A Streetcar Named Desire Scene 6 Summary & Analysis

Summary:
-​ Her and Mitch come home at 2am from a funfair and Mitch has a toy figure he won at the
funfair
-​ Blanche is evidently exhausted
-​ He speaks about the fact that she didn’t enjoy the night and that he wasn’t entertaining
-​ Briefly, she mentions how she is going to leave because she has outstayed her welcome
-​ He gets the keys from her bag to open the door
-​ She stares at the sky
-​ He asks to kiss her and she is angry about the fact he feels the need to ask
-​ He points out that she responded negatively when he had tried for a bit more “familiarity”
when they parked his car by the lake one night
-​ Blanche explains that though Mitch’s attraction flatters her, a single girl becomes “lost” if
she doesn’t keep her urges under control
-​ She teases Mitch, suggesting that he is used to women who are easy on their first date
-​ Mitch tells Blanche that he likes her because she is different from anyone he has ever
met, an independent spirit
-​ Blanche laughs and invites him in for a nightcap
-​ She wants him to have a drink because he has been so anxious
-​ Blanche lights a candle and prepares the drinks, saying they must celebrate and forget
their worries on their last night together
-​ She suggests that they pretend to be on a date at an artists’ café in Paris
-​ She asks Mitch if he speaks French. After he tells her he doesn’t, she teases him in the
language he can’t understand, asking, “Do you want to sleep together this evening?
-​ You don’t understand? What a shame!” Blanche grows rapidly more amorous
-​ Mitch won’t take his coat off because he’s embarrassed about his perspiration, so she
takes it off for him
-​ She tries to put Mitch at ease by admiring his imposing physique
-​ She says sweating is good for him
-​ He says how he got gifted a gym membership and goes swimming and lifts weights and
how his stomach has hardened
-​ He tells her that he weight 93 kg and he lifts her and says she is so light
-​ After an uncomfortable silence, Mitch asks where Stanley and Stella are, and he
suggests that they all go out on a double date some night
-​ Blanche laughs at the idea, and asks how Mitch and Stanley became friends
-​ Mitch replies that they were military buddies
-​ Blanche asks what Stanley says about her, expressing her conviction that Stanley hates
her
-​ Mitch thinks that Stanley simply doesn’t understand her
-​ Blanche argues that Stanley wants to ruin her
-​ Mitch interrupts Blanche’s increasingly hysterical tirade against Stanley to ask her how
old she is
-​ Caught off guard, she responds by asking why he wants to know
-​ He says that when he told his ailing mother about Blanche, who would like to see Mitch
settled before she dies, he could not tell her how old Blanche was

, -​ Blanche says that she understands how lonely Mitch will be when his mother is gone
-​ She fixes another drink for herself and gives a revealing account of what happened with
the tender young man she married
-​ She was only sixteen when they met, and she loved him terribly
-​ Somehow, though, her love didn’t seem to be enough to save him from his unhappiness
as something was tormenting him
-​ Then one day she came home to find her young husband in bed with an older man who
had been his longtime friend
-​ In the hours after the incident, they all pretended nothing happened
-​ The three of them went out to a casino
-​ On the dance floor, while dancing a polka, the Varsouviana, she drunkenly confronted
her young husband and told him he “disgusted” her
-​ The boy rushed out of the casino, and everyone heard a shot
-​ He had killed himself with a bullet to the head
-​ Mitch comes to her and holds her, comforting her
-​ He tells her, “You need somebody. And I need somebody, too.” They kiss, even as she
sobs
-​ Blanche says, “Sometimes- there’s God- so quickly!”


Quotes:
-​ “The utter exhaustion which only a neurasthenic (chronic fatigue and exhaustion)
personality can know is evident in Blanche’s voice and manner”
-​ “bearing, upside down, a plaster statuette of Mae West, the sort of prize won at
shooting- galleries and carnival games of chance"
➔​ Mae West was a sex symbol
➔​ This suggests Mitch is interested in an idealised version of womanhood
➔​ She is the idea woman- yet he is holding her upside down
➔​ This may be a reflection of Blanche who clings on to her former identity of a refined
Southern Belle but in reality is the opposite
-​ “I’ve outstayed my welcome”
➔​ She is aware Stanley doesn’t want her
➔​ She accepts her fate
-​ “Can I - uh - kiss you - good-night?”
➔​ He is hesitant and lacks confidence in his speech
➔​ He represents the beta male
➔​ He seeks progression in their relationship
-​ “I have never known anyone like you.”
➔​ Her facade has worked graciously as he is evidently captivated and in love with her
➔​ The diction of “anyone” indicates no one has impacted him and made him feel how
Blanche does
➔​ He is in awe of her upper class status
-​ “You’re a natural gentlemen one of the very few left in the world”
➔​ She has a way with her words and knows how to woo him