A Streetcar Named Desire & Its Only A Paper Moon
             Often in literature, writers allude to songs and/or poems. In scene seven of A Street Car Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, references are made to Its Only A Paper Moon, by Billy Rose, Yip Harburg, and Harold Arlen. The significance of this song not only unveils a connection to the scene, but also helps the reader understand the play on a symbolic, deeper level. This scene takes place in the mid afternoon of a September where Stanley reveals the truth about Blanche, and Blanche is singing Its Only A Paper Moon in the background.
            
             This song is in the first person perspective. It portrays the narrator's feelings of reality versus surrealism on the dependence of whether his/hers loved one is with him/her. This is shown in lines 5, 7 and 11, where the narrator exhibits to the listeners, states of imaginative surrealism such as a paper moon sailing over the cardboard sea, or the canvas sky hanging over a muslin tree. The narrator also uses the effective tool of repetition to depict and develop the central theme. That is basically saying that this imaginative form of surrealism that the narrator feels will not be "make believe", or be imagined, if the loved one had "believed in me", or not left the narrator.
            
             This song appears in the play as Blanche is singing it, while in the tub. Stanley is revealing the truth to Stella about Blanche's past and begins to question her veracity. Tennessee Williams juxtaposes Blanche's idealistic view of herself to Stanley's understanding of the real, corrupt Blanche. In this scene as Stanley tells Stella about the Blanche's involvement with Hotel Flamingo, Blanche, oblivious to their conversation, sings "Say its only a paper moon sailing over a cardboard sea, but it wouldn't't be make believe if you believed in me". Even though these lines are not a direct response to St...