A Streetcar Named Desire characters

Appears from the start

Stella's older sister, a former schoolteacher who arrives unexpectedly at the Kowalskis' New Orleans apartment after losing the family estate, Belle Reve. She is carefully dressed, uneasy about her age, and visibly strained by what has happened in Mississippi. Her preference for refinement clashes immediately with the cramped household and with Stanley's direct manner.

Appears from the start

Blanche's younger sister, who left the family's Mississippi home for New Orleans and married Stanley. She is affectionate toward Blanche but comfortable with a marriage whose physical intensity and working-class surroundings disturb her sister.

Appears from the start

Stella's husband, a factory-parts salesman and former soldier whose home is also the regular meeting place for his poker friends. Energetic, physically confident, and possessive of his household, he is immediately at odds with Blanche's assumptions about class and manners.

Appears from the start

The Kowalskis' upstairs neighbor and Stella's friend. She helps Blanche find the apartment and is an established part of the close social world surrounding Stella and Stanley.

Appears from the start

Eunice's husband, the Kowalskis' upstairs neighbor, and one of Stanley's regular poker companions. His marriage is noisy and quarrelsome, but he and Eunice remain part of the close social world surrounding Stella and Stanley.

Also known as Mitch

First appears in chapter 3

One of Stanley's poker friends, more reserved and courteous than the other players. He lives with and cares for his ailing mother and feels self-conscious about being unmarried. During poker night he is drawn to Blanche, who recognizes him as a possible source of companionship and security.

First appears in chapter 3

A friend and poker companion of Stanley, present during the gathering at the Kowalski apartment. He is part of Stanley's close-knit male social circle and joins the other players in trying to contain the night's disorder.

First appears in chapter 5

A teenage collector who calls at the apartment for payment on a newspaper subscription. Blanche delays him, gives him a sudden kiss, and then sends him away, revealing a troubling divide between the romantic identity she presents and the impulses she keeps hidden.

First appears in chapter 11

A medical attendant who comes to the Kowalski apartment with a doctor. She initially handles Blanche with institutional firmness when Blanche resists leaving the apartment.

First appears in chapter 11

The physician who arrives to escort Blanche from the apartment. When force increases her terror, he approaches her with quiet courtesy and allows her to accept his guidance on the terms of the gentility she still expects from others.