During the play we see Jack listening to the news intently for information about the war in Europe. This habit may be seen today as a father of a family may listen to the news for information about what is going on in Europe to day. They both want to know whether or not their sons will have to be sent to war soon. They begin to worry about their children and their family's well-being as enemy countries become more and more aggressive, such as the nuclear bomb development in North Korea can be compared to the invasions of Germany.

Throughout the play we see two families living in the same household; though, blood related, they are different families. As one may find in many extended families today if one is unable to take care of themselves the family that is better off will take them in and care for them. We see this in this play as Blanche and her two girls move in with Jack, his wife, and his two boys. These two families collide many times throughout the play such as the time Eugene starts ranting about how Laurie always gets special treatment due to her heart and Nora not agreeing with her mother.

“Kate: To me good friends are strangers. But sisters are sisters.” (Simon 118) Even though families may fight within themselves they will always protect each other as shown on page 118 when Blanche plans on leaving to look for a job, Kate stops her and tells her that she can live across the street so they can help each other but not get in each others' way. This is also true with many families today, when some children move out, they may move into a house down the street so they can have a place to themselves, yet they can still visit their parents so they do not feel alone.

“Jack: They got out. That's all that's important.” (Simon 130) This quote shows that no matter how desperate a family may be they will always be willing to help their relatives in need. Jack said this when he found out that his relatives made it out of Germany safely and were coming to America. You can see this determination in many modern families today too. If their relatives are in need the family will make room for them and take care of them until they can get on their feet. Whether it be in the past or the present, a family will always take care of its relatives.

The music in the background symbolized Blanche's past. “Polka music sounds, in a minor key, faint with distance.” (96, Williams). The polka music symbolized Blanche's last dance with her husband. The polka music stops when she mentions the gunshot because that is how her husband died and the dance ended. The polka music plays throughout the play whenever Blanche is behaving in a way that was affected by the death of her husband.

The poker game is used to symbolize the way Stanley's life is going. In the first poker game Stanley is losing, this symbolized the coming of Blanche and the hard times to come with her in the house. During the second game, Stanley has very good luck; this symbolizes the leaving of Blanche from his home. These poker games are also used by Blanche to symbolize Stanley's apish gatherings of his friends.

The paper lantern was a very large symbol in the book. The paper lantern represented Blanche's wish to hide her past. Mitch was suitable to put the lantern on because Blanche was hiding her past from him and starting a new life. It was also great symbolism for Stanley to rip the paper lantern off at the very end of the book because he was the one who revealed Blanche's past.

There are many more symbols in the book as well, but would take much too long to place them all in a five-paragraph essay. The book has many symbols that attribute to it's meaning and its plot. The symbols bring greater meaning to the characters' actions and to their feeling and emotions. The symbols bring more emotion into the play as well. The symbols explained in this essay are very strong symbols in the play and easy to recognize. Though, there are a few symbols in the book that may be difficult to recognize, they are still there.

The rhyme scheme used by Poe in his poem “The Raven” is described as ABCBBB. Every stanza in “The Raven” follows this rhyme scheme to create a very structured poem. Poe also uses internal rhyme where two words in the third rhyme will rhyme with each other and with another word in the fourth line. In the second stanza the word morrow in line three rhymes with the word borrow also in line three and sorrow in line four. Poe also uses repetition to not only conform to his rhyme scheme, but to emphasize the word as well. “'Wretch,' I cried, 'thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he hath sent thee” (Raven: 81) is an example of Poe using repetition to rhyme. Poe used trochaic octameter for his poem. Poe used many other devices in his poem such as alliteration and consonance. “Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;” (Raven: 26) is an example of alliteration and consonance. Poe used alliteration to increase the effect of the line. “The silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain” (Raven: 13) is an example of an onomatopoeia used by Poe in his poem.

The tone of “The Raven” is morbid and depressing. Poe used a man who had lost his lost Lenore to deepen the melancholy feeling, because losing a loved one is the grimmest subjects there is. Poe had a raven, an already grim animal, to repeat the word “nevermore” whenever the narrator would speak to it. One other way Poe increased the melancholy effect is the torture of the narrator. The answer the narrator received each time was already predetermined and both the reader and the narrator knew what the reply was going to be; therefore, continuously torturing the narrator.

Poe also used many similes, metaphors, and examples of personification. “Quoth the Raven 'Nevermore'” (Raven: 48) is an example of personification found in Poe's poem “The Raven”. Since birds cannot really talk, the raven was given a human characteristic of speech. “And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,” is an example of a metaphor used in “The Raven” by Poe to compare the raven's eyes to a demon's; therefore, comparing the raven to a demon. “That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.” (Raven: 56) is an example of a simile that Poe used to compare the raven's reply to the narrators state of grief.

Poe used many devices to produce the melancholy feeling found in his poem “The Raven” including alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia. The tone of the poem was created using depressing symbols, topics, and themes. Poe followed a very strict rhyme scheme throughout the entire poem. After looking through the poem and carefully examining how much work was put into it to make it so strict, we can conclude that the poem was carefully though through and produced by a literary genius to have pieced it all together so perfectly.