1.

Introduction

Along the next essay the methodology used is a separated analysis in the different
levels of the Poker Games topic in A Streetcar Named Desire. The first one is At the
level of the play, the second one is at the level of the character and the final one is The
inside Poker Game. The essay will end with a Conclusion and a Bibliography.

2. The Poker Games in A Streetcar Named Desire

2.1 The Poker Games - At the level of the play

The first poker game in the play is from page 41 to 62 and it longs the entire third
scene.

The first poker game is a really wild game that begins with the men drinking alcohol,
doing sexual jokes and telling puns to Stanley and Mitch. Stanley is losing during this
game. Stella and Blanche enter to the scene and start to disturb Stanley's poker night
asking for ending it soon. After that Blanche encounters with Mitch in the bathroom
and asks about him to Stella. Then she starts to flirt with him, distracting him from the
game until he leaves, after that, Blanche turns on the radio. Rumba music can be
listened. Stanley, at the limit of his anger destroys the radio. Stella, trying to stop him
ends with a beat from Stanley. She runs upstairs with their landlady Eunice, and
Stanley, regretting what he has done and, afraid of the possibility of losing Stella, calls
her. She appears and starts going downstairs slowly. He rubs her belly because she is
pregnant.

The second poker game is after Blanche's raping. It is also a wild game. Stanley and
Stella has called a mental facility to intern Blanche, who has told Stella what Stanley
did to her, but even in the doubt, Eunice tells Stella to not think about that and,
because of her desire to be with Stanley, she closes her eyes to Blanche. Stanley is
winning during this card game, filled with confidence.

When Blanche says that she is forgetting something, Stanley then destroys her last part
of sanity and of her in the house giving to her a Chinese paper that covered a bulb
giving darkness to the house. The light reaches her and cries away. Finally a doctor
carries her to the mental facility.

Mitch cries, Stella cries and Stanley comforts Stella doing the way he knows, fondling
her breasts.

2.2 The Poker Games - At the level of the characters

During both games it can be seen that they are merely for men, the description given
is: "There is a picture of Van Gogh's of a billiard-parlor at night. The kitchen now
suggests that sort of lurid nocturnal brilliance, the raw colors of childhood's spectrum.
Over the yellow linoleum of the kitchen table hangs an electric bulb with a vivid green
glass shade. The poker players--Stanley, Steve, Mitch and Pablo--wear colored shirts,
solid blues, a purple, a red-and-white check, a light green, and they are men at the
peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary
colors". This specific description of colors is very specific and the clue is really in the
end: "...at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as
the primary colors - Stage Directions/Narrator, pg 41:154. A Streetcar Named Desire"
meaning that they wear those colors because they are men, in the manhood, powerful
colors for strong men. Also, during the first game it must be assumed that Stanley has
been drinking a lot due the pressure of being losing. He also is polish and an ex-soldier
from the Second World War so it is possible that maybe his rudeness is caused from
the battlefield. It is easy for him to lost his temper during this eventuality.

The phrase told by Steven at the: "This game is seven-card stud - Steve, pg 43:154. A
Streetcar Named Desire" where stud means male could be interpreted as that game is
only for men. The message that during those games the men don't have a Poker face
but, instead, they become their real themselves is implicit.

Mitch says "Poker should not be player in a house with women - Mitch, pg 57:154. A
Streetcar Named Desire", in a first read this could be interpreted as something bad for
the women, but due the character of Mitch it is because he knows the brutality and
testosterone of the games while he thinks women are soft and gently. "Poker games
are not for ladies because men are going to be mad, drunk and violent, and that could
hurt you, it is not a world for you" could be the literal translation of his worlds.

Also, a comparison between the relationship between Stanley and Stella and Mitch
and Blanche is noticeable. During this poker game the reader could see how violent,
hard, visible and strong is the relationship of Stanley and Stella while the relationship
between Mitch and Blanche is in the shadows, quiet, subtle and delicate as the
relationship itself. Even the third scene ends with Blanche and Mitch and not with
Stella and Stanley. Blanche ends with: "Yes...There's so much--so much confusion in the
world...Thank you for being so kind! I need kindness now - Mitch, pg 62:154. A
Streetcar Named Desire". An interesting phrase related to the last poker game, but
also, Blanche ending a scene where the climax was between Stanley and Stella means
only one thing: The idealistic Blanche has interrupted the realistic Stanley, menacing
his power in the house and his world. Even more, he loses the first poker game as he
almost loses Stella in this scene.

The last poker game makes a balance with the third scene, which ended with Stanley
losing and Blanche winning. Now Stanley is winning, the description of the scene is
"The atmosphere of the kitchen is now the same raw, lurid one of the disastrous poker
night. The building is framed by the sky of turquoise - Stage Directions/Narrator, pg
141:154. A Streetcar Named Desire" The turquoise is a sad color related to winter near
to the peace of spring, meaning that the life inside the building now is sad, and it is,
but everything will be to their regular lives. Stanley has won not only the physical
game, but the inner game, he has won Blanche, realism has won idealism and illusions
and he is the undisputed master of his house.

During this scene Blanche is still hoping a call from a mysterious suitor called Shep
Huntleig, an illusion that represents what Blanche wants and is not going to have, she
also is going to wear blue clothes, sad clothes for a sad character who is going to have
a sad ending. In fact, when she asks for her last thing that she is forgetting, Stanley
gives to her the paper lantern: "He crosses to dressing table and seizes the paper
lantern, tearing it off the light bulb, and extends it toward her. She cries out as if the
lantern was herself - Blanche, pg 152:154. A Streetcar Named Desire " A final impact of
reality that Stanley needed in order to crush the last remaining of sanity that Blanche
could have, unable to know what is real and what is not real anymore.

It is also shown that Blanche was right with Stanley the whole time, he is a brutal man
and the maximum exponent of "Manliness" even at the end. When Stella is crying, he
comforts her sobbing her breasts, as the “Gaudy Seed-Bearer - Narrator/Stage
Direction, pg 21:154. A Streetcar Named Desire” he is described.

Blanche goes with the phrase: "Whoever you are--I have always depended on the
kindness of strangers - Blanche, pg 153:154. A Streetcar Named Desire, related with
the phrase she said at the end of the third scene, she is always depending on the
kindness of strangers, before with Mitch and now with the Doctor, also implying that
"However you are, you can do whatever you want with me".

The play ends with the phrase "This game is seven-card stud - Steve, pg 154:154. A
Streetcar Named Desire", again the phrase told by Steve meaning that the hole game
has been a game for men. Also, it could be a reference for the time. During the WWII
the poker games rule was the five-card stud, but the game evolved and was reinvented
as the seven-card stud. The reference could be as the difference between Stanley, who
was in the war and now lives in the present, with the Seven-card stud. And Blanche,
who is clearly attached to the past, to the old times in Belle Reve when she was young.
Blanche’s game would be a five-card stud.

2.3 The Poker Games - The Poker Game Inside The Story

There is also a whole poker game between Stanley and Blanche during the whole play,
a poker game between realism and illusions and over Stella who acts as the dealer and
also, as the prize of this subtle game. When it is said realism versus illusions it is also
said The American Dream versus Reality, because The American Dream is what
Blanche wants and she will end beaten by the cruelty of the real world.
During this game five metaphoric cards were played by the characters: Love, Deceit,
Hatred, Desire and Betrayal, and they must be analyzed one by one.

1) Love: As Blanche as Stanley share this card, a card that means their mutual love for
Stella. However, Stanley has a higher number of Love card than Blanche because he
has no limits in order to not lose Stella.

2) Deceit: Blanche is using the Deceit card during the entire play. She wants every
character to believe that she is someone that she is not. Since the first moment she
appears, she wears sunglasses to cover the truth, she acts as a professional bluffer. On
Stanley's hand, he uses Blanche's card against her, exposing Blanche's deceit to
characters like Stella or Mitch will make them doubt about Blanche.

3) Hatred: Blanche and Stanley hates each other. For Blanche it is every try for her to
separate Stella from Stanley. An example would be when Stella was beaten by Stanley,
she tries to convince her to run away. But also is a double-edged card, because
Blanche hates her real herself. For Stanley, he hates Blanche and her influence made
by lies, the result of this hate will become in the betrayal card.

4) Desire: This card, apart from Stanley and Blanche is also played by Stella. The Desire
for Stanley means his obsession for Stella and his need of controlling everyone and
everything around him. For Blanche, is the desire of becoming someone that she is
not, she hates the real Blanche and desires to be the fake Blanche. And for Stella, is the
Desire to be with Stanley over all, which will result in using the Betrayal Card.

5) Betrayal: This card is used by Blanche, Stanley and Stella. Blanche's betrayal can be
seen along the Deceit card. She's betraying everyone, even herself for not being the
real Blanche. Thinking about every move that Blanche has done, except for her Love,
Blanche has played a whole game bluffing.

Stanley betrays Stella raping Blanche. He betrays his marriage and the possible
confidence that Blanche could had on him as her sister's husband. And finally, for
Stella is when she accepts to close her eyes with Blanche and stay with Stanley, even
doubting, she accepts it and just stay with his husband.

In the end of the whole game, Stanley wins because of his cards. He played dirty, but
he was playing with real cards. Stella's desire was stronger than her loyalty to her sister
and ended betraying Blanche, who played the whole game with bluffs and lies, even to
herself. Blanche ended not knowing what is truth and what is not.

Another interpretation of the ending "Seven-card stud" could be the number of the
characters: "Stella, Blanche, Eunice, Steve, Mitch, Pablo and the new character in the
play, Stella’s baby" Seven characters in total, controlled by Stanley, the Stud, the
dominant male.
4. Conclusion

The poker games are only two out of eleven scenes in the play but they are the most
important scenes because is where the story advances. It is true that there are
allusions to poker things along the entire play, as an example: "A light goes on behind
the blind, turning it light blue - Stage Directions/Narrator pg 6:154. A Streetcar Named
Desire" When the light is behind the blind, it comes blue, we must remember that
along the play the color related to Blanche, even if her name means White is Blue, and
in the last chapter, her final chapter, blue is an important color. So when the light
reaches the blind, maybe, meaning Blanche, as she is blind to everything that is going
to happen and herself, it turns blue.

"The blind are leading the blind! - Blanche pg 40:154. A Streetcar Named Desire" This
phrase told by Blanche to Stella is also important. In Poker, the blind is the first bet,
and an obligated one. It could refer to the fact that Stella, in her blindness, bet her life
with Stanley and lost everything because of her actual conditions, and, a reference to
herself, Blanche is blind to everything and she is going to bet that everything that she
has not and going to lose it.

Finally, the blind woman. It could be a reference to Blanche herself, she is calling this
woman in her mind to rememorize her cold past, her last part of conscience telling her
that something bad happened and that she cannot escape to the past. Also, the blind
woman is selling flowers for the dead people, reminding her the death of her husband.
The blind woman is a final bet, is everything Blanche has lost and the real herself, she
finally vanishes, but Blanche will be blind forever, another kind of blindness, a blind
leading the blind to her final bluffed herself.

Along the phrases: "STANLEY [slowly]: Lay... her cards on the table. BLANCHE [smiling]:
Well, I never cared for wishy-washy people. That was why, when you walked in here
last night, I said to myself--"My sister has married a man!"--Of course that was all that
I could tell about you - Stanley and Stella pg 35:154. A Streetcar Named Desire" and
"All right. Cards on the table. That suits me. [She turns to Stanley.] I know I fib a good
deal. After all, a woman's charm is fifty percent illusion, but when a thing is important I
tell the truth, and this is the truth: I haven't cheated my sister or you or anyone else as
long as I have lived - Blanche pg 37/154. A Streetcar Named Desire" Apart from a
reference from one dialogue to another, there is a metaphor with the word "Card".
Here, Blanche is showing her Hatred card for Stanley and her bluff with the Deceit,
because she has been cheating everyone for a long time.

A further analysis of the characters and their role in the play could distinct them as
cards in a hand for others. For example, Mitch, is a Joker for both, Stanley and Blanche,
he is the salvation for Blanche and the way to destroy part of the illusions made by
Blanche for Stanley. Stella is a Queen, related with the Desire card spoken before,
Blanche and Stanley want her with passion. Stanley is the King, he is the undisputed
ruler of the house and Blanche wants to use it against him when he beats Stella.
Blanche is a Joker, because she does not use the real herself, so no one knows about
her, this will result in a Joker as well for Stanley, because he will use Blanche against
her. Finally, Eunice, she acts as a Jack, that in cards meant the guardian and protector,
she will protect Stella over all, even form the possibility of ruin herself being a single
mother, she tells Stella to stay with Stanley and to forget about Blanche.

Every character in the play can have a value and a way of acting that transforms them
into a play inside the poker game. The whole play has references, dialogues and
narratives that suggest that poker was a high influence for Tennessee Williams when
he wrote A Streetcar Named Desire. The play itself was a bet, a satire of someone
looking for an American Dream that does not exists and ended destroyed and in a
mental facility. We can conclude that A Streetcar Named Desire is brilliant and each
thing written by Tennessee Williams in the play is calculated and not a merely
coincidence.

5. Bibliography

https://www.cliffnotes.com/literature/s/a-streetcar-named-desire/summary-and-
analysis/scene-11 (Only the Scene 11 was looked in this page)

https://www.google.es/amp/s/angelthetwit.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/poker-game-
symbolism-in-a-streetcar-named-desire/amp

http://www.poker10.com/upload/File/manual7studcarreno.pdf

http://jhampton.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/53101025/Streetcar.pdf (Used this version

of the play in the original reading)

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090105181200AAtM6xe Also, I got

from here the clue for knowing that the Five-card stud was the game during the war.