that the thing he cares about most is getting what he wants from women.
Stella is attracted to Stanley a lot, and she thinks she is in love with him. In fact, she is carrying his baby. Stella tells Blanche about how whenever he gets back from his travels she cries in his lap. She obviously cares a lot more about him than he does about her. He seems indifferent to her, and like he doesn’t really care. A lot of the time, he is disrespectful to her. He keeps talking about the Napoleonic code, and what’s his wife’s is his. This seems very manly, in a bad way.
When he isn’t acting like he doesn’t care, he is being dominant over her. In the book, but mostly in the actual movie, Stanley was grabbing Stella a lot. He even yelled at Blanche the first time he met her. He is turning out to be a really aggressive person. At the end of scene three, he slaps Stella for turning on the radio. Stanley and Blanche also have a sexual tension between them that is uncomforting.

Essay Thoughts

First of all, I think I will enjoy this paper more so than I have with the others. I like how we are comparing two people, one from a short play, and the other from a great movie. The two characters, Willy and Norma, are both crazy. Especially Norma. I think it will be fun to compare them.
I feel pretty prepared because The Death of a Salesman was a pretty easy read, and I thought Sunset Boulevard was a really good movie. I took notes in class, so I have a lot of points to write about.
Another thing that also helped a lot was when we took apart the poem Harlem. We wrote down what every single line meant, and this way it will be really easy to relate the poem to both Willy and Norma.
Willy and Norma are crushed by the weight of their dreams, and by the ideas they have of themselves. These two characters are obsessed with achieving their dreams, but neither of them can. My main point in this essay is to pull apart every line from Hughes’ poem and relate that to each character. I like the idea of this comparison paper more than the kinds of essays we have done in the past.

Norma

Norma Desmond used to be in silent movies. She was really big at the time, and now that talking pictures were new, the silent actress wasn’t in showbiz anymore. From what we expect, we think that Willy used to be a really good salesman in his youth. From the Death of a Salesman, as an older man, he isn’t a very good salesman.
She is crazy too, just like Willy. She had her own monkey, and when the monkey died, Norma buried him in a satin coffin. She even had a funeral for it that was very serious. This showed that she had a really empty life. Willy also has an empty life because he has nothing to show for what he has done with his life.
Because Norma doesn’t want to be in any of the talking pictures that are “strangling the business,” she is stuck in the same place in her career as Willy is stuck in his.
Norma is really, really, really arrogant. Desmond has pictures all over her house of herself and whenever her and Joe watch movies, she is always in them. In her own script, her character is in every single scene.
Norma isolates herself from everyone else is afraid of the world outside her home, because she doesn’t want to see how different it is because of the time that has past. Willy doesn’t really isolate himself, but he doesn’t like to think of the present timing. He is always thinking in the past, and can’t let the past go either.

Mistress

After Biff flunked math, he went to visit his father in the summer. Willy was staying at a hotel in Boston at the time. Biff entered Willy’s room and Willy told his mistress to go hide in the bathroom, and so she went in there.
Biff had no idea that there was someone else in his hotel room. Then, Willy and him were talking about how Biff flunked math. Biff wanted Willy to talk to his teacher to try to help. Willy told Biff that he would, and Biff was complimenting his father on how he was good with people.
After they talked for a while, Biff started to hear noises and laughter in the bathroom and he asked his dad if someone was in there. His father denied that there was someone there and made up the excuse that it was probably the people in the next room. Willy was pretty nervous that Biff would find out so he kept trying to push him out of the room, like telling Biff to go tell the clerk that he was about to check out. But finally, the mistress asked if she could come out because there was a bug in the bathroom. Willy immediately freaks out and tells her to leave and makes up an excuse about her being from next door and taking a shower there. Biff obviously doesn’t buy into the excuse for the naked women in his father’s room.
Biff is really upset and starts crying and changes his mind about wanting Willy’s help. He says he’s not going to U. of Virginia. Biff calls his dad a liar and a fake and yells at him for giving the woman his mom’s stockings. Willy gets really defensive and gets mad at Biff about it. He even says he’ll whip him if he doesn’t obey Willy. Biff runs off. Biff has gone from idolizing his father to thinking he’s a fake and a phony. I believe that this is definitely why their relationship is so rocky in the modern time.

Job Offer

I think that Willy made a really really dumb decision to refuse Charley’s help. First of all, Willy has just gotten fired from his job. You could tell he was desperate because when he approached Howard for a non-traveling job, his request for pay kept getting smaller and smaller each time Howard said no. So I couldn’t understand why Willy denied Charley when he offered him a job. Especially because he’s like 60 and it could be hard to find some good work.
It was all about Willy’s pride and dignity that he didn’t take the job from Charley. He doesn’t even have a good reason why he won’t take it beside, “I just can’t work for you, Charley.” Just because Willy is jealous of Charley, he won’t allow himself to work under Charley because that would mean that Willy has finally admitted it. Charley has offered him a good job, and he wouldn’t have to travel, which is what both Willy and Linda really want. Plus, Willy is going to be making about 50 dollars a week, which they can live on.
This whole time that Willy has been visiting Charley, he’s been borrowing money from him. He’s taken hundreds of dollars and says he’s going to pay back because he keeps a really good account of how much he takes, but we don’t know if that will ever happen. So even though Charley has been giving Willy money anyway, Willy doesn’t want to work for it. Earlier we said that he values working hard to make a good amount of money for yourself. But Willy doesn’t want to do that at all.

Benjamin

Ben is Willy's wealthy older brother. Ben has recently died and he appears in Willy's daydreams and memories. In his memory/daydream, Ben came and asked Willy to go to Alaska with him. Ben wants Willy to help him manage a tract of timberland that he has just bought.
For Willy, Ben represents success. Willy craves success his whole life, and gets jealous of others who have it, and disregard and look down upon the people who don’t have it. He wants success and to be popular and well liked for himself and his sons. He looks up to Ben a lot because of his success. Because of this, I don’t think that Willy is positive influence on Willy because all Willy’s life, he has been trying to aspire and become as successful as his brother, but he just can’t. He also regrets that he didn’t make the decision to go to Alaska with Ben. This upsets him throughout his life. Anyway, whether or not Ben was a positive or negative influence on Willy, Willy still tried so hard to gain his older brother’s approval.
Linda is actually a little scared of Ben. When Ben asked Willy to come to Alaska with him, Linda convinced Willy that he had a good job right where he was and he didn’t have to go to Alaska.

Loman Brothers Plan

Biff and Happy come up with a plan to make some money. They figure to go to Oliver, Biff’s old boss back in high school, and ask if he could loan them some money. Happy and Biff want to open a sporting goods store with the loan they ask Oliver for.
They really think they are going to get the money, but they are thinking about asking him for a loan of 10,000 dollars. Willy even says to ask him for 15,000 dollars.
When Willy hears about their plan, he says that it is a “million dollar idea.” Not only does he think their plan will work, but he encourages them a lot, and gives them tips
on how to approach Oliver and what to say to him. They all think that this plan will be successful because of the fact that Happy and Biff used to be popular and well-liked. I don’t think the plan will work because the Loman Brothers are kind of flaky, and I don’t think they will be able to get that much money from a man they haven’t seen or talked to for years.