Student Question
According to Blanche in "A Streetcar Named Desire," who could best describe Stella's dwelling?
Quick answer:
Blanche believes that only Edgar Allan Poe could adequately describe Stella's dwelling. She expresses shock and horror at the condition of Stella's rundown apartment, contrasting it with the grandeur of their childhood home. Blanche's reference to Poe suggests that the apartment's gloomy and decrepit state requires the dark and gothic style of Poe's writing to be properly captured.
Blanche and Stella were brought up in a wealthy family, but they have lost their inheritance. Blanche still longs for the big house with white columns, and she is horrified when she sees the rundown apartment Stella is living in. Blanche says to Stella:
You sit down, now, and explain this to me! What are you doing in a place like this? Oh, I’m not going to be hypocritical, I’m going to be honestly critical about it! Never, never, never in my worst dreams could I picture–Only Poe! Only Mr. Edgar Allan Poe!–could do it justice! Out there I suppose is the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir! Why didn’t you tell me, why didn’t your write me, honey, why didn’t you let me know?
So only Poe could do justice to that apartment!
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