In some kinds of people some tenderer feelings have had some little beginning! That we have to make grow! And cling to, and hold as our flag! In this dark march toward whatever it is we’re approaching… Don’t – don’t hang back with the brutes!
– Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 4. Blanche uses metaphorical language to depict the battle by aristocratic Southerners like Stella and herself as a "dark march" against the uncultured "brutes." She is referring to people like Stanley when she uses this animal imagery. She urges Stella to fight to save their "tenderer" way of life from the onslaught of modern America, calling on her to rally under "our flag" in another metaphor. The motif of light is used, as Blanche speaks of fighting the darkness of modernity. There is dramatic irony with Blanche not aware that Stanley is listening to her tirade against him, but the audience is. Her superior tone and references to common people like Stanley as brutes reflects the theme of social class.