A Streetcar Named Desire is a life and death story. All the other poetic and tragic elements, need for love, etc, are tributaries to Blanche's need for survival and Stanley's obvious PTSD and survival of the 2nd World War, and Stella's need to run away from all the deaths of Belle Reeve, collide over the few months which they live together in a cramped world which is "Red hot." The more that one sees Blanche as an alcoholic trying to kill pain and find magic, Stanley wanting his world to be unrefined after the war, makes Stella the true protagonist between the two forces. Brutality wins and Blanche is driven into madness which was calling at the door throughout the play or on the phone metaphorically. The plays reflect current times.
