A Streetcar Named Desire

“You’re all I’ve got in the world, and you’re not glad to see me!”

When Blanche first arrives to Elysian Fields, her overbearing criticism of the lodging and of Stella seems overbearing. The audience is not aware of her struggles yet, and so when she exclaims that Stella is “all [she's] got in the world,” it translates as nervous ramblings. It turns out to be true once Blanche’s circumstances are revealed.

“You came to New Orleans and looked out for yourself! I stayed at Belle Reve and tried to hold it together!”

This bit of dialogue introduces the core of tension between the sisters. Blanche, someone who seeks companionship as validation, feels that Stella abandoned her.

“And funerals are pretty compared to deaths.”

Blanche was left without any funds after her the death of their parents and someone named Margaret. The deaths were messy, their proceedings fraught with struggle and fear. The funerals, as she explains, were the packaged products of death. This is an iteration of her awareness that appearances can conceal less-appealing realities.