You need to be able to comment on how ordinary conversational imagery reveals character.

Stanley tells Blanche how he once deflated a woman by saying ‘So what?’ when she said she was ‘the glamorous type’: ‘That shut her up like a   ’ (Scene Two, p. 21).

Ask yourself: What does this simile tell us about Stanley?

Possible answer: Stanley occasionally uses lively but unoriginal imagery, such as one might hear on the streets of New Orleans, showing that he is a vigorous but unsophisticated communicator. His use of this image also shows his pride in controlling people – especially women.